Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! Driving in Japan

[canman]

I swear I'm going to go crazy. I really hate driving in this god forsaken country. Nobody follows the traffic rules. They constatnly go through red lights. I was at a signal, there was a lovely K police car beside me. We watched four cars go through not an orange caution light but a bright fucking red light. Do you think the police followed them and ticketed them. No they continued on their merry way. Then I'm waiting to turn again three cars including a big mother fucking dump truck do through a red light. No wonder so many people get killed.

[GomiGirl]

I don't drive here - planes, trains and cabs and the occassional scooter are my preferred method of transport..

oh and shanks pony as well. *

When moving house a few years ago, I did rent a truck and drive it through the streets of Tokyo - some very small streets too I might add. It was a source of amusement for the other drivers to spot a flame-haired white chick behind the wheel of a rather large truck.



* a bit of nostalgia for our UK and Australian viewers...

[FG Lurker]

I'm guessing from your "Blue" beer that you're Canadian too.

I started driving here about 2 years ago when I bought my first car, but for 8+ years before that I rode (nearly) everywhere by mountain bike -- up to 200km/week at times. The biking prepared me well for driving here, but even so it was a bit nerve-wracking for a while!

I've adapted though and I don't mind the driving style anymore. People often don't follow the "official" rules, but especially during rush hour the drivers are generally very skilled. Weekend driving is a bitch though!! Too many "paper drivers" out and about wreaking *serious* havoc!

I agree about the police. They don't work the same way as they do at home. A cop on "parking ticket" duty won't flag down a guy for running a red light and a cop on speed duty won't ticket a parked car. It's damn weird.

One thing I really like is Japan freeway driving. People (usually!) stay out of the fast lane and I have no problem doing 140 to 160km/hr for long stretches at a time.

[sirwanksalot]

I thought driving in Japan was pretty fun. Where else can you cruise down a street built for a car and a half @ 60 Kpm and have the next driver kindly pull over the side of the road at the absolute last moment.

[FG Lurker]

[...] @ 60 Kpm [...]

Jeez, and I thought that *I* drove fast here!

Some sort of jet-powered vehicle sirwanks? No wonder everyone gets out of your way!

[American Oyaji]

canman,
I've driven some of the same roads you have and I must say I prefer driving in Japan than here in the states.

Except in the winter when they don't clear the roads. Well....before the potholes show up, the roads are kinda fun. But when it starts to melt and then the potholes make driving mendokusai.

[canman]

I know that I'm not the best driver in the world. I leave that honor to my Dad. And I have been driving in Japan for 12 years, at first I had a scooter, and the past 10 years cars. I too like to drive fast sometimes, but recently I have really begun to notice just how bad the drivers are. I don't mind people turning on a red light, since most intersections don't have a turning signal. But its when cars just continue to go through red signals because they can't be bothered to stop. And I'm not talking about you typical Yankee Sylvia or Cedric. Or Yakuza Benz or Land Rover, but even little sticky K's flying through.
Yeah FGL I"m from Canada, grew up driving my grandfather's tractor. Learned to pop the clutch when I was 10 years old. Near Ottawa, in the valley as we say.
GG you mentioned you don't drive in Tokyo, but up here it is almost impossible not to drive. Public transportation is next to nothing. I am thinking about getting another scooter as my damn big gas guzzling Chrysler Grand Voyager sucks gas like it is going out of style. I know you are asking yourself, why in this world would anybody drive a Chrysler Grand Voyager when in Japan. Two words, "my wife" bought it. My two sisters drove them back in Canada and my wife really liked them so when we came back after vacation, voila. A gas pig. Nice ride, don't get me wrong, but at 8000 a fill up it hurts.

[canman]

Its not the roads, I don't mind them, and yeah near Misawa there are some pretty cool places you can speed like hell. Just watch out for the farmers. Its the drivers that I can't stand. I don't know what it is like in the States these days, but back home I think driving is getting a little bit hairy. Too many cars, not enough patience. But at least back home the cops do try and keep some kind of control. The other thing that kills me is that there is no idea about traffic control, or using signals to help with the flow of traffic. The lights here are only used to slow trafic down, thus aloowing the police to sit and relax in the local Koban.

