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Rental of MPV and driving in Hokkaido during winter


Atrecord
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if heavy snow like this, i will drive Foresters man.
I think there are reviews on snow driving, subarus have one of the best AWD 

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1 hour ago, Lala81 said:

if heavy snow like this, i will drive Foresters man.
I think there are reviews on snow driving, subarus have one of the best AWD 

What's important is the tyre

 

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12 minutes ago, inlinesix said:

What's important is the tyre

Yup that's the most important. then type of AWD system.

wah changed nick ar...

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On 12/4/2019 at 2:02 PM, Atrecord said:

wah... thanks for sharing this...
I'm going on my trip in less than a week... let's see how it is.

What car are you driving there? Is it an Alphard/Noah?

In the clip you showed, for the road, is it one-way or two-way huh? you're driving in the middle of the road? Is it necessary to keep to the left?

My trip here is almost over. We are flying back on Monday. We used NicoNico and drove a Nissan Serena. Can seat 5 adults comfortable and load 2 large luggages and 4 medium ones. Our trip brought us from airport to Lake Shikotsu to Niseko to Hakodate to Otaru to now Sapporo. Many nice sceney along the way. Driving in snow is not that difficult over time. Started at 50+ km/hr speed then gradually to 80+km/hr. The video you see is the route from Niesko to Hakodate. Not much cars so I stay middle. Probably one in like 15 mins...lol. once outside the city it's usually one up one down lane. They have no lamppost but red arrow lights blinking for night driving. And finally it's always snowing like 70% of the time. Temp is minus zero all the time. Night falls at 4pm sharp. And shops closes early at 5pm outside the city. Sorry for the messy writing. We are now at Daimaru Sapporo shopping...hahaha. 

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By the way....a few little things to note.

1) people don't smoke in the open. They go to smoke rooms or smoke inside their cars. Cigs are bloody cheap here. 270 yen to 520 yen per pack of 20.

2) big cities shopping closes at 2100 or even 2300hrs. Smaller cities closes by 1700. 

3) Hokkaido is 1 hour ahead of us and nite falls at 1600hrs their time (our time 3pm..lol) So plan your itinerary accordingly.

4) driving etiquette is top class here. I have never heard a car honking ever and they drive slow and always ready to give way. I do the same in return

5) thier toll uses ETC card which is similar to our cash card but fees are paid after you return the car. You don't have to top up 

6) Japanese are generally very poor in speaking English. Even in the service sector they are weak. 

7) Minus temp is still bearable but when the wind picks up (blizzard which happens quite often) ....you can't last for 5 mins.

😎😎 parking is almost free everywhere outside the city. Hotel charges like yen 1000 per nite. City parking is expensive. That day we park at Animate Sapporo for our daughter to get animate stuffs. 1300 Yen for 2 hrs....lol.

9) hotel rates, poi fees, meals are surprisingly reasonably priced. I find Singapore a more expensive place to visit as a tourist....lol

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On 12/4/2019 at 2:02 PM, Atrecord said:

wah... thanks for sharing this...
I'm going on my trip in less than a week... let's see how it is.

What car are you driving there? Is it an Alphard/Noah?

In the clip you showed, for the road, is it one-way or two-way huh? you're driving in the middle of the road? Is it necessary to keep to the left?

Very normal to drive in the middle of the road where a path with less show and ice is created. 

Keep left when opposite car approaching.

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3 hours ago, Hiphiphoray said:

By the way....a few little things to note.

1) people don't smoke in the open. They go to smoke rooms or smoke inside their cars. Cigs are bloody cheap here. 270 yen to 520 yen per pack of 20.

2) big cities shopping closes at 2100 or even 2300hrs. Smaller cities closes by 1700. 

3) Hokkaido is 1 hour ahead of us and nite falls at 1600hrs their time (our time 3pm..lol) So plan your itinerary accordingly.

4) driving etiquette is top class here. I have never heard a car honking ever and they drive slow and always ready to give way. I do the same in return

5) thier toll uses ETC card which is similar to our cash card but fees are paid after you return the car. You don't have to top up 

6) Japanese are generally very poor in speaking English. Even in the service sector they are weak. 

7) Minus temp is still bearable but when the wind picks up (blizzard which happens quite often) ....you can't last for 5 mins.

😎😎 parking is almost free everywhere outside the city. Hotel charges like yen 1000 per nite. City parking is expensive. That day we park at Animate Sapporo for our daughter to get animate stuffs. 1300 Yen for 2 hrs....lol.

