My experience shows that this route has less traffic and fewer signals and it is easier to speed. It takes approximately 45-60 minutes to get to Narita on this route.

Download a kmz file for Google Earth

You can enjoy a tour of the route by clicking on "Tools" > "Play tour".

The trick is to minimize your time on Route 408 as much as possible. The above route follows Route 408 after entering Chiba Prefecture, but I believe this part can be improved. Once I encountered a very slow, huge trailer three cars ahead of me carrying a very big part of something. It almost made me late for my flight that time.

I welcome other recommendations, impressions, and feedback. Let's develop a faster route to Narita!

3 Comments

• At March 13, 2007, Anonymous wrote:

  You can keep road 11, turn right to 79, turn right to 44 and come almost to the airport

• At March 14, 2007, Prima Cabina wrote:

  Oh, that would be better than route 408.

  Fortunately, I usually use a parking service among the prefectural route 44.

  I would like to try your route next time.

  Thanks.

  Actually, there is another option for passing through Ushiku city.

  If you go straight from Hitachino-Ushiku station and turn left at the corner of Kasumi supermarket and connect to prefectural route 48, you can completely avoid the route 408 with Anounymous' suggestion in Chiba prefecture!

• At November 26, 2007, TsukuBlog » Parking at Narita wrote:

  [...] you have made your reservation, you might want to have a look at Prima Cabina’s empirically determined faster route from Tsukuba to Narita. Related [...]

My battery died today and I needed a boost. I don't have any jumper cables in my car, so I thought I would try going to a gas station to see if they could lend me a set. I went to the Eneos just across from Andersen and they were able to lend me the cables for a 2000 yen deposit plus some ID. When I returned the cables, I got my ID and deposit back.

So, if you are ever in the same situation, try to get yourself to the closest gas station to see if you can borrow the cables. Or, if you can't find a gas station, call your insurance provider to find out if you have road-side assistance as part of your coverage. Finally, if you have 4000 yen to spare, consider joining the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), so you will always have someone to call when you run into problems like this.

The closest car auction to Tsukuba is called "Car Auction Tsukuba" (CAT) and it is held in Tsuchiura (Nakamura Nishine 1111) on Fridays. (It's quite common for events and sites in places around Tsukuba (but not actually in Tsukuba) to use the Tsukuba name, I guess because it is well-known and has good associations.)

Read more about car auctions.

I have never bought a car this way, so I can't offer any advice. I wonder if any Tsukuba residents might be able to tell us about their experiences?

1. Changes to the rules regarding bicycles driving on the sidewalk

You may ride your bicycle on the sidewalk under the following conditions.
- If there is a sign that specifically permits riding bicycles on the sidewalk.
- If you are under 13 or over 70 years of age.
- When you have to because of road or traffic conditions.

Cyclists must ride slowly on the part of the sidewalk that is designated for bicycles. However, if there are no pedestrians on the part of the sidewalk that is designated for bicycles, or if there are no pedestrians who are trying to walk on that part of the sidewalk, then cyclists can go at a safe speed using proper and safe riding techniques. Pedestrians must also make an effort to avoid the part of the sidewalk that is designated for bicycles.

2. Children must wear helmets when riding bicycles or when being carried on a bicycle that is being driven by someone else.

3. All passengers must wear seatbelts, including those in the back seat. If the driver or any of the passengers are not wearing a seatbelt in a car that is driving on the toll highways, the driver will be punished.

4. Elderly drivers (above 75 years of age) must display an "elderly driver" mark on their cars. People between the ages of 70 to 75 years of age "should" display the mark. (The elderly driver symbol is in the shape of a tear drop. It is cut down the middle and the left half is orange and the right half is yellow.)

5. People who are hard of hearing are now able to get a driver's license if they use a special wide mirror. They must display a "hard of hearing mark" on their cars. Other drivers are forbidden from cutting off or aggressively passing cars with such marks. (The "hard of hearing" symbol is a green circle with a yellow butterfly inside.)

More Information

• Ibaraki Prefectural Police Website (Japanese)
• Topics on Traffic and Safety on the Police Website (Japanese)
• Amendments to Traffic Laws (Effective June 2008, Japanese)
• Amendments to Traffic Laws (Effective September 2007, English)
• Basic Traffic Safety Instructions (English)

2 Comments

• At May 24, 2008, Anonymous wrote:

  it seems you should insert "not" in your first condition.

• At May 24, 2008, Shaney wrote:

  I'm not sure what you mean. Can you please elaborate?

