Driving in Japan presents its own set of challenges, especially for those used to roads and traffic “back home.” The most obvious challenge for many is that the traffic moves on the left side of the road instead of the right, but in addition we must get used to sudden double-parking in Tokyo, very narrow streets, and very tight quarters in car parks throughout Japan.
Winter driving in particular can be tough here. Even those accustomed to driving in wintery conditions will find a challenge or two when the snow starts to fly, or when driving through the mountains mid-winter.
We have complied a list of useful tips to keep in mind if you’re new to winter driving here in Japan.
This can be as simple as keeping a small windshield ice scraper, brush, and foldable shovel in the trunk. Trying to scrape your windows with a credit card while you are already late is probably one of the worst ways to start a day; not recommended.
This writer is from St. Louis, Missouri, and we get a decent amount of snow every year, but there is one thing that we do that most of Japan doesn’t do enough of; salt and plow the roads. This means if you are used to “all-weather” being sufficient for winter tires in your home country – BEWARE! You may find your car unable to get up even the smallest incline on a cold, snowy day in Japan.
Because of this, snow tires or chains are imperative for winter driving in Japan. In metro Tokyo, Nagoya or Osaka, you may get away with not needing snow tires, but a set of chains to keep in the trunk is still highly recommended. Especially if you’re prone to driving to ski resorts or freak snow storms hit your neck of the woods.
If your vehicle is rear-wheel-drive, adding some weight in the trunk or cargo bed will help, since the rear drive wheels offer better traction when there is weight above them. To note, cars leased through www.LeaseJapan.com will often come with snow tires as a part of the lease package, in addition to providing English language service and even a 24 hour helpline for car related emergencies.
Make sure to drive with no less than 1/3 of a tank of gas when plying the roads in winter. If you become stuck in the snow you’ll appreciate having enough reserve gas to keep the car’s engine and heater going to keep you warm while you wait for help to arrive. Buying gasoline in Japan.
Always carry battery jumper cables in your car. In cold climates, it’s not unusual for your car’s battery to go dead. If your battery dies you may be able to use jumper cables to jump start it using another vehicle. How to avoid a dead battery? Make sure to run the car’s engine at least a couple of times a week to prevent the battery from going dead in the cold. If you have not used your cars for a few days you should start the engine and leave it running for five minutes before driving. Using jumper cables.
You can’t go anywhere if you can’t see, and your car needs good wipers; if you want to err on the side of caution, grab a new set every fall before the snow hits. Fold the wiper blades away from the glass if you know snow or freezing rain will hit. This prevents the blades from cracking and makes it easy to deice the windshield later, as the blades can freeze to your windshield or become buried under snow. Also make sure to keep a full tank of windshield washer fluid with a winter-mix formulation, because winter windshields can get nasty in a hurry.
Don’t forget your sunglasses. You will need them to keep the glare from snow to a manageable level. Make sure you’ve got gloves handy in case you have to use that scraper. And enough warm clothes or blankets in the car to keep you safe if you break down and need to wait for help. Don’t wear enormous boots if you can help it, as you want your feet to be nimble on the pedals for to adapt to changing road conditions. Your margin for error is a lot slimmer than usual when the roads are slick, so this stuff matters more than you might think.
Keep a space blanket tucked in the glove compartment or some other storage space within reach of the driver. A shiny space blanket’s ability to keep you warm could be a lifesaver, it takes up virtually no space, and it costs less than $10.
Consider keeping bags of kitty litter, sand, and rock salt in the car in case you find yourself stuck in a patch of slippery ice. Sprinkle the salt, sand, and/or kitty litter in front of the driven tires. The salt will melt the ice which forms when you spin the wheels, while the sand and cat litter will provide additional traction to get you free. If kitty litter, sand, and rock salt is not available, put the floor mats under the drive tires instead.
Try to rock your way out. The trick here is to avoid flooring the accelerator and hoping that copious wheel spin will get the job done. In fact, it will just dig you into an even deeper hole by melting the snow as mentioned above. Try the “rocking chair” technique. See if you can get the car to move just an inch in either direction-try going forward first, and if that doesn’t work, switch to reverse. Any movement? Good, then you can start up the rocking chair. Rock as far as you can in that initial direction, and then take your foot off the gas and let the car roll back. When the momentum swings back again, give it a little gas, then let up and so on. If you find it tough going, use the kitty litter around the wheel that is spinning. With any luck, you’ll get a nice rocking chair going, and eventually you’ll rock your way right out of being stuck.
How to dig your car out after a snow storm:
www.wikihow.com/Dig-out-Your-Car-After-a-Snow-Storm
If you do not have a car, but want one, navigate over to www.LeaseJapan.com and check out our selection of new and used vehicles for sale or lease, as well as car insurance. Need a driver’s license first? www.JapanDriversLicense.com has tools, tips, and guides to help you navigate the system. Happy motoring!
The Aichi Nagoya Snow Festival is 2000 tons of snow imported from Nagano and Gifu on an annual basis for our enjoyment!
This family friendly festival offers an equivalent tonnage of fun things to do besides the 2000 tones of snow used to create a 50 meter snow slide which you can fly down using sleds provided by the venue. You can also find trampolines, bouncy castles, stage performances and shows, and a truly impressive selection of food vendors will be on hand to provide your sustenance and any adult beverages you may require.
More info
As a Brit, I am used to winters being cold, wet and miserable, with skies as grey as the faces shielded from the perpetual sleet and drizzle. As such, it always baffled me when Japanese friends would claim, without a second’s hesitation, that the year’s last was their favorite season.