9) hotel rates, poi fees, meals are surprisingly reasonably priced. I find Singapore a more expensive place to visit as a tourist....lol

For road toll, rental car company may have a package amount for certain days.

I paid for 6000yen for 5 days unlimited usage. If I did not take up the package, total used will be 8000yen+.

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34 minutes ago, Tohto said:

For road toll, rental car company may have a package amount for certain days.

I paid for 6000yen for 5 days unlimited usage. If I did not take up the package, total used will be 8000yen+.

depend on the roads that you plan to take

when i was in hokkaido ... i took a lot of non “expressway” road to enjoy the drive

but i still bought the expressway toll for 7 days

i end up use less than i paid for ... 

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2 hours ago, Tohto said:

For road toll, rental car company may have a package amount for certain days.

I paid for 6000yen for 5 days unlimited usage. If I did not take up the package, total used will be 8000yen+.

lol. i drove to fuji from tokyo for a day trip and the toll charges were about 7000-8000 yen iirc.. and people say that singapore ERP is expensive lol

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The Jap GPS also one kind. Sometimes key in the telephone number.......not found....lol.

End up I use Google map almost all the time. It's better bcos you can choose toll and non-toll routes. Time duration btw them is not a lot. 

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On 12/4/2019 at 2:40 PM, Lala81 said:

if heavy snow like this, i will drive Foresters man.
I think there are reviews on snow driving, subarus have one of the best AWD 

Too bad we have 7 pax plus luggages...

Else indeed Forester might be good...

One of my colleagues is going to Finland, and is renting a Forester.

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53 minutes ago, Hiphiphoray said:

Heavy snow in Sapporo NOW!!. Plus the wind is picking up. Cold like hell......🤣

 

snowing and cold like hell is what you want to experience going to hokkaido in dec ... lol

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9 hours ago, Hiphiphoray said:

My trip here is almost over. We are flying back on Monday. We used NicoNico and drove a Nissan Serena. Can seat 5 adults comfortable and load 2 large luggages and 4 medium ones. Our trip brought us from airport to Lake Shikotsu to Niseko to Hakodate to Otaru to now Sapporo. Many nice sceney along the way. Driving in snow is not that difficult over time. Started at 50+ km/hr speed then gradually to 80+km/hr. The video you see is the route from Niesko to Hakodate. Not much cars so I stay middle. Probably one in like 15 mins...lol. once outside the city it's usually one up one down lane. They have no lamppost but red arrow lights blinking for night driving. And finally it's always snowing like 70% of the time. Temp is minus zero all the time. Night falls at 4pm sharp. And shops closes early at 5pm outside the city. Sorry for the messy writing. We are now at Daimaru Sapporo shopping...hahaha. 

Ha ha... we'll arrive Hokkaido some time on Monday! You must be using only 2 rows of seats with 5 pax, so can take so many luggages. We chickened out and decided to go for a Hiace instead.

Car can stay in middle of the road - means there's no physical road divider between the two sides of the road? Then not so bad.

Did you drive after 4 pm, i.e. at night?

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8 hours ago, Hiphiphoray said:

By the way....a few little things to note.

1) people don't smoke in the open. They go to smoke rooms or smoke inside their cars. Cigs are bloody cheap here. 270 yen to 520 yen per pack of 20.

2) big cities shopping closes at 2100 or even 2300hrs. Smaller cities closes by 1700. 

3) Hokkaido is 1 hour ahead of us and nite falls at 1600hrs their time (our time 3pm..lol) So plan your itinerary accordingly.

4) driving etiquette is top class here. I have never heard a car honking ever and they drive slow and always ready to give way. I do the same in return

5) thier toll uses ETC card which is similar to our cash card but fees are paid after you return the car. You don't have to top up 

6) Japanese are generally very poor in speaking English. Even in the service sector they are weak. 

7) Minus temp is still bearable but when the wind picks up (blizzard which happens quite often) ....you can't last for 5 mins.

😎😎 parking is almost free everywhere outside the city. Hotel charges like yen 1000 per nite. City parking is expensive. That day we park at Animate Sapporo for our daughter to get animate stuffs. 1300 Yen for 2 hrs....lol.

9) hotel rates, poi fees, meals are surprisingly reasonably priced. I find Singapore a more expensive place to visit as a tourist....lol

Thanks lots for these additional info - very informative 👍

On the language... i wonder whether i should look for some translation apps to see if they will be useful. [laugh]

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