I'm quite used to driving in mainland Japan (been doing it for years). I know that I can't just park wherever willy-nilly, that I'll need to find a proper (paid) parking. However, the rules weren't so clear in the outskirts, especially in small towns / villages. Most of these places don't really have any sort of parking areas (at least not for miles away).
I'm travelling to Okinawa soon (first time) and I'm going to be driving outside the city, for example into futenma (north of Naha). It's kinda like a small city. The problem is, this place doesn't have that many paid parking area. Some shops (on the roadsides) don't have any parking areas at all for miles, it's basically impossible to park at a paid area and walk to the shop within a reasonable distance.
I notice that there are some space between the road and the shop that will fit cars, and there were some cars parked at the road side in google maps, but I'm not sure that these are legal to park or not. I know that traffic police in Japan are really strict (and really fast to act) for illegal parking (ask me how I know…), so I just wanna check and confirm before doing anything silly.
Thanks.
by k-lcc