Testing testing one two, testing testing This life where I'm from video is sponsored by Skillshare. Hello world trains in Japan are awesome Look at this cute little one. Look at this fast one Look at this futuristic one, but there's a lot you can miss out on if you only stick to where the trains go So that's why I rented a car and spent the whole day driving around only to pass on through a building for a few seconds Did I rip off this idea from 'Only in Japan'? Yes. Yes, I did Thanks for the idea, John But I can't credit him with the whole idea because the inspiration for driving actually came from watching Michaela's video a lot of people ask questions about how they can explore deep Japan and really the best advice I can give you for that is to get your international license I rent a car when you get here because I think like no matter where you're staying whether it be Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya Or Kobe or Fukuoka. Just getting in your car and driving up to the mountains is always going to be a rewarding experience especially on a beautiful day like today Honestly after watching that I thought hey why not get in the car and go out and explore? I had always had a driver's license in Japan and a father-in-law's car I could borrow but since trains are so convenient in Tokyo I've never really used it beyond though once every couple month trips to stock up on cheese and bacon at Costco and yes some good Old Canadian maple syrup and even then sometimes I just take my bike However, recently, I've been starting to get out of the city more and there are lots of great things You can easily see and do if you have a car since I know a lot of your watching from outside of Japan You might want to know if you are even allowed to drive here Sure just get an international driving permit You can get one in most countries and many of them including Japan will recognize it Every country that has a color in this map has a system in place I was going to talk about renting cars and I'll get to that but it's kind of boring So let's go for some driving in the countryside plus it gives me the excuse to use some of my drone shots And Of course while drones are cool. I thought it necessary to capture the experience with the GoPro as well It just took me a bit of time to get set up But once I finally figured it out it was smooth sailing from there Well, that was good while it lasted Construction will always get you even when there's no one there. Like no other drivers. No workers even but seriously in my humble opinion Driving in the countryside is the best reason to drive around Japan. Not only can you go to places tourists don't often go Wow You can also have fun figuring out whether roads are one way, or two way Hint in the countryside roads are almost always two-way no matter how small Luckily for me. Most of my encounters didn't involve having to reverse and simply required edging over to the side of the road But there is that one time which I don't have footage for that I have to reverse up a hill to let someone by but I do have some drone footage of the area Those were fun times fun times indeed As much fun as playing chicken with oncoming traffic is I usually preferred it when this happened But just a word of warning when this happens It doesn't mean you're suddenly on a one-way street Thank you very much brother Okay, so back to some serious stuff how to get a car it's easy you can rent it honestly, just Google car rental Japan and you'll find lots of websites where you can do, so Now this is one of those situations where it's don't do as I say do as I do. Now, let me explain. I did a search in English for rental cars in Japan and I came up with stuff, but then my wife decided like hey I'm going to search as well. And this is what she found Rakuten travel and pretty good prices This is actually about two thousand yen cheaper than what I ended up getting However, if you do the same search Rakuten travel but switch it to English mode This is the type of price you'll get so significantly more money for the same type of cars and I did compare so this is like Suzuki Wagon Honda Fit this was like the compact class Nissan March They're significantly more expensive than what I actually paid from my car so if you have the ability to go to the web in Japanese I suggest trying that for the rental cars and the rental car agencies They all handle and deal with things into English so you should be ok But for a compact car expect to pay around 4000 to 6000 yen per day. A nice thing is that you can easily get a car from airports or near major train stations When I arrived in Okayama Airport this sign was waiting for me I've never had this happen before and I know it's the name the car company and not mine But I asked if I could take a picture. So there you go I then proceeded to get in the shuttle van and this is actually a picture of a different car company just so you know and after