A Japan travel blog · 日本

Chasing Cherry Blossoms

Japan by car — the roads, the onsen towns,
and the food worth the detour.

Start planning your drive Read our latest articles

Cherry blossoms over a quiet Tokyo side street

Kimono-clad visitors walking towards Yasaka pagoda at dusk, Kyoto

Why we drive

The Japan the trains don’t reach

Most Japan travel writing assumes you’ll take the train. For Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, that’s the right advice — and we’d give it too.

But the Japan we keep coming back for isn’t on the Golden Route. It’s the Aso caldera at dawn, a roadside station selling produce picked that morning, an onsen town two hours from the nearest station. You need a car to reach any of it, and almost nobody writes in English about what that actually involves.

That’s what this site is for. We drive in Japan, we work out the licence paperwork and the toll systems and the parking so you don’t have to, and we write down what things really cost.

47+: Prefectures, all drivable
14,125: Islands make up Japan
1200+: Roadside stations (michi-no-eki)
27%: UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Start here · 始めよう

Planning your first drive in Japan?

Read these four in order — they are the paperwork, the tolls and the honest maths that stop most people before they ever leave home.

Renting a Car in Japan
The licence rules that stop most people before they leave home — IDPs, translations and the documents rental desks actually ask for.
Read the guide
ETC Card in Japan
Why declining the toll card in 2026 can leave you stuck at a toll barrier — and how to get one with a foreign credit card.
Read the guide
Expressway Passes Compared
Two of the passes everyone still recommends no longer exist. Here is what replaced them, region by region, with real prices.
Read the guide
JR Pass vs Renting a Car
The honest break-even maths, updated for the October 2026 price rise — when the train wins, and when the car pays for itself.
Read the guide