Japan’s Famous Roads

My husband regularly goes on long tours, and each time he comes back with a huge collection of photos of cars and scenery. Every time I see those photos, I’m amazed and think, “So Japan really does have such magnificent nature and beautiful roads…”

Recently, when he returned from a tour in Tohoku, he excitedly said,

One week isn’t nearly enough to cover it all, and I still want to drive more. There are so many beautiful roads left in Tohoku. I want to go again soon!

At that moment, I couldn’t help but say,

Wait, you drove 3,000 kilometers and you still want to drive more!? You’re crazy (ﾟдﾟ)!

But what that really means is that “Japan has many beautiful places that aren’t well known to the public,” which I find quite true.

Also, even without going far, there are quite a few beautiful unnamed roads in the countryside that don’t have official names like “○○ Line.”

Whenever I read the blog of wata-san, my husband’s mentor, I always feel “Japan is so beautiful.” He has mentioned several times that “Bypass construction is progressing around here, so this road will soon disappear,” which makes me realize that we need to drive these beautiful roads while they still exist.

Touring Maps for Car Lovers

Whenever my husband goes touring, he always brings a motorcycle rider’s touring map. Although there are many driving guides for cars in magazines and online, most of them don’t understand car enthusiasts or driving lovers at all, focusing mainly on sightseeing and gourmet info, with very little useful information about the roads or routes themselves. He often complains, “If it’s just sightseeing info, don’t call it driving info!!” So he relies on motorcycle touring maps as a reference.

However, since those maps are for motorcycles, sometimes they lead to extremely narrow roads where he thinks, “This is impossible for a car,” and he has to turn back.

Besides the touring maps, he sometimes follows routes introduced on wata-san’s blog, but he often grumbles, “It’d be amazing if there was a touring map just for car lovers.”

After talking with others, it turns out this feeling isn’t unique to him; many people who go on car tours, especially long ones, feel the same way to some extent.

I see…

One day, on a whim, I tweeted, “It’d be great if there was an online collection of touring maps for car lovers. If I could, I’d like to create one.”

“Please do that project!” “Leave the ○○ area to me!”

I received quite a few messages like these, so I decided to start the “Meidou Map” project here on the blog.

About the Meidou Map Project

First, I plan to introduce Google Maps of touring routes my husband has driven in the past, organized by region on the “Meidou Map” page. Along with the maps, I’ll include simple info like the season when the route was driven and what car was used.

These Google Maps of touring routes have been introduced before in “My Husband’s ○○ Touring Articles,” but if you open these maps on your Android or iPhone, they’ll be saved in your Google Maps “My Maps” section, which is very convenient.

We’ll start with what we can do, but at the same time, we’d love to receive information about famous roads nationwide from readers. Even though my husband loves touring, it’s impossible for him to drive every road in Japan (though maybe not entirely impossible…), so it would be wonderful to share and spread information together.

Since this blog is called “Welcome Home, PORSCHE,” some might wonder, “Do you have to be a Porsche owner to contribute to the Meidou Map?” But the star of the “Meidou Map” project is the “road” itself.

So, no matter what car brand you own, if you think “I want to share this wonderful road with other car lovers and driving enthusiasts,” please feel free to send us information. That would make me very happy.

How exactly we’ll receive route info is a bit tricky, but maybe by having contributors add data to Google Maps in advance… we’ll figure out the best way as we go.

Also, it would be great to hear from people who say “I actually drove one of the routes you posted!” We want to add those real voices to each map page and update them regularly to share more authentic information.

Putting More Energy into the Blog

This month, I wrapped up a decade-long job for the time being. I’m not quitting, but I’ve organized things and reached a pause, so now I have a better environment to focus more on this blog than ever before.

I don’t know how the “Meidou Map” project will turn out, but I want to give it a try. Also, I hope to develop other interesting projects like interviews and sponsored content.

So, to everyone who reads this blog, thank you for your continued support!

You can view the “Meidou Map” page from the banner below.