=============================================

Several traffic laws changed on June 20, 2007 and will come into force within a certain amount of time after that date. For example, it will soon be mandatory for people to wear seatbelts in the back seats of cars, and fines and imprisonment terms for drunk drivers and people who do not stop drunk drivers from driving will be stiffened.

1. Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol

(These laws come into effect within three months of June 20.)

a. Rules Affecting the Driver

Drunk Driving
Old Law: Penalty of less than three years imprisonment or less than 500,000 yen fine
New Law: Penalty of less than five years imprisonment or less than 1,000,000 yen fine

Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol
Old Law: Penalty of less than one year imprisonment or less than 300,000 yen fine
New Law: Penalty of less than three years imprisonment or less than 500,000 yen fine

Refusing Breathalyser Test
Old Law: Penalty of less than 300,000 yen fine
New Law: Penalty of less than three years imprisonment or less than 500,000 yen fine

b. Rules Affecting Accomplices to the Driver

Providing a Vehicle to Someone who Could be Under the Influence of Alcohol
Old Law: None
New Law: In the case of a drunk driver: Penalty of less than five years imprisonment or less than 1,000,000 yen fine
In the case of a driver under the influence of alcohol: Penalty of less than three years imprisonment or less than 500,000 yen fine

Providing Alcohol to Someone who is Likely to Drive
Old Law: None
New Law: In the case of a drunk driver: Penalty of less than three years imprisonment or less than 500,000 yen fine
In the case of a driver under the influence of alcohol: Penalty of less than two years imprisonment or less than 300,000 yen fine

Asking or Requesting Someone who is Known to be Under the Influence of Alcohol to Drive and Accompanying Him/Her in the Car
Old Law: None
New Law: In the case of a drunk driver: Penalty of less than three years imprisonment or less than 500,000 yen fine
In the case of a driver under the influence of alcohol: Penalty of less than two years imprisonment or less than 300,000 yen fine

c. Rules About Hit and Run

Old Law: Penalty of less than five years imprisonment or less than 500,000 yen fine
New Law: Penalty of less than ten years imprisonment or less than 1,000,000 yen fine

2. Laws Regarding Elderly Drivers

(These laws come into effect within one or two years of June 20.)

Drivers over 75 must take a test within six months prior to the expiry date of their license. (Comes into effect within two years.)

Drivers over 75 must display an "elderly driver" sign on their cars. Other drivers must not interfere with vehicles displaying such marks. (Comes into effect within one year.)

3. Laws Regarding Cyclists

(These laws come into effect within one year of June 20.)

In addition to sidewalks that are designated as open to bicycles, other sidewalks can be used by cyclists who are too young to use the road or who are forced to use the sidewalk because of road conditions.

Children must be told to wear helmets when riding bicycles.

4. Laws to Reduce Injuries

(These laws come into effect within one year of June 20.)

Drivers must ensure that passengers in the back seat use seat belts.

Sources: 広報つくば平成１９年８月１５日号：p4、茨城県警察：道路交通法一部改正

2 Comments

• At August 20, 2007, Dan Waldhoff wrote:

  In my home town, HI USA last year a drunk driver was picked up, jailed and released four different times within a 24 hour span and two of those times were in unregistered, uninsured cars .He was also driving drunk with a suspended driving license. I prefer laws with teeth and their good enforcement. Lucky we live in Japan!

• At September 29, 2007, TsukuBlog » Free Beer in Moriya wrote:

  [...] to the breweries. Just remember to bring a designated driver, or use public transportation as the laws against drunk driving have recently been stiffened. Related [...]

A: Sometimes.

There is a maximum gas price that is set once a month and the gas stations on the expressways (like Joban Expressway) do not increase their prices at all during a particular month. The maximum price is set by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) at the end of the previous month. You can see the price on this site. The reason for this is that the number of gas stations on the expressways is extremely limited, so drivers do not have a choice of which station to use when they need to fill up their tanks. If the gas stations could set their own prices, it would be possible for them to set unreasonable prices and the consumers wouldn't be able to do anything about it, since the next station might be 100km ahead. (Also, cars that run out of gas often cause accidents, so it is better not to encourage drivers to shop around for the best price.)

So, this means that if gas prices went up this month as compared to last month, you might be able to get cheaper gas on the expressway than on the regular roads. However, the opposite is also true: if gas prices went down this month, the gas on the expressway will be more expensive.

The prices for regular gas in November and December were 140 yen and 136 yen respectively.

