This is my 5th time renting a car and drive in Japan, this time we will be covering a little bit of Tohoku region (The North East Region) of Japan, which will be Miyagi prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture and Tokyo.
If are have been to Japan many times and wanted to explore the outskirt of Japan, I highly recommend you to rent a car in the airport and drive around.
You may want to refer to my other self drive in Japan
- TOP 5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD SELF DRIVE IN KYUSHU – 8 DAYS – ITINERARY SUMMARY Fukuoka Airport
- JAPAN 8 DAYS SELF DRIVE IN CENTRAL REGION – SUMMARY ITINERARY (Central Japan) Nagoya Airport
- WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT HIROSHIMA, SHIKOKU & KANSAI JAPAN WITH A RENTAL CAR? Hiroshima Airport
- 11 DAY JAPAN COUNTRYSIDE WITH SELF DRIVE ITINERARY Kansai Airport
- 8 Day Japan Tohoku Narita Airport.
If you have grandparents and young children, renting a car is a good choice because many of the Japan railway station does not have elevator or lift up. It is also cheaper because railway and shinkasen tickets aren’t cheap. Petrol is about one time cheaper in Japan compare to Singapore. If you are worried about parking, you can follow my hotel accommodation. Where I stay usually provide car park, usually is free in outskirt but charged about 1-200yen ( 10 to 20 SGD) for a night in the city area.
Now, my recent self drive in Tohoku Region, covering :
- Nikko – 2 nights
- Sendai – 1 nights
- Yamagata 2 nights
- Tokyo 2 nights
I gotten a scoot flight which arrived in Narita airport early in the morning. Once you touched down in Narita airport and out from the custom. You can go get the breakfast in the Lawson convenient store where there sell many yummy onigiri, rice ball and other noodles where you can just heat it up in their microwave.
I have scheduled to pick up my rental car at 8 am. My rental car company is Alamo. If you didn’t see the staff in the rental desk, you can make a call using the phone provided on the desk. The rental car company is situated 5 mins drive from the airport. They will send your car to you immediately.
Day 1 Nikko
- Where I stay in Nikko : Hotel Natural Garden Nikko
- The hotel has bed and onsen bath facilities. We include breakfast also, which is served to our table in the morning. Not buffet, probably because there is not many guests. Breakfast is western style with omelette egg, bread, sausages, 2 type of fruits and 3 glasses of drinks, milk, water and juice.
- The hotel has free parking lot. There is a bath tax upon checking out the hotel, that you need to pay.
- My first destination is Toshogu Shrine, Rinno-ji Temple & Futarasan Shrine (Unesco)
- Narita – Toshogu Shrine – 191km (2h 40 min)
- For lunch we have Japanese western food in Nikko town which has big open space parking lot. As for lunch, we could not find any restaurant to dine in as most restaurants needed booking. For small town in Japan, if you don’t have a booking for the restaurant, you won’t find a seat. But fear not, there are always 24 hours convenient stores that sell yummy bento. We ended up having Indian cuisine which is owned by Indian. I don’t quite like the taste as it is not the Japanese indo ryori. It is very authentic Indian style.
Day 2 Nikko
- EDO Wonderland
- Kegon waterfall & Lake Chuzenji
We spent whole morning until 2 to 3pm in Edo wonderland then drive to Kegon waterfall and Lake Chuzenji. Please get your Edo wonderland ticket from Klook to get about 20% discount. Buying on the spot in Edo Wonderland ticketing counter is more expensive.
From Edo Wonderland to Lake Chuzenji, it takes about less than an hour drive. The road to Lake Chuzenji is winding, you need to pass through some winding mountain path and go up to the top of the mountain. At the top, there is Lake Chuzenji where people go for boat paddling. Lake Chuzenji is very near to Kegon Waterwall, you can walk, 10 mins to reach the waterfall. The waterfall lift closes at 5pm so be there early. If you miss the timing, you can still see the waterfall, there are stairs to go to the observatory, just go by the stairs, but only about 2 storey down.