a short ride, I was dropped off at the car rental place where I signed the paperwork Basically, you do a quick visual inspection of the car sign your life away and then off you go now I'm going to use my drone footage once again to cover up some boring. Talk. Can you get a baby seat? Yes for a small fee. Does it have English navigation? Yes, most places do. Automatic transmission? yes! winter tires? extra! four-wheel-drive? extra. insurance? Basic is free, but you can pay for extra special coverage If you like. ETC card? You can rent one and you almost certainly want to but what's an ETC card? That you'll find out later Let's drive around the city a bit the city is generally the worst type of driving you can do in Japan It can be busy confusing and parking can be expensive if you're going to be staying in cities Especially near major areas. I wouldn't recommend bringing a car take this as an example I was driving to Okayama, which is not a major city in Japan it's around the 20th largest but still nonetheless decently sized with the population of 700,000 Parking the car near the center was nearly the same price that paid for my capsule hotel Don't tell anyone but I paid 2,800 yen for this place, but I'll tell you all about it in another video But yeah parking a few streets over cost me 2500 yen, since I'm talking about parking Let's get into that section of the video in Japan most generally parked by backing in It's much faster when you're trying to make a quick getaway Unless you're locked in like this. Yeah while making this video I wanted to record the little gate come down which I successfully did after having my credit card rejected and thankfully having the 2500 yen that it cost a park available in cash on me. Alright, I'm free Unfortunately, I took too long packing up and that shot I showed you. Yeah, it's not supposed to lock you in like that Don't worry 100 yen later, and I was free. Once free, I went to the highway which is why I needed the ETC card So here we go Well now I got it so try to put it in The wrong, wrong way? (Machine: Volumn Level 1) Take it out. (Greg whispers) Oh that's the way! ETC card is short for electronic toll collection card. Many of Japan's highways are tolled. You technically don't need a Toll card to go through you can pay in cash but using an ETC card lets you bypass that hassle Also, if you're renting a car you can get unlimited passes. So check that out if you're going to be driving lots I'm fairly sure. I could have benefited from getting one Driving on the toll roads will almost certainly add up to more than what you might spend on gas Anyways, here's how the toll gates work. If you have an ETC card, and it's properly inserted into the machine Go through the purple lane if you don't or if you're unsure go through the green lane The green lane is where you can pay a machine, paying an attendent, and your ETC card will also work there So if you somehow haven't inserted your ETC card correctly I'm not seeing this because I've ever done this but let's say if you didn't insert your card correctly It's a lane where stopping is expected and you can get some help Just to be sure and once you go through the gates, you're on the highway, which is generally pretty great in Japan The roads are well-maintained the drivers are generally half decent and you can cruise along happily the speed limits vary So look at the signs posted to see what they are but 80 km/h (50mph) seems to be a fairly common one Since Japanese drive on the left-hand side of the road you'd stick left when normally driving and then move over to the right when passing Left slow, right fast. Now just because there are posted speed limits. It doesn't mean people always follow them I've never had any issues going with the speed of traffic in the left lane where I find people will normally follow the speed limit Or go perhaps 10 or 20 kilometers (6-12mph) above it If you follow the speed of traffic in the left lane, you should be fine And because my stats tell me that 32 percent of you watching are in the United States 80 Kilometers an hour is like 50 miles an hour now if you're on city streets and don't see any speeds posted Especially in small streets around housing. The default speed limit is 30 kilometers an hour, which is like 20 miles an hour I'd strongly recommend sticking to the speed limit as it's very common to find people and bicycles Travelling around in the middle of it in the small city streets of Japan people rule the road, not cars but back to the highway I like driving on it, but it's the interchanges that I'm not so fond of Six different roads. What in the world do you do? and I think I Don't know am I on the right way? I think I'm on the slower Road now ten minutes. No, I don't know And now I'm a toll gate slowing down this is How does that is like insane for to me Hey like, you take one wrong way, and it's all over for ya Google Maps, while good, gets it right like 90% of