(Note that this only applies to gas stations on the expressways. Regular gas stations do not have to follow this rule.)

Source: Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) Magazine, November 2006

........................................................

The Japan Automobile Research Institute will have an open day, with two full scale car crash tests viewable by the public.

If you are interested in finding out how a car crash test is setup and performed, here are the details:

Thursday April 19, 11am.
Side impact collision
Car 1: 22km/hr, 3 occupant dummies
Car 2: 40km/hr, 4 occupant dummies.

Thursday April 19, 2pm.
Front to front offset collision
Car 1: 0km/hr, 2 occupant dummies
Car 2: 60km/hr, 2 occupant dummies.

In order to see the test, please arrive AT LEAST 30 mins beforehand.

JARI is located along Tsuchiura Gakuen road, about 2km west of Tsukuba Center. There is also an entrance from Kenkyuu Gakuen Station on the Tsukuba express line.

See also...
Map
JARI Website (in Japanese)

2 Comments

• At April 20, 2007, RrFish wrote:

  I saw this on the evening news yesterday! Too bad they did those tests on a weekday. My son sometimes tells me it's "uncool" to wear seatbelts, so taking him to crash test site like that would be a good wakeup call for him for sure.

• At April 20, 2007, Shaney wrote:

  Yeah, I really wanted to go too! I have a friend who works at JARI, so maybe I can mention it to her that more people could come if they made it on a weekend. (Maybe they didn't want too many people to come...)

===============

The Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI) will have its open days this Friday and Saturday. On both days there will be two full scale car crash tests (lots of damage), two sled tests (cute baby dummies in a child seat), and two leg impactor tests (a cheap car-shaped-object hitting an expensive and squishy leg-shaped-object). There's also a bunch of other exhibitions showcasing various car-related research done in JARI (driving simulators, electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, etc), including things to keep kids amused.

The child seat sled tests are at 10.15am and 1pm each day. A full schedule of the full scale car crashes are as follows:

FRIDAY:
10.30am - Car [50km/hr] vs. Rigid Wall [0km/hr] Crash Test
2.30pm - Car [30km/hr] vs. Bicycle (with dummy rider) [15km/hr] Crash Test

SATURDAY:
10.30am - Car [30km/hr] vs. Bicycle (with dummy rider) [15km/hr] Crash Test
2.30pm - Car [50km/hr] vs. Rigid Wall [0km/hr] Crash Test

In order to see the test, please arrive at the times given above, as the tests begin shortly afterwards. After the tests you can inspect the damage and view the tests in slow-motion on the high-speed video
cameras.

JARI is located along Tsuchiura Gakuen road, about 2km west of Tsukuba Center. There is also an entrance from Kenkyuu Gakuen Station on the Tsukuba express line. (map)

More instructions (in Japanese) on the JARI website.

Term of insurance: April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010
Fee: 900 yen for adults, 500 yen for children who are of junior high school age or under as of April 1, 2009

If you apply after September 30, the fees are discounted by 50% since you will only receive coverage for half the year.

Apply at the main desk of any branch of the city hall, or at the Life and Safety Division (生活安全課) at the Sakura Branch Office. Since this insurance only lasts for one year, you will have to go back to the city hall every year to renew it.

For more information, please see the Ibaraki Prefecture website (in Japanese).

Most of the parking facilities around Tsukuba Station are run by Tsukuba Urban Transportation Center or TUTC, and they are all open 24 hours. You can look at the map of their parking facilities here. The orange spot on the map is the TX Tsukuba Station, if you can’t read Japanese. Parking fee is 220 yen for the first hour and 110yen for additional 30 minutes. Fees for people who park for over 10 hours and up to 24 hours is 2200yen, so it’s quite expensive. There are a couple of parking facilities run by private companies that charge only 1000yen a day, but they are still very expensive compared to other parking lots near other Tsukuba area TX stations.

Parking facilities around Kenkyu Gakuen and Banpaku Kinen Koen Stations, for example, charge anywhere from 300yen to 600yen a day. So parking near those stations may be able to save you lots of money if you are heading to Tokyo from Tsukuba, for example.

One of the solutions to all these parking hassles would be the improvement of the other public transportation system, yes, the buses. Kanto Tetsudo doesn’t seem to be very enthusiastic about providing more local bus services, but Tsukuba City will start a new “Tsuku Bus” route from September 1. I will post the information regarding this new route as soon as I get the new route map. Please see: Gakuen Minami Junkan - a new Tsuku Bus Course.