[dimwit]

I live in a neighborhood where the roads could be best described as obasan cart paths. Having a drivers liscence would be extremely hazardous to my wife's cars health.

[FG Lurker]

I love driving and I'm very glad to have my J-license and a car. My wife drives occasionally, but the car is not really meant for an inexperienced driver...I always worry that she'll direct 280ps into a brick wall or something.

I hear you about gas millage canman... I get terrible millage in my car and have to use "hi oc" gas... Recently the prices have really been climbing too.

[sirwanksalot]

[...] @ 60 Kpm [...]

Jeez, and I thought that *I* drove fast here!

Some sort of jet-powered vehicle sirwanks? No wonder everyone gets out of your way!

I wish. I had an Estima when I was in Japan. I also lived in a pretty rural area so there usually wasn't so much traffic. Everyone would drive pretty fast.

[sirwanksalot]

[...] @ 60 Kpm [...]

Jeez, and I thought that *I* drove fast here!

Some sort of jet-powered vehicle sirwanks? No wonder everyone gets out of your way!

I wish. I had an Estima when I was in Japan. I also lived in a pretty rural area so there usually wasn't so much traffic. Everyone would drive pretty fast.

[kurohinge1]

[...] @ 60 Kpm [...]

Jeez, and I thought that *I* drove fast here!

Some sort of jet-powered vehicle sirwanks? No wonder everyone gets out of your way!

I wish. I had an Estima when I was in Japan. I also lived in a pretty rural area so there usually wasn't so much traffic. Everyone would drive pretty fast.

But 60 Kpm That's 3,600kph



Surely an Estima would struggle to get near that, even in inaka / imo-musume land

[FG Lurker]

[...] @ 60 Kpm [...]

Jeez, and I thought that *I* drove fast here!

Some sort of jet-powered vehicle sirwanks? No wonder everyone gets out of your way!

I wish. I had an Estima when I was in Japan. I also lived in a pretty rural area so there usually wasn't so much traffic. Everyone would drive pretty fast.

Uh huh... So how large of a sonic boom does an Estima make when it breaks the sound barrier? Not the most aerodynamic of vehicles, probably gives off a pretty decent THUMP!

[sirwanksalot]

It got from point A to point B fairly quickly.

[FG Lurker]

It got from point A to point B fairly quickly.

Hey, I just noticed you got your beer bottles back! And the Don't Wank avatar is gone too. Get let out early for good behaviour?

[sirwanksalot]

It got from point A to point B fairly quickly.

Hey, I just noticed you got your beer bottles back! Get let out early for good behaviour?

Maybe, I still cant have an avatar though. That's fine with me. I hate milk.

[bunchoffuckinggoofs]

Japanese milk, right?

[spyder]

A few years ago when in Japan I was driving my girlfriend's (at the time) Dad's brand new Lexus SC430. I was only 17, and it was the first time I had driven in Japan. It wasn't too bad actually, and I think it made my driving alot better for when I came back here to Australia. Gave me a much better concept of distance and better judgement too.

-Scott

[AssKissinger]

I swear I'm going to go crazy. I really hate driving in this god forsaken country. Nobody follows the traffic rules. They constatnly go through red lights. I was at a signal, there was a lovely K police car beside me. We watched four cars go through not an orange caution light but a bright fucking red light. Do you think the police followed them and ticketed them. No they continued on their merry way. Then I'm waiting to turn again three cars including a big mother fucking dump truck do through a red light. No wonder so many people get killed.

canman, I've driven through a pretty lot of this country and nowhere does my head in like Aomori. Especially on those narrow country roads in the icy winter. Whew. I was in accident up there too. Scared the shit out of me.

[American Oyaji]

A few years ago when in Japan I was driving my girlfriend's (at the time) Dad's brand new Lexus SC430. I was only 17, and it was the first time I had driven in Japan. It wasn't too bad actually, and I think it made my driving alot better for when I came back here to Australia. Gave me a much better concept of distance and better judgement too.

I got to agree. My driving is a lot better after 8 years in Japan.

Hey AK, I enjoyed driving in Aomori. It's nerve wracking, but that's part of the fun!

