Kanazawa "At Home at Ryokan Service"
New Q&A: How can we orientate in Japan?
October 30th, 2009
For a trip planning is essential a map of Japan relatively cheap (for example, can be purchased here (or on ebay) in a water proof version),
After choosing the places to visit, you can request an information brochure on paper, usually with some maps(for those that live in Europe) at: http://www.tourisme-japon.fr/contact/index.php
and also use the approximate pdf maps of JNTO website (there is a booklet for each city)
For those who want to have a map anywhere you can get Yahoo maps on your phone.
To do this you can install the program mgmaps (http://www.mgmaps.com) on a cell phone with integrated GPS receiver (for my trip, I used a Nokia 6220 classic) and load on the phone memory card the Yahoo maps using:
- This site to choose the areas you are interested in Japan and the level of detail (zoom of the map) that you want to have: http://www.mapcacher.com/
- This program to download the pieces of the map from Yahoo maps using the generated file of the previous website: http://www.mgmaps.com/cache/gMapMaker-setup.exe
- The folder with the maps so obtained from the web must be copied to the phone’s memory card into the appropriate folder of the software mgmmaps
Warning: it is good to reduce to essentials the areas of the map to be saved because they are very bulky especially if you want maximum detail (simply choose an high zoom only for areas that you are sure to visit).