Living in Japan: cars and motorbikes

As far as I know almost all Europeans can get a Japanese license fairly easy. Australians have it very easy too but other part of the world don't have it so lucky like GaijinPunch said.

Yakumo

 

Kei Cars are awesome.

Get a Suzuki Cappuccino:


Or a Mazda Autozam AZ-1:


Or a Suzuki Alto Works (Turbo & AWD!!):


Anyway, so yeah, Kei cars are t3h r0x0rz, especially the Cappuccinos.

Although personally, I'd still rather have one of these: (KPGC10)


Or these: (HLS30)

 

I am italian, I checked with the embassy, and it is no problem to get my license converted.

By the way I still only have a remote chance, so I am just checking for now.
The job would be in Shinjuku by the way.

 

Well, the good thing about working in Shinjuku is that you've got about 10 lines to chose from to live on, which allow you to commute to work without having to switch trains (which can be time and energy consuming). Many of them have affordable places to live as well.

 

I pay $650 for 6months ever since I got a new car, and thats the cheapest I can get. The policy doesn't include uninsured motorist coverage because that will double my premium. I'm not even with a big name insurance company like Geico or State Farm or AllState. If I went with them I would be paying $1090 for 6months for coverage w/out uninsured motorist coverage.

oh well, that $650 premium will soon go up because Friday night I got into a fender bender. I hit the back of a minivan doing 5mph or 10. No injuries and no damage to my car, except that it shakes for 10 seconds when I turn it on after it has been off for a couple of hours, but there is a small crack on the top of my front bumper. The driver I hit was in a dodge caravan. Her back bumper got bent in, and that's it. No further damage was done to her car. I gotta file the claim and call the court to sign up for traffic school so that points won't be taken off of my license, which won't bring up my premium that much, I just hope it doesn't go up by no more than 30%. I can't afford any higher.

 

Wow, looks like the UK isn't bad in terms of insurance prices then! At least something is cheap here!

 

I'm banned of using motorbikes, anyways, what about segways? some dude told me those are illegal in japanh:

About insurance, are you guys paying for the normal insurance or the full coverage one?

That Suzuki Alto Works look pretty cool, but I'm more of a tech nerd (like most of the people that has the new prius) so what japanese-only car would be best for me? preferably with as many buttons and screens as possible.:lol:

 

There's a good in-depth guide here - http://www.jetsetjapan.com/infozone-trans-lice.shtml - about driving in Japan. It was written for JET participants, but I can't see why it wouldn't work for anyone else. As for owning a car in Tokyo - unless you're a car fan, just take the train/tube/bus

 

I see, well is the same in every big city I had traveled to.

BTW, I may need some good running shoes, are they cheaper in japan since most of them are made in vietnam and china?