[Ketou]

I got to agree. My driving is a lot better after 8 years in Japan.

Hey AK, I enjoyed driving in Aomori. It's nerve wracking, but that's part of the fun!

Me too! I think driving here is great fun. Cars, trucks, scooters, push bikes, taxis, obasans, kids, ya just don't know what the hell is gonna come flying out at ya!

[Spidey]

Yeah. Japan, like most other over crowded countries, has what's called, SSRPC. (Subconscious, Self-Regulating, Population, Control)
This is evident in such cases as...
People believing that they are more powerful than a moving car.(i.e. people on bikes playing chicken with cars)
Mothers riding bikes with their babies perched on the front of their bikes with no helmuts in sight.
Children jumping around in cars with no safety seats.
Everyone going around as if they are the only ones on the road. All vehicles included.
People living and growing rice under high voltage power lines.
Operating vehicles with laser vision directed straight ahead.

And the list goes on...

[FG Lurker]

Well, I got rear-ended on the way to work this morning... Old fart in a Pajero couldn't stop in time and gave the back of the Legacy a pretty good WUMP.

The guy in front of me suddenly decided to stop for a yellow light (most people run em here in Osaka). I stopped okay, but....

Now his insurance company is trying to tell me they won't pay 100% because "I stopped too quickly." Well, they told that to my wife today, they haven't had the pleasure of dealing with me on the phone yet....

Anyone know much about getting unibody cars fixed? The back end took a pretty solid hit. The trunk compartment got compressed by 3 cm or so and no longer will latch closed. It doesn't look like a huge amount of damage but I think it's going to be tough to fix.

Going to visit the doctor tomorrow and get my neck checked out. Bit of pain now but not too bad. Sigh...the joys of driving.

[FG Lurker]

The Pajero driver's insurance company has come to the same conclusion as me -- that he was 100% at fault even though he continues to insist that I stopped too quickly (whatever that is supposed to mean!)

[Blah Pete]

Don't let them bullshit you. Get them to pay 100%
Had one wreck in Japan and it was clearly 100% of the other drivers fault. We had a meeting scheduled with both insurance companies. I arrived at the time the meeting was supposed to start and they basically told me they had already decided 60/40.
I stood my ground until everyone agreed on 100%.
Don't sign anything, make them pay

BTW, how far from the car in front of you did you stop?

[FG Lurker]

Don't let them bullshit you. Get them to pay 100%
Had one wreck in Japan and it was clearly 100% of the other drivers fault. We had a meeting scheduled with both insurance companies. I arrived at the time the meeting was supposed to start and they basically told me they had already decided 60/40.
I stood my ground until everyone agreed on 100%.
Don't sign anything, make them pay

I was expecting quite a fight, but my insurance company called today and said the other guy's company has decided to pay 100%. I think they got the accident report from the cops and figured out they didn't have much to push with. The impression I got at the police station yesterday was that the cops figured it was his fault, although they didn't come right out and say that.

BTW, how far from the car in front of you did you stop?

The car in front of me was a very large dump truck. He hit the brakes really hard and I reacted to that immediately. The Legacy has very powerful 4-wheel discs with ABS and it stops in short order. The guy behind me didn't react quickly enough -- if he had I think he could have stopped too. I think he might have been talking on the phone actually...

The reason I say he might have been talking on the phone is because after we left the police station I had to pull over to look some stuff up and make a phone call. A minute or so later he drove past me.......talking on his phone.

[FG Lurker]

Ah, forgot to write the distance... Well, I'm not sure exactly how close I was to the car in front. I was a lot more worried about what the guy behind me had done!! It wasn't super close, but it wasn't all that far either.

[sillygirl]

Oh dear, FG lurker......! Are you okay?

Driving in Japan has GOT to be the worst.

[FG Lurker]

Oh dear, FG lurker......! Are you okay?

Driving in Japan has GOT to be the worst.

Thanks Sillygirl. I'm in one piece with all attachments in the right places -- or at least the same places as before.

My car didn't fare as well though... It'll get fixed and hopefully be as good as new...but damn it's a PITA with all the phone calls etc. Have to go to a doctor and get checked out too, just in case pain arrives at some later date.