Renting a car in Japan from the airport, anyone here done it?

[Redlyne_mr2]

As far as I know I need an international drivers license which I can get from AMA, the rental process looks od however.

Rentals can be done by the hour or you can ad extra days. Some tips would be helpful however.

thanks!

[soloracer]

And here I thought a baller like you would have just bought a car to drive around the country.....so disappointed

[CanmoreOrLess]

The toll road costs anywhere from the airport will kill you. Add parking if you can find it and it will be very expensive in any city. Take a train like a normal person, anti up for a Green Car like the smart and experienced long noses. Been there, done that about twenty five times.

[ZeroGravity]

I rented a car at the airport in Hokkaido last year. Yes, you will need your International Driver's License and your Alberta Driver's License.

The rental company we rented from was not actually at the airport, but very near it. My wife pre-arranged the deal before we arrive so we just need to find the information counter to ask for pickup.

The actual rental process is pretty similar to here. But because I didn't want to deal with any hassle if anything did happen to the car, I took their insurance as well. For Hokkaido, they have pay/fare highways as well. So with our rental, we rented one of those cards that plugs into your car. It logs how much you've driven on those paid highways and you pay at the end. We didn't end up going on any of those highways. The GPS was setup not to use it by default.

Return the car full tank, then no extra charge from them. Our rental rate was per day if I remember correctly. Ended up to be around 500 CAD for the 5 days we had it including all the extra insurance, rental highway card, and the car seat. It was a Toyota Aqua (equivalent to Toyota Prius C here). Think it being hybrid has added cost as well.

The girl that helped me with the rental process / pickup "can speak" English. But quite limited. However, everything she tries to explain to me was printed on paper in English. So, she speaks something while pointing to the line and I just read that instead trying to understand her :P

[ZeroGravity]

Originally posted by CanmoreOrLess
The toll road costs anywhere from the airport will kill you. Add parking if you can find it and it will be very expensive in any city. Take a train like a normal person, anti up for a Green Car like the smart and experienced long noses. Been there, done that about twenty five times.

Depends on where in Japan you're heading to. If it was the Tokyo region or the big cities. Yeah, just take the train. Earlier this year we did this with two kids (one 4 year old and one 6 months old), it was fine even with stroller in tote. Although traveling up and down the stairs with stroller, suitcases, and two kids on the train for the trips to and from the Airport was an experience. Most platforms have elevators though.

If you're going to places out in the country side though, rental car is definitely preferred, and sometimes required...

Such as this place we stayed at in Hokkaido last year


» Click image for larger version

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by soloracer
And here I thought a baller like you would have just bought a car to drive around the country.....so disappointed

haha trust me Ive thought about it.. find something unique, drive it and ship it back, problem is this is a ski trip, not a car trip

I'll be in the hokkaido niseko area so a car is almost a must.

[mr2mike]

Watch that then reconsider car rentals unless you have a personal goal in life to drive there. Hammond has some good points.

Car isn't a must... I can ask some people at work that did a ski trip there.

How to travel between Niseko and Sapporo By bus From December to March, multiple bus companies, including Hokkaido Chuo Bus, Niseko Bus, Good Sports Whiteliner and Hokkaido Access Network, run direct buses between hotels in Sapporo's city center and Niseko. Some buses also serve Sapporo Station. The one way trip takes about 2.5 to 4 hours depending on pick-up location and destination and costs around 3500 yen. In the Niseko area the buses stop at the three major ski resorts of Hirafu, Niseko Village and Annupuri. Each company offers discount packages which combine the bus round trip with lift tickets at competitive prices. Outside of the winter season, there are limited bus options between Sapporo and Niseko provided by Hokkaido Access Network. These buses operate on weekends only between late June and late September and costs around 2500 yen. Package tours are also available. By train There are infrequent local and rapid train connections between Sapporo and Kutchan Stations, most of which require a transfer of trains at Otaru. With a direct "Niseko Liner" rapid train or a favorable transfer at Otaru, the one way trip takes about 100 minutes and costs 1840 yen. The trains are fully covered by the Japan Rail Pass and Hokkaido Rail Pass. Kutchan Station rather than Niseko Station is the region's public transportation hub. From Kutchan there is a bus every 1-2 hours to Hirafu (15 minutes), with some buses continuing on to Niseko Village (30 minutes) and Annupuri (45 minutes, winter only).

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6720.html

[g-m]

Originally posted by ZeroGravity


Depends on where in Japan you're heading to. If it was the Tokyo region or the big cities. Yeah, just take the train. Earlier this year we did this with two kids (one 4 year old and one 6 months old), it was fine even with stroller in tote. Although traveling up and down the stairs with stroller, suitcases, and two kids on the train for the trips to and from the Airport was an experience. Most platforms have elevators though.

If you're going to places out in the country side though, rental car is definitely preferred, and sometimes required...

Such as this place we stayed at in Hokkaido last year


» Click image for larger version

Asahi'dake?

The train would be AWFUL with ski gear and a suitcase. Car required. We'll be there early Feb. Book your accommodations of your haven't

[ZeroGravity]

Originally posted by g-m
Asahi'dake?

The train would be AWFUL with ski gear and a suitcase. Car required. We'll be there early Feb. Book your accommodations of your haven't

That was Mount Tokachi area. We stayed at Tokachi Onsen Kimihoro Hotel the night before. Barely made it to the hotel before their last call in the restaurant (8:30 pm). We rented a Toyota Aqua (equivalent to Prius C). Thanks to the crazy local mini-van drivers, it gave me more confidence to go faster on the snow covered mountain passes. Both my son and my wife was asleep in the back, so that helped too :P

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by g-m
Asahi'dake?

The train would be AWFUL with ski gear and a suitcase. Car required. We'll be there early Feb. Book your accommodations of your haven't

Exactly! Im not carting my ski gear around Sapporo then onto trains and buses. A car will give me some freedom so if I want to head out to another town for dinner at 9 at night I can.

[dubhead]

Originally posted by g-m
Asahi'dake?

The train would be AWFUL with ski gear and a suitcase. Car required. We'll be there early Feb. Book your accommodations of your haven't

We did both had cars from Sapporo to Niseko and back then took the train/ bus transfer to Asahi'dake. It was a bit of a pain to deal with trains with our gear but the only real advantage I found to having a car was being able to adventure around to backcountry tour so if you don't plan on doing that I would skip the added cost personally. I do however highly recommend doing some backcountry riding.

I believe we organized the rentals through Black Diamond tours who made the arrangements with the car rental place in Sapporro. The brakes on one of our vans were fucked and grinding metal on metal. We limped it to Niseko and Black Diamond were able to get it traded out for us from there.

[s2k_boi]

Has any done this for Okinawa? Have a wedding to attend in the fall and it seems like it might be easier to have a rental car there.

[googe]

$500 for 5 days?

One of you dudes should post a foreigners guide to shredding in Japan with all the tips you've picked up. In Ask Leo of course, so the whole internet doesn't ruin it

[JDMMAN]

s2k_boi - Unless you're going to be staying in Naha, then car rental is worth it. I was there in May and was generally able to get to most places in Naha on the monorail and buses. But outside of Naha, buses are quite unreliable and there's no rail network like the mainland.

[jacky4566]

Haha. I did 6 weeks in japan with my snowboard and a 70L bag. JR pass for 3 weeks. Some people give you crazy looks but I did it.

We did actually rent a minivan for Asahi'dake since we couldnt figure out the buses with our schedule. It was cool to rip around the countryside.