cheeseman 1 Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 We are planning some trips to "Cheese Hotspots" in Japan using this new special price. (Perhaps that should be "Warmspots" considering Japan isn't too hot on cheese but it's all relative!) I'm sure it will get lots of people out and about. Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Here's a question. What actually is the speed limit on expressways (in places where a number isn't displayed)? Is it 100 or 110? Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Isn't it 80? Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 bobby: expensive Link to post Share on other sites
griller 9 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 80 is way too low. I heard (just heard) that you're pretty safe up to about 110. Wonder if that is true. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I heard the same. In fact, I heard 113 is the magic number. I wish I KNEW! Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I normally drive at 110 to 130 and I've never had a ticket. Ive done Kobe-Nagano about 20 times. Officially, I thought the limit was 80km on highway though. Of course, anyone driving that speed would be inviting an accident due to relative motion. My wife sometimes hassles me to go around 90km and it feels like I am endangering the cars behind. Link to post Share on other sites
snowbender 3 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Just asked a few colleagues here, interestingly enough the magic 113 number came up. The guy next to me said if you keep it to 110 you should be ok. Link to post Share on other sites
klingon 10 Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I think it's only the mad speeders that get caught. I have seen quite a few being chased, often by "unmarked" police cars. 80 does seem very slow though, and it's mad when there are some parts that have a limit of 50! Link to post Share on other sites
joshnii 2 Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 There's stretches of the Kanetsu that are 50, it's a laughable limit for an expressway. One thing that gets me is when an expressway goes down to single lane like it does to the north of Niigata near Shibata. Get behind a slow dude on there and you are stuck. Taking the normal road in that area is sometimes faster. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 My journey over the weekend would normally have been just under 9000 yen, but cost me 2000 yen. Nice! Link to post Share on other sites
oblivion 5 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 With all these queues I'm seeing on the news today, cheap as it is ---- any fun?! Surprisingly haven't heard any moans from environmental types as well with this "lets drive long distances fever" Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Will be interesting to see how busy they are round here. They are talking about at least double the normal Golden Week traffic - that will mean lots of waiting in hotspots. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 We've used it twice so far. There was no apparent increase in the inaka-city-inaka direction on ordinary weekends. It might be different going the other way. For an environmental point of view, I think the highways should all be free. Most of the damage is done building them in the first place. They are all built with 100% public money, so the public should be able to use them regardless of ability to pay. According to the rules, the popular ones like the Tomei should all be free anyway. The collected tolls have already covered the construction cost. Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 environmental point of view --- all those people burning up more and more petrol Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 I'll be hiring a Land Cruiser for my road trip. Lets just pour the petrol down the drain. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 You seem ever so regretful there thursday! Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 I'm laying low those queues on the expressways do not look like fun. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 The Kanetsu (from Niigata to Muikamachi) was definitely busier than usual on Tuesday afternoon but nothing that caused people to slow down. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 I went to Nagano for golden week at what should have been peak time (friday evening up, last night coming back). Sure there were much more cars than usual, but the worst it got was crowding causing speed to come down to 80. I'd say it only took me about 20 mins longer than usual, which for a 7 hour journey is not bad at all. It seems the Japanese generally do their journeys really early (actual peak was tuesday evening) which clears up the roads for people like me who go at most the convenient time. Somehow it cost 2500yen not 1000 yen though which confused me a bit, though still cheap. Link to post Share on other sites
JellyBelly 1 Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 What was your route for 2500 yen bobby? Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Nagano -> Miki Ono Off the top of my head, I think several highways are used for that journey but the only ones I can remember are at the Kansai end: 'SANYO' and 'MEISHIN'. On Nagoya-Nagano there must be other highways but I don't recall their names. All seems quite random. Link to post Share on other sites
TheOrange 0 Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 How much would that be normally bobby? Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Paying cash about 2 years ago it was around 13000yen. Then I soon got ETC and used the night discount which brought it down to about 7500yen. So 2500 is sweet, but I just wish it was easier to understand... It is like the dainishinmei douro that goes along the coast from osaka to akashi. At some point you have to pay 700yen but it is not clear to me where the entrance/exits are. Also, when you go west-east theres a flat fee of 700, but coming back there seems to be two gates, one for 500 and one for 200. I gave up trying to understand it. Unless you go online I think it is impossible. Another frustrating time I had on the highway was when I stopped at a 'Parking Area' (PA) just off the highway in Kusatsu (near Biwa-ko). I then found that it was impossible to get back onto the highway! It led me onto a new highway that went a completely different way to Nagoya. In the end I didnt lose much time, but it cost me more cos I had to leave and rejoin the highway in Nagoya so I lost most of my night discount. That was really unbelievable. Link to post Share on other sites
best skier in hakuba 5 Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 I thought they had made it 1000 yen for any expressway outside of Tokyo. Still 13000 > 2500 not bad. Link to post Share on other sites
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