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.

Might be out of date info in the guidebook. I did Hakodate, Niseko, 
Otaru and Sapporo in February without any car navi problems.

> 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.

If you are going there in a couple of months, then snow (a metre or 
otherwise) isn't going to be an issue. Even Furano should be covered in 
flowers by then. The 50kph thingee is probably an average elapsed time 
calculation - you will take breaks etc. As other posters have mentioned, 
  on the highways and major trunk roads driving speeds are comparatively 
nice and high up there.


-- 
"Oh don't give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit/ No, don't you give 
me none more of that Old Janx Spirit/ For my head will fly, my tongue 
will lie, my eyes will fry and I may die/ Won't you pour me one more of 
that sinful Old Janx Spirit"