Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hi guys I'm heading to Tokyo for the first time this weekend and am planning on renting a car and driving from Shinjuku to Mount Fuji. Being my first time in japan I have a few questions:

(1) Is it easy enough driving from Shinjuku to Mount Fuji? (2) What time should I leave Shinjuku to avoid traffic jams? (3) how long is the drive?

(4) what are the main spots to visit in the Mount Fuji area?

(5) what's daikoku futo like on Mon nights and the best time to check it out in the evening?

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/382524-driving-to-mount-fuji/
Share on other sites

Hi guys I'm heading to Tokyo for the first time this weekend and am planning on renting a car and driving from Shinjuku to Mount Fuji. Being my first time in japan I have a few questions:

(1) Is it easy enough driving from Shinjuku to Mount Fuji? (2) What time should I leave Shinjuku to avoid traffic jams? (3) how long is the drive?

(4) what are the main spots to visit in the Mount Fuji area?

(5) what's daikoku futo like on Mon nights and the best time to check it out in the evening?

Its a couple of hours drive. Have some cash handy as the tolls are killer.

Fuji Speedway is near the mountain, sometimes there are private drift and club days on.

Daikoku is hit and miss. Friday night and weekends are busier but usually closed by police if it gets packed.

If you go to Daikoku DONT miss the right hand lane that goes to the parking area!

Daikoku is a funny place as usually Fri and Sat nights are the busy nights but you can get surprised and catch it good on a week night and even on a Sunday night.

Like Nytsky said around 2 hrs using toll roads to Fuji.

You wont need to leave super early but coming back on a Sunday will be a bitch ..period!!

It will be busy all around Fuji as its Momiji time (紅葉) Autumn leaves change colour and half of Tokyo will be out checking it out.

I'd go via Hakone and have a Dr Spock at Hakone town and continue up the mountain on Hakone pass and Hakone Skyline.

Great driving roads, heaps of fun and some great views and history.You can get across to Fuji from there and back to Tokes and into the hell traffic jam.

You could try come back along the coast via Shonan then to Yokohama and hit Daikoku from there.

Ask your rent a car joint to throw your navi into english which will make it easier for you..well sort of as you will still need to punch in address or place name in ping pong.

Hey Dave

Punching in the phone number doesnt always work on Jap GPS as sometimes it cant find the place and will just give you the general area of the phone prefix.

Thats when you will need to know kanji to punch in the address of where your going...

Most of the time punching in the phone number works but not everywhere has a landline and for example Fuji doesnt have a phone number.

Best way is check for a hotel or something nearby on the net and punch the number in.

Most rent a car places newer gps can be switched to english pretty easy but if the gps cant find the place using the phone number you will still have to punch it in using Japanese.

English GPS is available as an option for most cars from Nissan Rent-a-car. I usually book through http://www2.tocoo.jp and pick up from Shinjuku Eki Nishiguchi outlet.

Hakone is a nice area to visit. I'm going to visit the five lakes area as well on my next trip.

As mentioned above, the phone number method can be a bit hit-and-miss. What I do now is work out where I want to go beforehand, look up the co-ordinates on Google Maps and then convert the co-ordinates to various formats (the GPS uses a different format to Google Maps, I can't remember which exact type at this moment in time) which so far has proven to be 100% accurate for me. I just make up a "to-do list" of destinations at home before my trip and then decide where I'm going to go on the day.

If you can't get the English GPS option, the Japanese GPS isn't too difficult to figure out (just look at the icons) but for the sake of 1000 Yen I'll take the English option where possible!

Oh, this may sound silly but it caught me out once - you can't input anything into the GPS unless you've got the handbrake on. If you're driving around and your passenger is attempting to change the route, wondering why the icons are greyed out and unselectable, the handbrake is the reason why.

Edited by d0p3y

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • A few small updates since the previous post and lessons. I decided to do a little interior light upgrade on the 110. I quite like the iilumo items, even if they're a bit of a premium over other brands. You'll also note the Stedi Fogs, that will go into the S15 fog lights as I needed to match the bulbs since I got the new ones earlier. I hope they fit as the body is quite a bit longer than your normal bulb.  Annoyingly, I managed to trip the fuse, which normally wouldn't be an issue until I located the fuse. I can't say I've ever come across this. I had lucked out that someone nearby had a spare, but oddly enough Toyota dealerships seem to keep this in stock. I ordered some to keep in my stash and as luck would have it, someone else nearby tripped the same fuse so I passed on the favour.  I also did a little service on the 110 ahead of some additional work coming up. It's been annoying that Goleby's stopped carrying this particular HKS filter for the 110, so now I need to keep them on order from Japan. I also took the opportunity to install a bash plate and number plate riser. The plate riser is such a cheap but nice fix to help really tidy up the car. I'm tempted to now also replace my headlights, on this car. Both items were from Project Aero.    I also needed to replace the rear tyres on the 110, and after trying to get it aligned learnt that I need to replace some bushes in the front end, so that's next.  Closing out this update with a nicer picture as always! 
    • Yeah mate, never miss it.
    • Any going to watch World Time Attack at SMSP this year?
    • Appreciate the correction on the "ground", that will make a huge difference to looking at this. That makes complete sense about AF70/AF71 which is what I had come down to being the issue, one of these. I'll have another look in the ignition wiring when I get a chance next week. I'll also make up a jumper wire for running that AF73 test.  ECU is fine, relay itself is fine, pump harness is fine and the pump itself is fine. I am going to upgrade the Walbro 255 anyway with a DW300 I have since I need to replace the fuel sender and I'm going to upgrade the FPR with my chasebays kit ready for new plenum/injectors/dbw, but I'll get this working first. That's why this is so frustrating. 
×
×
  • Create New...