Imported Japanese cars.

[josef k]

I have acquired a secondhand car which has been imported from Japan and, unsurprisingly, the infotainment system and dashboard software is in Japanese. Unfortunately I don't read Japanese and so wish to change it to English. Mr Google has supplied me with a car manual which is the closest to the actual model as I can find, which doesn't help, but a manual for the infotainment system is not to be found. I have tried the advised method of using Google Translate to work through the menu options, but to no avail.

So, do any of you know someone who reads Japanese and would be willing to earn a bob or two helping me sort it out? As you can tell, I am clutching at straws, but hey ho.

[J B]

Do you think maybe the dealer of the make of car would possibly be able to help you??

When we bought an imported Japanese car back in 2000 the FM frequency was different to the one we needed.
Had to fit a 'band expander' to alter that, and the rest was farily intuitive.

[josef k]

I have had a "band expander" fitted and, as you say, the rest of the audio side of things was fairly intuitive. My difficulty is with the phone and sat nav side of things, plus the clock on the main display.
I did think of trying the dealer, but they are generally reluctant to get involved with "grey imports".

[Uncle D]

Over the years I had heard that the dealers usually sort this out, if they sell grey imports they should fix them.
However if you go on Youtube there are many fixes, depends on make of car, here is one for a Toyota

[Kili01]

Thanks for your post. Its interesting for me as I am in fact considering buying a recent Japenese import..

Dee

[Jamboal]

Have got a Japanese import Mazda and had same issue with translation so in the end just spent a bit of time playing about with the various settings etc. It helped to suss out the radio and CD player, sat nav can just be ignored although I don’t have phone capabilities in the car.