Hi All, we just came back from our trip and just would like to share some of the experience that we have gained from our trip. We are traveling in a group 6 Adults (4 of them are senior citizens) and 2 young children (1 is 1.5 yo and another one is 3.5 yo). With this, we have decided to rent a car (MPV) via toyota rent a car (https://rent.toyota.co.jp/eng/).

Renting a car
- The whole process is easy and I have even called to their customer service desk after place my booking online to confirm the type of car that I am getting. The customer service agent is professional and speak excellence english which make the entire conversation so much easier.
- Collection is easy at Kansai International Airport.
- After custom clearance and collecting your luggage. Leave the main terminal from Level 2 and head to Aero Plaza. The car rental booth is located at Level 1.

Driving in Osaka, Kobe City, Nara and Kyoto
- The road in the housing area can be challenging as the road is very narrow. But after some time, we got used to it already. If you are driving smaller car then should be no issue but during my 1st day driving, I have some issue as I am driving an 8 seaters MPV.
- Toll can be very expensive. Since we are going free and easy, I have selected the "avoid toll" in my google map and Waze to avoid tolls but spend more time on road. But no regrets as we do save a lot from the toll.
- I would recommend using Google Map instead of Waze as Google Map is more updated.
- Just be smart as google map may ask you to take some housing area road but in actual fact you can just stick to the main road.
- Driving in Japan is quite easy just follow the road number which will bring you to your destination.
- Car park is damn expensive. Make sure you include this into your budget. e.g. in Osaka city center can cost you 200 - 300 yen for 15 mins. Tips: Try to look for those with maximum charges. E.g. 800 - 1500 yen max charges.
- Make sure you have the portable wifi with you as well as it make your driving experience much easier.

Attached is our itinerary but some of the places we are not able to go.

 Itinenary___Japan.zip ( 3.65mb ) Number of downloads: 42


This post has been edited by jootat: Jun 28 2017, 02:52 PM