the time Why am I not going towards Osaka City? I don't know. I don't know. I think Google just messed me up I told me to go right when I should have gone left because I saw the sign for Osaka City and I thought to myself let's go Osaka City, but Ha I didn't trust my instincts on this one and now I'm screwed and Google I don't know if you can look at the maps. Can you look at the maps? See it says I should go left but I'll see there's nothing there's nothing left. I'm stuck. I hear Navi time is better So if you can read Japanese, perhaps try that, or just the in-car navigation system, but I've also had issues with in-car navigation Because of outdated maps so I tend to use Google Maps and then get angry at it when it inevitably leads me the wrong way and Another thing, when you're in tunnels, which there are a lot of, your GPS will cut out Besides the interchanges highway, driving is kind of uneventful which I think is a positive when traveling at high speeds On the other hand when traveling at low speeds. Well, maybe it's better to not be driving at all When you get tired of driving on the toll roads You can pull over to a PA or an SA which are short for parking area and service area These are pull-up points that don't officially take you off the toll road. I've never seen such concept in North America So this is how it works the PAs are more like big lots with bathrooms some vending machines and maybe some quick serve restaurants Service areas on the other hand have all that plus full restaurants places for your dogs to stretch your legs gift shops It's all in one organized complex Just as a lot of people find out that Japanese convenience stores are a lot better than the ones back home Go get the specialty ice cream everywhere you go. I think you'll find the same thing with these service areas Nice bathrooms that you don't feel afraid to use decent food and then overall pleasant experience So we're gonna try some Momo ice cream peach ice cream Ain't bad. Ain't bad. Now something that makes sense now But really surprised me was that when you hit up one of these areas there can be an almost carbon copy on the other side My wife was telling me that some go to both sides to compare the food If you watch us just for a little bit you can see the point in my flight where discovered the mirroring of the service areas What like really there's one two, two two service areas. Yeah So this was a regular service area, but I heard stories Okay, my wife told me but there are some destination ones as well as in people specifically drive to a spot just for the Service area and that's how I ended up driving into this tunnel the fourth longest underwater tunnel in the world Popping out of the tunnel I found myself on this artificial island called Mihotaru, which translates to Sea Firefly. From there You can see Tokyo Bay go shopping and check out the "Kaze no Tou", Tower of wind That's a big air intake for the whole tunnel system This is in fact the real blade that they use to cut the tunnel that I just drove through Unfortunately and Understandably, there's a drone ban here. So no shots of this from overhead. However, I thought this shot was cool So enjoyed for a few moments But over here at Ehime there was no such ban. Before driving over this beautiful bridge I flew over it This was taken from another rest stop and this was also unique in that It was also a beach. I wondered why no one was swimming. It was October but in this part of Japan the temperature during the day got up with the mid 20s, which again I'll convert to American. So somewhere in the 70s. This little crab guy seemed happy enough. I was considering taking a quick dip I did have my swimsuit packed just in case but then I found this sad little guy. Yep I didn't need any run-ins with jellyfish. So no swimming for me that day. I did lots of driving over five days, but only ever had to fill up twice I filmed a bit about filling up gas but essentially depending on where you are You'll get self or full serve if you don't know what to do. There's attendants So I'm sure they'll help you with your card in paying Just remember that gas tank positions and levers might not be where you think they are So keep that in mind when pulling in but something I did think to highlight was the car wash. So it's automatic one in Japan car wash moves around you. You don't need to wash your rental cars I want to be completely clear. I only did this to film the short segment Parking is also something I did just for you because like I mentioned earlier parking in the city can be no fun That's why when I was in Osaka. I was surprised to find this on street parking so easily Oh come on. You got it? Yep. Okay, so 300 yen ticket for 60 minutes of street parking in Osaka Oh come on Doesn't like my 100 yen Yes, there you go, baby. Give it to me. Ah, that's what I saw at the other car. Okay, cool, Peel it And then stick it, okay Wait a sec like this no like