I rented a toyota Ipsum when i was touring with my friends in
Japan and it was fitted with a navigation system commonly known as
a Navi or Navigator over there. Without that system, let me tell
you, there will be no way tat me and friends will be able to travel
around Japan from Osaka to Kyushu then to Tokyo without getting
lost. It is like a saviour for any drivers who does not have the
faintest idea of the area around them.
Even though the entire system is in jp, it wasn't hard for us to
get the hang of it. The entire road map of Japan from southern
kyushu all the way to the northern island of hokkaido has been
drawn in the system along with the important landmarks. For our
part, we will first have to locate on the digitalise map, where is
the location we are going. Once the location is found on the map,
we will set that point as our point of destination and the software
will automatically draw a red path that would lead us to there in
the shortest distance. Every time we drive along that path, it will
keep updating itself to show us where is our current location and
which path to take next. If we take a wrong path(even though its
already clearly marked on the map to turn right instead of left),
the system will automatically redraw a new set of path base on our
current location that would lead us to our destination. Once you
know how to play around with the controls, you will hardly ever get
lost. It is GOOD!
Having this system is like having a talking street directory next
to you. You tell her you are going to xxxx and she will tell you
exactly when to turn right, when to turn left.(in fact, to make
sure drivers do not take their eyes off the streets when using this
system, the system will automatically narrate out that you are
about to approach a turn and you need to turn right/left. In
Japanese of course -_-) It even has important landmarks, shopping
malls, convienient stores, fast food chains, car parks, petrol
kiosk, public toilets, etc displayed as icons on the maps to help
you incase you need them.
Thank goodness for this baby. It has to be the greatest joy I found
while driving in Japan, the 2nd greatest joy was discovering
highways drivethru and what I can find in each of them.
I will never buy one in Singapore. Singapore is too small for you
to get hopelessly lost. It will be useful only when you are driving
in large countries and travelling across states.