Road atlas for driving in Japan

[Roberta]

Hi to everybody,
according to the experience of somebody who has driven in Japan I would like to know which is the best bilingual (japanese - english) road atlas I can purchase.
Many thanks for suggestions, bye
Roberta

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

This is the most common bi-lingual atlas that you'll find in Japanese bookstores:
Road atlas Japan | |本 | 通販 | Amazon

I've got a couple which I picked up over ten years ago and they used to get the job done. Once I had enough kanji to read (or be able to look up in my electronic dictionary) my departure and arrival points I soon switched to Japanese-only maps - far more accurate and larger-scale. It is possible to navigate this country by convenience stores, gas stations and car dealerships.

Nowadays I just use my Japanese navi-system.

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[Roberta]

Road atlas

Hallo Mr. Sumo ,

thanks for your suggestion, I had already read something about this atlas when I was searching and I thought it could be the right one, after your suggestion I'm sure it is.

I will be in Japan in August and I will drive from Aomori to Tokyo, of course not directly but visiting all Tohoku ken, I want to experience as many onsen as I can, I'm crazy about Japanese onsen!

Have a nice day, bye

 

[Mike Cash]

I had that atlas and in my opinion it is atrocious.

You're better off learning to work with Japanese maps, as they are far more up-to-date and far more useful.

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

After searching for a few minutes I found this site:
http://www.outdoorjapan.com/contents/area_guides?language=english
which could probably give you enough onsen ideas for one month.

I would pick-up a copy of that road atlas ASAP. It has the kanji place names on the maps too. Then plan out at least the first week of your trip using online onsen guides, Google Maps and your bi-lingual atlas. Fellow onsen customers are likely to recommend other resorts in the Tohoku region (BTW Tohoku is the name for the northern most part of the Honshu island - it's not an actual prefecture).

Are you renting a car?

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[Roberta]

Actually I'm planning my trip very carefully because I don't want to miss a thing. First of all I'll be in Aomori during the Neputa Matsuri, it's been told that is wonderful and I've already booked the hotel in Hirosaki. I've planned to stay in some onsen such as Aoni onsen, Tsuta Onsen, Goshogake, Nyuto etc, the problem is that the most interesting "secret" ones have the site only in japanese and I can't book a room from Italy without knowing the language.
I will do this trip with my boy-friend and we rent a car for 20-25 days, I think that is the best way to visit Tohoku Region without loose too much time.
Fortunately there's internet!! How could we have lived without it?