Hello! I am currently in gunma but I’m struggling to map out my routes/times. I’ve frequently found that Google maps does not provide routes(except by car, no bus or train) For example coming from Nikko area it gave me no route options to my minakami hotel stay. If I selected just from the Nikko station to jomokogen, it did show a route on the JR lines. However it does not catch the bus routes here in minakami so planning on getting around is tedious as I have to ask for help planning as the local bus schedules are all in Japanese. It’s 50 minutes from the station to our hotel so a taxi is prohibitively expensive.
For another example Google maps gives no route options from jomokogen to takumi no sato. There is a JR shinkansen from jomokogen to takumi no sato so it’s weird it doesn’t but it is what it is.
I’ve found this site (given to me by a hotel) that *sometimes* helps but I’d not that user friendly (no maps, paid service)…
https://world.jorudan.co.jp/mln/en/
Does anyone have any English sites that I can use with maps to helpe search for timetables and routes?
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To add (can’t edit post? Weird) I did read the wiki and saw this other site but it’s not very helpful? I can’t seem to input my destinations. Jourdan populates locations to make it easy to select but this one perhaps you have to have the exact name?
https://japantravel.navitime.com/en/area/jp/route/
For example I can input jomokogen but not takumi no sato?
I think the best thing to do in this case is to contact the Minakami place you are staying at and ask them how to get there.
I went to the Minakami tourism website and found this bus schedule
https://www.enjoy-minakami.jp/pdf/bus2023_jomokogen_tanigawaRW.pdf
https://www.enjoy-minakami.jp/pdf/bus2023_sarugakyo_numata.pdf
I’ve been using the JapanTravel app for ballparking and planning and it’s giving me lots of detail.
Even Google Maps use Jorudan behind the scenes so using it directly doesn’t really help imo
(I waited for a bus once in rural Japan that Google told me. After an hour an elderly guy came over and he told me the bus only comes on Saturdays. He called his elderly taxi driver mate to pick me up.)
Smartex for Shinkansen (you can also reserve directly on there and load it to your suica) but I unfortunately don’t have much of a recommendation beyond that, Apple Maps has been incredibly reliable for us but we’re not in as rural of areas. It did sometimes suggest a weird route first, but scrolling usually provided a better option.
Hyperdia or Rome2Rio
The Navitime app worked best for me.
Hyperdia worked best for me.
Google maps tends to be best at showing the best route at the exact time you look (or the exact time you enter) This tends to not be a problem in say Tokyo or Kyoto or Osaka where there are always lots of routes.
It tends to be an issue with less frequent buses because Google Maps doesn’t know that in say 30-40 minutes there will be a bus, it will just tell you that there is no bus right now.
Personally, after getting stuck a few times places I didn’t want to be because I didn’t research times for buses or trains ahead of time, I now look at train times ahead of time on any route where the service is less than once an hour. I like knowing what I am getting into ahead of time.
Good luck!
I personally use Norikae Annai -Japan Transit- by Jorudan Co.,Ltd.
Best app ever with lot of alternative routes, together with fare and time. Also you can check your Suica etc card balance from your phone.
For me, I use Yahoo Norikae Annai, and it works like a charm. If you know a little Kanji, you can input the locations in Romanji and it will recognise and give you likely locations in Japanese. So technically you can use it without a lot of Japanese knowledge.
I’m sorry but the only time Google Maps has been really reliable for me was with train schedules. It absolutely sucks if you want to use it as driving GPS.
Google maps is pretty unreliable here, half the time it can’t figure out where you are. Predominantly it works best for timetables.
Navitime worked flawlessly for me.