Unsurprisingly, the reason behind this is the food. Hearty, healthy and warming, winter food in Japan is something that many Japanese look forward to all year round. This is just a quick look at what can be enjoyed in this coldest of seasons.
Not being insulated, Japanese homes tend to get cold in winter, so one of the most popular dishes is one that the whole family can crowd around to keep warm. By far and away the most popular is the hot-pot dish ‘nabe’ or ‘nabemono’ (literally ‘things in a pot’). A nabe is actually a large cooking pot, into which a variety of ingredients such as fish, seafood, meats, and vegetables can be simmered in a ‘dashi’ or broth. The dish is cooked on a gas stove around which the family can gather, taking from the bowl and adding more as they go. There are various kinds of nabe such as motsunabe that uses beef or pork with cabbage and chives, kimchinabe that utilizes the Korean spicy fermented cabbage, or yosenabe with meat, seafood, vegetables, tofu, and egg.
Like the nabe, shabu-shabu, my favorite winter dish, is prepared on a gas stove in a large pot and has ingredients such as vegetables, seafood and, most commonly, pork strips. Unlike the nabe dishes, with shabu-shabu each item is cooked individually by stirring it through the boiling water or dashi, and it is from this action that the dish gains its onomatopoeic name as you swish it one way (shabu) and then the next (shabu). The cooked ingredients are then dipped into a vinegar ponzu.
Sukiyaki is a near identical dish, though the broth is a sweeter mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin, and ingredients are dipped in raw egg rather than ponzu.
Another warming dish, oden (in the main picture above) is a huge winter favourite. You may have noticed it in the convenience stores in the big wooden pots near the cashier. If you are anything like me, then you will have noticed the smell before you saw it and been a little revolted (the strong fishy scent is a turn off for me), but ask any Japanese, the conbini oden is not a patch on the real stuff. Often sold by street vendors this dish features a variety of ingredients, such as egg, tofu, konnyaku yam cake, daikon radish, and chikawa fishcake which are stewed for hours in a soy sauce based broth.
Yakiimo is, as the name suggests, baked potato. However this is no ordinary baked potato, but rather the super sweet, purple on the outside, yellow on the inside, Japanese potato. To an older generation, there is nothing to signal the coming of winter quite like the plaintive call of the yakiimo seller, wheeling his cart, singing his arrival “yakiimo, ishi yakiimo”. Nowadays you are most likely to find yakiimo at festivals or at vendors outside supermarkets but you may still find them sold from the back of vans where they wrapped in newspaper to be devoured: creamy, sweet and a true taste of traditional Japanese winter.
There is a good chance that you have seen the Game of Thrones memes going around. A character stares out into the middle distance surrounded by the caption ‘The conbinis are selling nikuman.’ Yes, nothing quite denotes the coming of winter in Japan like convenience stores returning the nikiman to their glass steam cabinets. Nikuman, the Japanese take on the chinese food ‘baozi’, is a steamed flour dough filled with juicy meat (though there are other flavors such as ‘curryman’ and ‘pizzaman’, the latter of which isn’t as awful as it sounds. With the traditional nikuman, I can recommend using a small pinch of mustard. Well worth the funny looks you’ll get!
This last one isn’t exactly a dish that one immediately thinks of in winter, however it is something of a seasonal treat that is best tried at this time of year. Fugu, or blowfish, is famous in the west for being a deadly delicacy, but handled correctly (by chefs that have gone through many years of training), and keeping away from the poisonous liver, it is a delicious dish. In winter there are many places at which you can enjoy a full course, starting with fugu sashimi, deep fried fugu ‘karaage’ and finally, as it is winter after all, fugu nabe. I highly recommend overcoming your fears and searching it out, as it is absolutely delicious. But as I say, ensure that you are dining at a reputable, licensed restaurant. Do not try this at home!
Mark Guthrie
Image by 5th Luna (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via flickr.com (modified)
Image by calltheambulance (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via flickr.com (modified)
Image by Jeff (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via flickr.com (modified)
Image by popopopo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via flickr.com (modified)
Image by Lachlan Hardy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via flickr.com (modified)
Image by Madalina Seghete (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via flickr.com (modified)
Besides skiing and snowboarding, there are a variety of family friendly options to get outside and active this winter. From ice skating to “snow rafting” and even a snow tractor adventure ride for those less interested in getting sweaty; there is no reason to miss out on the great outdoors just because it is cold outside, get the family together and go play outside!
Image by Massachusetts Office of Tra (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via flickr.com (modified)
Of course finding what you like is a matter of buy and try, but there are a few words that will help you on your way if you’re looking for certain qualities in your milk. For starters, the Japanese word for milk is gyuunyuu (牛乳). You might often see something called “Miruku” (ミルク), but this may or may not be real milk. If something is 100% real milk, it will always be labelled 牛乳, and anything else is most likely labelled with 乳製品 (milk product) or 乳飲料 (milk-drink).
Next, you will want to look at fat content. A regular Japanese brand of milk is about 3.6% fat, so you will see this number somewhere on the carton (if only in the details section on the back). A really creamy version might be for example 4.4%, and then a low fat version might be something like 1.8%. Low fat milk is most often labelled like this: 低脂肪牛乳 (teishibou gyuunyuu). You can also find milk fortified with extra calcium (カルシウム) and iron (鉄).
Here are some key words to help you find what you are looking for!
Almond Milk アーモンドミルク (Āmondomiruku)
Image by Toby Oxborrow from Kowloon, Hong Kong (TV in the aisles) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons