Auto ferries are fairly cheap. I think it was something like 12000 to take your car over. Or at least that is how much it would be for us to take our car on the ferry. Much much cheaper than renting a car while in Hokkaido.

I believe that it`s only 20000 something to take your car from Nagoya to Hokkaido by ferry.

I`ll be honest and say that there are VERY few places you would not be able to find something inexpensive to eat. There are no huge expanses of wilderness. If there are roads, you will be able to find plenty of food prepared and ready to eat. If you are worried, it isn`t hard to take a small cooler with food that does not need to be cooked. In other words, as long as you don`t feel it is a necessity to cook your own food at the side of the road, you will never be without options and can most likely sustain a nomadic lifestyle.

Sleeping, however, is a different story.
If you stick to 道の駅, you can manage though. They`re much like service areas on the highways, but are on regular roads. But it means that you`ll have to plan to be back on a larger road near one when night approaches. If you have a navi in your car though, it is within reason.

I don`t see any huge reason to discourage owning a car if there is a valid plan for it`s use. I`d laugh at anyone who wants a car for living in Tokyo or Osaka, but a year is a long time and it really does sound like this would be a completely viable plan as long as the ends are tied up.
Or perhaps I`m biased because I own a car and very much enjoy trips by road.

Well, thanks again!
About the cooked food: I just assumed that is would be alot cheaper to cook my food by myself, as it was in Australia. By cooking for myself i managed to do with around 1500yen a day for food. But it seems that Japan has cheaper options for eating out, so it sounds also alright.
How about the 道の駅. Could i park there over night and sleep there? Would i have to pay anything? My Japanese reading is not so good that i could find that information on the Page, but it is very helpful anyway and i will try to "cheat" my way through the site somehow.
Well, I would never think about getting a car if i would plan to stay in the citys, but i really enjoy seeing smaller places and i own a car here (because there is not to much public transport) and i love to move around anytime i want. I also got a car during my time in Australia and it was the best choice that time. And i hoped to save a little bit of money by sleeping in the car (because accomodation and transport seem to be the maincosts that will come while traveling in Japan).
So far
Firebird

You can manage to cut off a lot of food costs by cooking your own, but if you are sensible with your eating choices you can get by without much difference. It all depends on what you eat, of course. There are many occasions where you can pick up ready made meals (usually cooked fresh that day in the store) for less than it would cost to make them yourself - because after they are so many hours old, they lower the price a lot.

Yes. That is one of the biggest uses for them. :D It is a big parking lot with 24 hour toilets, a lot of vending machines, and sometimes even 24 hour eating places. During the day, there are a lot of regional specialties sold as they are aimed toward people traveling long distances by car. I highly recommend them because you can get to eat things special to the region, where as if you just went to a restaurant it`s hard to know what is unique to the area.

To park and sleep? No. The parking area is free, as are the bathrooms.

The page is good for getting maps listing their locations. We generally stop by them when we travel because, as I mentioned above, they`re good for finding products and foods unique to the region.

Sorry fro bringing up that old thread again, but now im in japan since 1 month and nearly let go off my plan to buy a car, but last weekend i went to fukushima-ken with my Host family and again i started to think that buying a car would be a would thing.
someone told me that when you buy a car with a yellow number (the small engines) than you wont need a proof of parking space. Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks alot
Firebird

You *always* need proof of parking. However, you can get away with a smaller space. This means that where you wouldn`t be able to consider a small patch of cement in front of your house a parking space for a regular car, you may be able to for a kei.