Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson wrote:
> I'm planning to go up to Hokkaido in a couple of months, but one
> question I have is about driving times.
> 
> First, the wife read in a guide book that car navi cannot be trusted
> there. The exact reasons were not described, but I would think barring
> being in a deep valley, there would be no reason for it to be any
> better or worse than anywhere else.
> 

Car navi worked great.  My trip was in November, rental car had snow tires that 
were great on the snowy roads in the mountains.  No snow on the roads on the coast.


> Second, what are driving times like? She found a web page that seemed
> to use 50 kph as the basic speed for all the time calculations. Are
> the roads really that bad/windy/full of traffic lights, or was this
> based on everything being under a metre of snow? We're planning on
> going to Hakodate, Niseko, Otaru, and, umm, some mountain place that I
> can't remember but the middle kanji is RYOU/yoi.
> 

I drove as fast as I wanted, 140-150 kph and was frequently passed.   Between 
towns the roads were pretty empty so it was easy to drive the rental toyota echo 
at whatever speed I felt like.  This was on the southeast coast of Hokkaido, 
things may be different near in the metropolis of Sapporo.


-Jim