Hello all. First-time poster building stoke for a Hokkaido trip next month. As a life-long snow driver I can say all good advice in this thread. A maybe obvious tip to add - If you need to brake, look for dry patches to do it on. Plan ahead, scrub off speed where you know you can do it safely, then coast over the slippery stuff.
Another thing about Hokkaido rental cars - they may have AWD and snow tires but still only weigh a few hundred pounds and don't grip the ground like the heavier SUVs and larger cars I was used to. Learned that after a 720 on the way from Kamui to Furano. Luckily the snowbanks were so large and soft the vehicle was unscathed.
Question - Before my last trip I wasted a bunch of time and a bit of money to acquire a piece of paper called an "international driving license" that the rental car people never asked about. Is this ever required for foreign drivers or can I just forget about it this time?
Special technics for driving on snow
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
Hello all. First-time poster building stoke for a Hokkaido trip next month. As a life-long snow driver I can say all good advice in this thread. A maybe obvious tip to add - If you need to brake, look for dry patches to do it on. Plan ahead, scrub off speed where you know you can do it safely, then coast over the slippery stuff.
Another thing about Hokkaido rental cars - they may have AWD and snow tires but still only weigh a few hundred pounds and don't grip the ground like the heavier SUVs and larger cars I was used to. Learned that after a 720 on the way from Kamui to Furano. Luckily the snowbanks were so large and soft the vehicle was unscathed.
Question - Before my last trip I wasted a bunch of time and a bit of money to acquire a piece of paper called an "international driving license" that the rental car people never asked about. Is this ever required for foreign drivers or can I just forget about it this time?