Driving in Okinawa

I’ve always enjoyed driving and riding, hence I was really excited to have another opportunity to drive overseas! To get myself in the mood of blogging once more, I’ve decided to start with my driving experiences in Okinawa, Japan (and more!)…. and an accident?!

I’ll definitely write more about the trip in a whole different post altogether, so do keep a lookout for that. This time round, I find that driving in Okinawa, or perhaps, anywhere in Japan, is such a unique experience. But first, what are the things to consider?

Right Hand? Left Hand?

I come from a country where the driving direction happens on the left side of the road, and thus, vehicles are right-hand drive. I have driven in South Korea (Jeju, specifically) where driving is the opposite. But in Japan, it is the same side, so I definitely took very little time to get used to the roads.

Important: If you’re from a country that is left-hand drive and planning to drive on the opposite side of the road, it is important for you to familiarise yourself with the environment. Whenever I drive overseas, there are several things that I do before I actually reserve a car/motorcycle:

1. Read up on travel or local forums about driving environment
2. Knowing the prices of rental cars, petrol and tolls!
3. Driving Distances

Driving License???

As Singapore is recognised under the 1949 Geneva Convention, all International Driving Licenses issued allow Singaporeans to drive in countries such as Iran, Japan and South Korea. This is my second time applying for my IDP – and this time, I went to the one around Kallang. It only costs $20 for an entire year. You can read more from the Automobile Association of Singapore (AAS) here. The whole process took less than 45 minutes for me, both at the Woodlands and Kallang office. Just make the payment, take a photo there (for free!) and wait till they call your name for collection.

Cheap vs. Value

Many times, I do consider going for the cheapest car deals, but I do not want to have the burden of a vehicle breaking down on me. Being a non-local also doesn’t help even though I might have travel insurance to cover excess charges. Hence, it is necessary to know the pros and cons of car rental agencies – good price for a car deal, but poor after-support can ruin your holiday!

Petrol. Some countries have really expensive standards of living (like Iceland) so you need to consider how much you’re willing to shell out on petrol. Sometimes it’s just better to go on public transport or tours. Oh yes, and tolls. For me personally, I am not keen on driving in mainland Japan because of the toll prices. But in Okinawa? There’s only one tolled expressway, and during both times I’ve used the toll, it only costed 270 each time + 30 minutes saved.

Price is definitely a dealbreaker in most situations!

One thing to consider is the country’s environment to driving itself. After reading so many recounts, many reported that there wasn’t a lot of traffic in Okinawa… Oh boy, was I in for a rude shock!

Naha Traffic!

Naha city traffic was horrendous, in my opinion. The junctions were rather close to each other, and there were simply too many traffic lights to pay attention to. Taxis cut all other road users! Hence, the stress was unbearable once I reached base – I returned the car 2 hours earlier!

The good and bad thing about driving in Okinawa was the law abiding drivers. It made sense, because the country was orderly most of the time. But this meant that driving distances were made longer and overtaking is a foreign concept. There were instances where we missed some plans.

So do consider adding more time to your driving distances, and do not underestimate distances especially when you’re driving out to areas outside Naha – which is anywhere beyond Onna, like to Nago City!

Scratched the Car? Got into an Accident?

If you have completely missed all the points above, this section is the most important to know if you are planning to drive in Okinawa. This happened to us (I was the sole driver) when we were in Okinawa. Thankfully, we did not get into an accident, like how we did in Jeju. However, the procedures in Japan is different.

The rental car was scratched on the bottom below the driver’s door. I am not completely sure how I scratched it. But based on my deduction, it either happened when I was parking at the hotel or when I was parking at a coin parking. Japan has this coin parking where you back the car into the lot, and a few minutes later the flap is raised. You cannot drive out unless you pay your parking fee. Hmm… most likely it happened during the latter.

