Finding your way: Maps!

[ArmandV]

For the first time or experienced traveler to Japan, having a good map is essential for finding your way. The address system in Tokyo, for example, is not like any you'll anywhere else. Therefore, you will need a good map to get you to the general area to begin with. Once you're there, it would be best to find a police box and ask for specific directions. A friend once described finding a location in Tokyo is "like trying to swim the ocean."

Last year, I had to find a location in the Chiyoda-ku section of Tokyo. As it turned out, I stopped at the New Otani Hotel for some coffee (and to get out of the rain). Luckily, I found a help desk there. They had a Mapquest-like system that was able to punch up a map to where I was going with a specific diagram of the building I needed to find.

Right now, here's some of the maps that I found useful (some more than others).

These were provided by the Japan National Tourist Organization Japan National Tourism Organization Web Site:

This one I obtained at the Shiba Park Hotel. These are generally available in lobbies of member hotels:

This one I obtained somewhere in Tokyo, most likely at a hotel. It is a nice pocket-sized map:

This one I obtained at a Japan Expo in Los Angeles from the Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau http://www.tcvb.or.jp:

 

[ArmandV]

Here's another from JNTO.

 

[Mike Cash]

Could I ask you to do something just to satisfy my curiosity?

Take a look in all those maps and see if you can find out when was the last time they were updated. Not the pamphlets or booklets they're in, but the actual content of the maps themselves.

 

[ArmandV]

Could I ask you to do something just to satisfy my curiosity?

Take a look in all those maps and see if you can find out when was the last time they were updated. Not the pamphlets or booklets they're in, but the actual content of the maps themselves.

Sure (I'll admit some are a few years old). They will say "based on data as of...":
The TCVB one is dated 2/2002.
JNTO Tokyo is dated 2/2005.
JNTO Japan, 1/2004.
JNTO Kyoto /Nara, 7/2004.

I couldn't find dates on the small pocket and the Shiba Park Hotel Tokyo maps. The Shiba Park one I got in August 2004 and the small pocket one was either then or last year. None came from pamphlets or books. I generally rely on the JNTO ones because I order new maps and brochures before I leave for Japan (or while planning).

 

[Mike Cash]

Thanks. I must say, they are much more recent than I had expected.

 

[nice gaijin]

The design looks like it's from the 70's... I recently made a pamphlet about public transportation for a language project, here's the front. (yes, it's a pamphlet for foreigners in Japanese; there's an English version but I needed to make it in Japanese as well for the class)

 

[ArmandV]

Thanks. I must say, they are much more recent than I had expected.

You're a trucker in Japan, right? So you should have some experience on this. What were you expecting and what maps do you use? Do you use GPS?

 

[ArmandV]

Anybody have this book? What do you think of it?

Amazon product ASIN 4770028091

 

[ArmandV]

I noticed the other day that a JNTO Tokyo map that I obtained around 2001 is badly outdated. I keep it in my desk at work and I noticed some subway lines weren't shown. When I got home, the subway lines were in the most latest edition of the JNTO Tokyo map (shown above). I thought it was interesting that some subway lines opened in the last 5-6 years.

 

[Mike Cash]

You're a trucker in Japan, right? So you should have some experience on this. What were you expecting and what maps do you use? Do you use GPS?

Last question first: No, I don't use GPS. The primary reason is that I don't have the extra money to buy one. Also, as a professional driver it is also sort of a point of pride to know where the heck I am without one.

Back in the days when I drove smaller trucks and consequently made deliveries to new places very often, I could have used one. They didn't exist yet, though. I had a collection of maps that would stack up about two feet high. I have always believed in having at hand the most detailed map possible for the area I'm going. Most of my fellow drivers, on the other hand, will attempt to locate an obscure place in Tokyo on some map which shows half of the Kanto plain on a single page. (Only a very slight exaggeration). Another problem is that I can't get into all the roads on the map, and with a paper map it is easier (for me) to get some idea whether I will be able to get down a road or not with my truck. You don't want to go exploring side roads in a tractor-trailer in the hopes that the road will turn out somewhere or that it won't suddenly become impassable. Getting back out again would involve calling the cops to block off traffic while I try to back out. Not my idea of fun.

These days, I haul the intermodal (ship-train-truck) containers almost exclusively and the number of places I go is far, far fewer. Now I carry a Kanto area map of about 40,000:1 resolution, with some few areas at 20,000:1. I also have an excellent 10,000:1 map of Tokyo and a map of Chiba prefecture which has 10,000:1 for the western part of the prefecture (call it "East Tokyo" if you like) and somewhat less detailed for the remainder of the prefecture. I actually only end up consulting a map maybe 4 or 5 times a year now.

 

[Mike Cash]

Some links to relevant posts I've made to usenet, which may be helpful and which will certainly save me the trouble of retyping:


Message to any drivers out there :English Navigation System
http://tinyurl.com/q8jgc
http://tinyurl.com/mywqw

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

Anybody have this book? What do you think of it?
Amazon product ASIN 4770028091

I have a copy of that atlas. Pretty decent. I use it when I'm on foot 'up the smoke'. It also has enough of Kanagawa for me to easily find an infamous 'den of ill repute' occasionally patronized by myself and Mike.

The Madame's Austrian sidekick's domicile is also detailed.

Otherwise, when I'm driving I totally cheat and use my very adequate navi system.

 

[Mike Cash]

I have a copy of that atlas. Pretty decent. I use it when I'm on foot 'up the smoke'. It also has enough of Kanagawa for me to easily find an infamous 'den of ill repute' occasionally patronized by myself and Mike.

Shhhh! My mother might see this someday!

(And you do realize that you've just publicly acknowledged actually knowing a bum like me, don't you?)

 

[ArmandV]

I have a copy of that atlas. Pretty decent. I use it when I'm on foot 'up the smoke'. It also has enough of Kanagawa for me to easily find an infamous 'den of ill repute' occasionally patronized by myself and Mike.
The Madame窶冱 Austrian sidekick's domicile is also detailed.
Otherwise, when I'm driving I totally cheat and use my very adequate navi system.

Den of "ill repute," eh? Oh well, to paraphrase James Bond, "When one is in Japan, one should delve deeply into its treasures."

 

[ArmandV]

Last question first: No, I don't use GPS. The primary reason is that I don't have the extra money to buy one. Also, as a professional driver it is also sort of a point of pride to know where the heck I am without one.

I was curious about the GPS as I got interested in them while going here and there via taxis in Tokyo and Sendai. Thanks.

 

[spacejase777]

i have a gps Garmin 330c, would I be able to download tokyo? and read it in english? Actually, this may be more trouble than its worth..

But thanks for the maps..!! I think Shibuya looks like a great place to start.

 

[ArmandV]

i have a gps Garmin 330c, would I be able to download tokyo? and read it in english? Actually, this may be more trouble than its worth..

But thanks for the maps..!! I think Shibuya looks like a great place to start.

On the JNTO maps, you can request them though their website (the link is included with the original post). They have offices in the U.S. that you can get them from. Let them know what cities you're interested in and they'll send you the maps...free! Also, if you want hotel, ryokan guides, etc., they can also send you guidebooks for those, also free. You'll definitely need a good Tokyo map to navigate around.