What oh Okay, I got it. I got it see you just Peel out this. Oh my god. I did it so horribly Yes. Okay. Look Here we go. Oh, yeah. Hey, how's it going? Hey Toby do you know a coffee shop around here? The coffee shop just need it quick to go coffee because we have to get back on the road. I think if you go Yeah Well I just arrived here so I don't know. No we neither, we just arrived here. It's my first time in Osaka you make a video about Osaka? Yeah driving in Japan. Oh driving, so we just drove to Osaka and now we're driving back today Yeah, and so we gotta like drive back. So I'm just getting coffee to stay awake and then doing that. Yeah Okay Yeah, sure. Sure, man, cool All right Sorry, I have to keep the footage in because it's rare for a viewer to actually recognize me and say hello So hi, Toby, sorry, I was in a rush for coffee because we really had to get coffee and go back on our three-hour ish Trip to Okayama Elizabeth is no help and then like hey, what do we do now? Seriously, what am I do where am I going? Here's like we're like in Mario Kart right now. It is yeah. That'll be so perfect too. Oh yeah, this section was supposed to be about parking. Now. This parking was really all for you Yes, this is one of those automated car park buildings. Let's just check out what happens And yeah, that's all that happens your car automatically gets rotated into the tower of parked cars It's all pitch black so my camera caught nothing I have some more cool footage to show So please stick around but I want to pause the video briefly and say thank you to the sponsor which you would think would be Some Japanese rental car agency or even the toll highway system, but no, it's Skillshare If you've been enjoying the title sequences with the fancy looking graphics well That's thanks to what I learned from watching Jake Bartlett's 'The Ultimate Guide to Kinetic Type in After Effects' course, but hey Maybe you're not into motion graphics and more into starting your own business Making websites, or traveling with kids. With over 17,000 classes, there's something for everyone in the Skillshare online learning community Premium Membership gives you unlimited access to high-quality classes from experts working in their fields so you can improve your skills Unlock new opportunities and do the work you love Skillshare is also more affordable than most learning platforms out there and an Annual subscription is less than ten dollars a month and the first 500 people to use my link which is found in the description And get two months of Skillshare premium for free Okay, so let's get to the goal of the whole trip Which I teased at the start which is this, at this point in time I was feeling relieved worried and excited all at the same time Okay, like is it is it 600 meters 400 meters? Is this it? This is it? Okay, dude, don't mess this up. Come on Come on, Bobby. Okay. I'm just driving like nice~ and~ easy~ thru the building. Yes, the light is beautiful Get it We're going through the freaking building and that is it. That is the building. But let's see. Oh look at this view That is a pretty cool view though. Look at that tower That is cool. Oh Yes, I like this train yard over Osaka station over there Well, this is a cool path though. I gotta say This is a cool path to take Yes, I visited Osaka just to do that it was cool though, but I'll have to go back properly on another day I want to ride that monorail Also, thanks Bobby for helping me out so much during my time in Okayama And for also not screwing up the shot. Bobby actually has a YouTube channel as well, which I'll put a link to in the description Now I started off the whole video talking about how you can get to places driving that you can't get to by train especially Outside of Tokyo, but I think driving around Tokyo once can be a fascinating experience For example, you can drive through the grounds of the imperial castle, you know, just casually motoring gone through the Emperor's personal gardens. I Quite enjoy the contrast of new and old Japan Another thing you can do is cross over the famous Rainbow Bridge You can see a lot while on a train, but you can also get some different vantage points in scenery when traveling in a car Although you can also do that on a bus tour which would actually give you a better vantage point, but I digressed So yes trains in Japan are cool I even made a whole video where I did nothing but travel around in them for a day But if you have the opportunity going out and about in a car can be equally cool. Thanks for watching. See you next time. Bye What's driving like where you're from?
Driving in Japan is a bit terrifying at first because everything is so close to the road you do not have the range of vision you're used to in other countries.
Kind of strange that he's never seen a service centre on a highway before, and doesn't think they exist in North America.
How hard is it to get an international license?
is it real?