Driving on the Left

A few weeks ago, we bought a car. Nothing really makes you feel more like a local in a foreign country than owning a car and navigating the roads. Pursuing all-wheel drive, good gas mileage, fold-down seats and low mileage (kilometerage), we decided on a 2001 Subaru Impreza. Fear not...older cars in Japan are far different from those in the States. The roads here are crowded and the train system is extensive, so cars are not used as frequently and thus remain in excellent condition. Our set of wheels, for example, only had 33,000 kilometers on it (about 20,500 miles) after a period of 13 years.



Our sweet ride!



Lots of room for road trip supplies!

There is an active used car market near the base because the military community sees people come and go regularly. When looking for a used car, a newcomer has two basic options: buy a car directly from someone who is relocating away from Japan or go through one of the used car dealerships near the base. After keeping our eye out on base for weeks proved fruitless, we had a chat with Lewis at Mr. Auto who was able to find the exact car we were looking for at auction. Done deal, right? Wrong. Obtaining and registering a car in Japan is nothing but a series of hoop jumping. One must make sure that base inspections, JCI (obligatory Japanese Compulsory Insurance), base passes, etc. are all in place before taking possession of and driving the car. Of course this is all after testing for and obtaining our SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) drivers licenses which allow us to drive in Japan. This could have been a less complicated process since Jennifer has flexibility to take care of this stuff during the day, however John had to be there for most of it since he is the service member. Sheesh.

The final hurdle is to get approved by the local police station to park at your house. Our parking spot is behind a gate and off the street, but we still had to obtain a permit from the police station after they verified that our car did indeed fit in the spot. This process alone took Jennifer to the police station 3 times. On one of her visits, the woman at the desk tried to tell her to go to a different far away station..."But we live in this city!" Fortunately a fluent English speaker was passing by and assisted with some much needed translation. To pay for the permit, stamps must be purchased, similar to postage stamps in the U.S., and must be obtained from the stamp seller down the street. The system seems to work, but it seems highly inefficient when they could sell the stamps right there at the police counter.

The trouble doesn't entirely end once you get a car. THE JAPANESE DRIVE ON THE LEFT! We can't seem to figure out why that is since Japan was never a British colony, but nonetheless it is a necessary custom to adapt to and accept. The best explanation we received as to why left is dominant in this country is that Japan wanted to build an empire like Great Britain so they adopted their driving policies. (This story came from a Brit teaching English in Japan, so take it with a grain of salt.) Switching sides of the road isn't quite as bad as one might expect but driving definitely requires more mental engagement these days. The greatest tendency is to drive extremely close to the left side of the road. We haven't hit the curb yet, but we're not ruling out that realistic possibility. Keep in mind that everything in the car is reversed too. The steering wheel is on the right, the wipers are on the left and the blinkers are on the right. Needless to say, if you see an American driving here with their wipers on, they're probably about to make a turn. We're also hoping that we'll adapt to walking to the correct side when entering the car at some point before it's time to leave and drive on the right again.

Driving on the left is a dramatic switch while operating a vehicle in Japan, however other differences prevail as well. The roads are extremely narrow and traffic is terrible. It's a fair estimate to say that the roads are half as wide as in America, but they are still two-directional. Imagine needing to make a conscious effort to drive further to the right than you'd like (closer opposing traffic) on extremely narrow roads...terrifying. Fortunately there are some provisions in place to accommodate the road conditions, but you must remember to follow them. For example, the stop lines are at least 20 feet behind the actual stop light so that other cars have space to complete their turns. If you overshoot the line, American style, you might get hit or block the intersection. And what if someone pulls to the side of the road? Due to the size of the roadways, that means that half of the road is still blocked  and people must zoom around into the opposing lane to keep transportation flowing...also terrifying. As for traffic, driving around the crowded streets reveals the appeal of taking the train whenever possible. We live less than 3 miles from the base, but it takes 15-20 minutes to get home.

Anyway, that was a mostly negative account of driving in Japan but we are extremely grateful to have finally found a car and are enjoying all of the flexibility and independence it affords.