At night, we drove to a small town near Nikko to do some groceries shopping, buying tons of snacks and some bento to eat in our hotel.
Day 3 Sendai
Before going to Sendai, we visit Matsushima and do a boat ride. Matsushima is sometimes being called as little Halong Bay. There are 260 small islands in different shape. We got out ticket at the ticketing window because we are not sure what time we will arrive so we could not book in advance.
- Nikko – Matsushima – 281Km (3 hr 15min)
- On the way from Nikko to Matsushima kaigan, there are highway rest area where you can have your lunch or break there.
- Matsushima – Hotel Monterey Sendai – 30Km (42 min)
Where I stay in Sendai : Hotel Monterey Sendai
The location for Hotel Monterey is good, very near to the train station and buses terminal, it is in the middle of the city center. There are many restaurants and shopping right outside the hotel. The hotel has an elevator car park which cost 1500 yen for overnight.
We paid for the breakfast, we choose Japanese breakfast which is awesome, served in a beautiful bento box served in variety of dishes.
Day 4 Yamagata
- Zao Fox Village – this is our first destination, to see foxes walking around freely. There are timing for you to cuddle baby foxes also but you need to pay extra 1000 yen.
- Lunch on the highway
- Afternoon, we went to cherry picking since it is season in June.
- Arrived at Takamiya Hotel Lucent
Where we stay: Takamiya Hotel Lucent
- We opt for breakfast and dinner, the first night we have sukiyaki beef and second night dinner was pork shabu shabu. The hotel is Japanese style. It has tatami and futon and onsen bath, both indoor and outdoor.
- It is best if you include dinner in your stay, because there aren’t any restaurant open nearby. But there is Lawson convenient store sit right outside the hotel.
Day 5 Zao Okama Crater and Mount Zao
- To go up Okama, it is about an hour drive. It is very windy, best to get a jacket in June. Winter should be freezing.
- In the afternoon, you can visit Yamadera, we missed out this one because we were lost in the mountain for a while and ended up having lunch in Aeon in Yamagata city. Because the weather is too hot, we went back to our hotel to rest for the day.
Day 6 Tokyo
Where we stay : Dai-ichi Hotel Ryogoku
The hotel has a very good location to the subway which is next to the hotel. We opted for breakfast which is buffet style but the variety is only average.
- We opted for breakfast for 2 days here. There is elevator car park which cost 2000 yer per night.
- Yamagata to Tokyo 375Km (4 hr 36min), use toll road and the charges is about 9000 yen.
- We catch a subway to Ueno and walk around in Ueno and Ameyoko
Day 7
- Drive to Tokyo Disneysea, the parking is 2500 yen whole day. Alternatively you can also catch the hotel free disneysea bus which depart at 730am from the lobby but you need to make reservation with the front desk.
- At night we went to Akihabara
Day 8
- Check out hotel but our car is still park in the hotel. We took train and subway to Shinjuku and Shibuya
- At 3pm, we drove to check in Narita Tobu Hotel
- Visit Narita san before we return our car
Day 9
- Catch the hotel free airport bus to the airport.
Final thought
If you have been driving in Singapore and Malaysia, it is manageable to drive in Japan. The traffic even in Tokyo area wasn’t too bad. Driving in the countryside is straight forward, just follow the GPS in the rental car. Also set your google map in your phone to double check the distance. Driving in the Tokyo area city is a bit tricky as there are many roads and can be a bit messy so I suggest you to go by ETC to avoid confusion but you need to pay for toll fees.
With my guide, you will also find where to stay and usually come with car park. You can use it as a reference.
Most of the small town in Japan, like Nikko and Yamagata, the shops and restaurants close at 5pm, restaurants may close at 8pm. Reservation is needed for restaurants in the small town. Alternatively you can opt for dinner in the Ryokan or hotel when you stay in the countryside. Worse scenario, there are still lots of 24 hours convenient stores such as Lawson, Seven Eleven and Family Mart which offer bento set meals.