So at the end of the flaps, there’s this big metal box, which to my horror, I probably grazed the car against! Internally, I was panicking because I never read about traveller recounts of reporting car scratches. But it is a thing in Japan. It is considered an accident and it is important to report it to the police, so that your insurance remains valid. Yes, you heard right.

Luckily, I paid enough attention when I picked up the car at ORIX Rent-a-Car. They told me that I need to report anything bad that happened to the car and us when using the car! However, I was still hesitant to call the police. It was just a scratch after all, nobody was hurt!

Despite my hesitance, I still tried to call the car rental outlet where I picked the car up. However, they spoke no English, so I knew I called the wrong number. But before they hung up, they told me to call the English Accident Reporting Hotline. I was still hesitant, but knew that Japan’s rules is stricter than most countries. The last thing I wanted was to pay a huge sum that is not covered by insurance, when it actually could have been!

So first, I called the police. I thought I was going to chicken out, plus what if nobody spoke English? I called 110. Yes, 110 is Japan’s Police number! When they picked up, they were… absolutely in a disarray, because they couldn’t speak English. Luckily, they manage to call a man who was multilingual. I just wasn’t sure if it was a policeman or was a random stranger on the street.

Tip: I remember this word “Eigo” (ay-go) which means English). It works most of the time in restaurants and in daily situations. That means you’re a gaikokujin/gaijin who doesn’t understand “Nihongo” Japanese!

However, things got a little iffy for me because:

1. A car scratch wasn’t an accident, imo, but not in Japan
2. I only realised the car scratch probably days after
3. I wasn’t at the “crime scene”!

So the police wasn’t able to help me by issuing a statement, unfortunately. However, that just meant that I did complete the first step of accident reporting.

Next, I called the rental agency’s English accident hotline. The lady asked me for the plate number, a small number above the main plate number and all my personal details – in English. Then, she told me to stay on the line as she called the Okinawa accident report as she relayed the information to the other lady in Japanese. She occasionally translated questions to me when needed. Most of the time I listened to the call between the Okinawa Accident Reporting Centre and the Car Rental Agency Accident Reporter.

Important: Of course, I had to express that I could not get a police statement out – extremely important to say that because you will need it if you have it. Otherwise, explain the reasons why you couldn’t get it.

After a 15 minute call (thanks Gladys for lending your phone! I’ll pay the call bill), both ladies assured that I need not do anything further, and they will call if need be.

So…

So that’s that. The whole process of reporting from calling the police to the accident report centre took a total of 45 minutes. It could have been shorter, had my phone had constant internet connection.

Upon returning the car in Naha City, the man who took the car checked the scratch and acknowledge the condition of the car. Because I reported the incident to the relevant authorities before returning, I was assured that insurance would cover the damages! The ORIX Rent-a-Car people showed me the actual cost of damages which was around 4500 yen, and it was waived! *happy dance*

Our Car Rental Costs!

Car Rental Agency: ORIX Rent-a-Car
Date Rented: 10 January 2019 to 16 January 2019
Pick-up Location: Naha Airport (Shuttle Bus to Pick-up Location from International Arrival Hall)
Drop-off Location: T-Galleria Naha City (there is an entrance into the mall that says something like Car Rental Return)
Vehicle Class: S Class Non-smoking
Rental charges: 22,383 yen
Collision Damage Waiver (CDW):  0 yen
Rental car Assistance Pack (RAP): 4,536 yen
Cost: 26919 yen
Petrol (Regular), Parking, Toll: 9473 yen

My Overall Thoughts on Driving in Okinawa?

As a whole, despite the several hiccups and underestimating distances between points of interests, driving in Okinawa was an absolute delight. The car scratch incident definitely taught me to stay calm and collected. I had to be more aware of local laws as well, which meant that I needed to respect local laws more. Luck, and definitely because of the sufficient research I did, was on my side, so the trip didn’t take a turn for the worse in the end!

So as a summary, 1) call the police for a statement (if possible) 2) call the car rental agency 3) call the accident report centre (if you’re not forwarded to that call).

Happy driving!