I cheerfully drive all over Japan and have done ever since I got here.

"But you can't read the road signs!" I hear you wail....

Well, the truth is, I can't. And here is a fact - "a cast-iron bona fide genuine FACT ladies and gentlemen!" of the I-kid-you-not variety: in a strange area, MOST JAPANESE PEOPLE CAN'T EITHER!

This isn't due to any lack of literacy in the country; literacy rates are extremely high. It is down to the way that Kanji ("Chinese characters") work when used in place names.

Your average kanji will have 4 or 5 different "standard" readings - sounds that are associated with it when it is used in compounds to make long words. Some kanji have rather more - 16 or 20. The Japanese learn them all at school as "standard" readings.

But as soon as a kanji is used in a place name - a kanji can have pretty much any "reading" the locals care to give it. The exact same place name in one part of the country may be read in a completely different and totally non-standard way in another part.

What's it like?
Well - imagine trying to navigate on a map in which a word spelt "B-l-a-c-k-p-o-o-l" was pronounced "Blackpool" when it referred to the northern seaside town, but pronounced "Littlehampton" when it referred to somewhere else.

And that it what it is like for the Japanese - everyone knows the readings of the major place names down to the "prefectural" level - and their own localities - but as soon as you start getting "rural", people from one part of the country don't know how to read the names from another part. They are only marginally less lost than you would be....

So how does this affect you - a wannabe driver?

Well - it is quite possible to drive by "squiggle". You don't have to know how to PRONOUNCE "squiggle" - you DO have to recognise it on a map. Larger place names will have English with them, smaller place names are equally baffling to everyone but the immediate locals...

I have come to the conclusion that people can either read maps, or they can't. Those that can, can - and cope reasonably well with maps in a language they can't pronounce. They just have to concentrate harder and plan a bit more. Those that can't - well - can't... in any language, including their own.

So the first thing I do when driving with a Japanese friend is retrieve the (Japanese) road map from her. I can't read kanji worth a damn - but I CAN read maps. So we get there far faster, and in better temper, if I navigate.

So - don't be too put off by the "road signs aren't in English" issue. It can be a bit daunting when you pick up a Japanese roadmap for the first time - but gracious me - where is your fighting spirit?

Plan your trip the previous day with a friend, note what kanji "squiggles" you have to look out for and you're away.... If a kanji name is important to you, simply draw it on a piece of paper a few times: it will help you recognise it later.