1. Convenience store parking lot is spacious (similar to American parking lot, excluding convenience stores in downtown big cities)
2. Coin parking lots are plentiful in any downtown area, so parking is easy.
3. Compared to Seoul, there are fewer cars and less traffic congestion, making driving easier. (Of course, big cities and Tokyo are exceptions, but even Tokyo is very spacious compared to Seoul.)
Cons
1. If you pay with an ETC card (Hi-Pass) later, you will be surprised to see a large toll gate fee.
Example) When you enter a highway in Tokyo, you have to pay 500 yen. (In Seoul, you have to pay money each time you enter Gangbyeonbuk-ro, Olympic-daero, and Seoul Ring Road)
2. Coin parking lots are different for each parking lot, but if you park without paying attention, parking fees will pile up later. (For a cheap price, it’s damn cheap)
From my experience of traveling to Japan more than 50 times from Okinawa to Hokkaido, if you want to drive a rental car in Japan, try driving in a rural area first. For beginners, Okinawa is recommended as it is the least difficult.
It snows a lot in Hokkaido, so it might be dangerous, but if you wear winter tires, there’s no problem at all. Highly recommended for snow drive
Personally ranked Japanese rental car travel rankings
1. Summer Okinawa (easy driving, tropical island atmosphere recommended)
2. Hokkaido in winter (recommended for snow scenes)
3. Tokyo (roads are a bit complicated, including overpasses, but highly recommended if you want to feel the unique retro bubble feeling of driving in Tokyo)
4. Osaka-Kyoto-Nara
5. Local cities such as Fukuoka