1000 yen Highway Day
Most people know by now that for a two-year limited time period if you travel on the highway on a weekend or public holiday, it only costs 1000 yen as far as you go (or 50% off if you go less distance than the 1000 yen distance).
Yes, that means that theoretically you could get to Akita, right in the North of Japan, if you could only get there in one day, for 1000 yen (plus petrol). It's a saving of about a billion percent on the highway, and that's good news for car travellers.
Some important points must be noted at this point (here comes the important stuff):
1. It's only capped at 1000 yen if you are paying by ETC card, which is a good reason to sign up for one.
2. Sometimes over the New Year Period, they change the system.
I've explained about the ETC system in previous editions of the X-Pat Files. So let us turn our attention to the New Year period.
This coming New Year, the Saturday and Sunday will fall on the 2nd and 3rd of January. That's really good news and really bad news.... if you could possibly leave your hometown in Kyushu and arrive in Tokyo after a hearty New Year fest for just 1000 yen, you'd be a happy traveller. However, everyone else on the road would have the same idea. There's probably no going anywhere in one day.
Since the 1st, 2nd and 3rd are heavy travel days, the 4th and the 5th have been added to the 1000 yen list. On the other hand, the 26th and the 27th of December are a Saturday and Sunday, but since the road will be crowded with trucks trying to deliver the end of year gifts, the 1000 yen does not apply.
So here are those dates:
SAT 26 DEC - No 1000 yen cap
SUN 27 DEC - No 1000 yen cap
MON 28 DEC - THU 31 DEC - No 1000 yen cap
FRI 1 JAN - TUE 5 JAN - 1000 yen cap
AFTER THAT, returning to normal, 1000 cap on weekends and public holidays
Now, a few little things to keep in mind:
1. All of the above is only a proposal, it could change (sorry!)
2. All of the above applies only to countryside areas, so if part of your journey includes a city, then you'll be paying extra for the city on top of the 1000 yen. For example, to go to Hiroshima it's impossible to go without navigating through several Osaka highways, so the total trip costs 2500 yen and not 1000. However, if you go North, there are ways to avoid Tokyo (going through Nagano), so you could go the whole length on 1000 yen, in theory.
The rule of thumb for travelling around the New Year period, is do NOT travel AWAY from Tokyo on a day that leads up to New Year, and do NOT travel TOWARD Tokyo on the days that directly follow New Year. People who work in Tokyo (and other big cities, but Tokyo is the biggest one by far) go home to the countryside for New Year, and then they rush back for work the next year. This is called the U-turn Rush, and it's best avoided at all costs. End up on the tail end of that traffic jam, and 1000 yen doesn't sound so cheap any more....
Yes, that means that theoretically you could get to Akita, right in the North of Japan, if you could only get there in one day, for 1000 yen (plus petrol). It's a saving of about a billion percent on the highway, and that's good news for car travellers.
Some important points must be noted at this point (here comes the important stuff):
1. It's only capped at 1000 yen if you are paying by ETC card, which is a good reason to sign up for one.
2. Sometimes over the New Year Period, they change the system.
I've explained about the ETC system in previous editions of the X-Pat Files. So let us turn our attention to the New Year period.
This coming New Year, the Saturday and Sunday will fall on the 2nd and 3rd of January. That's really good news and really bad news.... if you could possibly leave your hometown in Kyushu and arrive in Tokyo after a hearty New Year fest for just 1000 yen, you'd be a happy traveller. However, everyone else on the road would have the same idea. There's probably no going anywhere in one day.
Since the 1st, 2nd and 3rd are heavy travel days, the 4th and the 5th have been added to the 1000 yen list. On the other hand, the 26th and the 27th of December are a Saturday and Sunday, but since the road will be crowded with trucks trying to deliver the end of year gifts, the 1000 yen does not apply.
So here are those dates:
SAT 26 DEC - No 1000 yen cap
SUN 27 DEC - No 1000 yen cap
MON 28 DEC - THU 31 DEC - No 1000 yen cap
FRI 1 JAN - TUE 5 JAN - 1000 yen cap
AFTER THAT, returning to normal, 1000 cap on weekends and public holidays
Now, a few little things to keep in mind:
1. All of the above is only a proposal, it could change (sorry!)
2. All of the above applies only to countryside areas, so if part of your journey includes a city, then you'll be paying extra for the city on top of the 1000 yen. For example, to go to Hiroshima it's impossible to go without navigating through several Osaka highways, so the total trip costs 2500 yen and not 1000. However, if you go North, there are ways to avoid Tokyo (going through Nagano), so you could go the whole length on 1000 yen, in theory.
The rule of thumb for travelling around the New Year period, is do NOT travel AWAY from Tokyo on a day that leads up to New Year, and do NOT travel TOWARD Tokyo on the days that directly follow New Year. People who work in Tokyo (and other big cities, but Tokyo is the biggest one by far) go home to the countryside for New Year, and then they rush back for work the next year. This is called the U-turn Rush, and it's best avoided at all costs. End up on the tail end of that traffic jam, and 1000 yen doesn't sound so cheap any more....
