9 October 2011
Driving in Japan
Posted by Roland under: JET .
Driving around in Amakusa was not my first dance with the Japanese roadways. I had the pleasure of first driving in Japan when I visited Okinawa. Like Amakusa, it was a necessity to get around. There were no trains in Okinawa (like Amakusa), so if you wanted to go anywhere, you’d probably have to drive there (I didn’t want to spend half my vacation trying to figure out Okinawan bus schedules). I didn’t have too much trouble picking up the driving on the left thing, mainly because when I landed it was during rush hour so I had no choice but to go through traffic and basically be forced into the left.
My time in Okinawa wasn’t too bad. There were no accidents, maybe a few close calls with the curb and an almost getting pulled over by police for speeding (which would’ve been a huge incident because I wasn’t carrying my international drivers’ license at the time). One of the first things I learned about Amakusa during my research is that there are no trains. In order to do my job, I would need to get a car and I would need to drive. I had no problem with that, in fact having a car would give me freedom to explore the area around (and I may have gotten a car even I could use trains to get around, if my location permitted it).
Now that I’m driving on a daily basis, I feel like I throw out a few more valid responses to the Japanese way of driving.
The biggest issue I’ve had in Japan is the fact you can’t turn on a red light. At first I assumed this was an all over America thing, but I did find out some states don’t let you do that. Regardless, I had always grown up being able to turn on red. It’s a timesaver. In fact, when I was in Okinawa, I actually turned on red lights quite a few times. Then one day I was behind another car at a red light and after getting aggravated at the car not turning on red, I realized that you’re not supposed to turn on red in Japan. It’s not the worst of things, it’s just an efficiency thing. Especially since a lot of streets in Amakusa don’t have any oncoming cars yet you’re still sitting there at the red light.
These mirrors are amazing. I was told at a JET orientation to use them because they work. And well, it’s true. There are loads of blind spots all over Amakusa and without these mirrors, I can’t imagine anyone being able to drive. I’ve come to rely on them so much that I’m wondering why we don’t have more of them in America. Do we just build our streets with better view points? If anything, I wish Sacramento had them when I was around (they really shouldn’t have 2 way stops at a 4 way intersection).
The speed limits are pretty conservative around Japan. While 50 km sounds fast at first, it apparently equates to 31 miles per hour, which doesn’t make sense on the main roads in Amakusa. Then again, everyone seems to go at least 65 km anyway, so just like America, people take them as speed limit suggestions, rather than limits.
Japanese drivers are almost always defensive. Maybe it’s part of the overall culture, where you are more responsive to other people’s needs. But there have been times when cars will stop to let me turn or pass and I’m almost at a loss at what to do. I’m just not used to such niceness.
However the best part about driving in Japan has been the fact that Amakusa is full of great scenery to drive to. There’s the ocean road right by my house that I take for work. But if I drive just a bit to the west, then I’m treated to lush green mountains which I can only imagine get better with fall colors and spring cherry blossoms. That, and the lack of heavy traffic, makes driving in Amakusa some of the most enjoyable moments here.