Japan Spotlight: Driving in Japan

So I've been driving around in my sweet little Suzuki (the car that can park anywhere!) for close to two months now and I can tell you that the roads of Japan are a bit different from the roads of my homeland. The first thing one (an American) notices is that the roads are much narrower in Japan. A two lane road here would constitute a wide, one-way street back home, but there is still a dividing line down the center. Second, the roads often curve and wind all around mountains and cliffs and drop down at sudden angles or rise in sudden asphalt ascensions making normal drives seem more like an exciting excursion. Third, and this is just for North Americans, the cars in Japan drive on the LEFT side of the road and this causes a bit of confusion with all one's driving instincts (only when I panic at an intersection do I drive down the wrong way). And finally, fourth, the typical Japanese driver is bit more insane behind the wheel than the average driver I knew back home (but then again, I knew a lot of wet blankets).

Nonetheless, having a car and using it to drive around the countryside and city streets has made me feel a lot more independent here. Before I came to Japan, I wasn't planning on driving at all, but now, driving is one of my favorite activities (you know what I'm saying Dirty Dianna).

The other week (or was it month?) I took a trip to visit my friend, Ben, in his inaka town of Honyabakei. The route there was along a road that went upupup a mountain and then back downdowndown the other side. Along the way I enjoyed freaking out as I drove through dark Japanese forests (searching for elusive tengu!) and swerving to avoid other cars that would suddenly appear from around a narrow curve. There were also amazing/insane drop-offs from the road where, if a car were to fly over the edge, the farmers in their rice fields below would get a really good show. Half the fun of the trip was the drive (especially the return trip at night in the rain).

One of the best things about driving in Japan is being able to do reckless maneuvers without feeling too bad (or too illegal) because most other people drive like lunatics too. Go the wrong way? Do a u-turn anywhere! In a hurry? Pull out in front of those other jokers on the road, they'll slow down! Need to answer your keitai (cell phone)? Just pull over slightly to the side and turn on your blinker—you can practically park there! (no joke, Japanese people think of the road as a driveway sometimes and you will often have to drive around someone who's stopped to, 1. talk on the phone, 2. take a break, 3. gotten out of their car to go have coffee inside their friend's house).

Like everything else in this country, driving has been a learning experience for me. I often go the wrong way and end up making u-turns in the middle of the road and more than once I've just pulled off the road slightly, turned on my blinker, and gone inside a friend's house to have coffee (not really, mom). My car may be small, but she has heart and is a good companion in the inaka. And now that my fellow Ajimu JET, Chris, has lost his license due to speeding (something like 60km over the speed limit) my little Suzuki is a necessity.

PS – sorry Chris…I just wanted to put some gossip in my entry so more people would read.