Drive Paranoid

Posted on January 22, 2012 by CaryFujikawa

Driving in Japan can be pretty crazy.  Because I live in a town/rural area, you need a car.  Sure, there’s the gas-operated trains and buses, but to really live here you need a car.  People cut in front of you without warning, run red lights constantly, and there’s a million mopeds moving in and out of traffic.  It’s like bumper cars, but scary.  As one adviser said at our orientation, “In America, you should drive defensively.  In Japan, you have to drive paranoid.”  You never know when or where someone’s coming from.

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2 Responses to Drive Paranoid

  1. RodneyOsorio's avatar RodneyOsorio says:
    January 23, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    So are there nearly as many Traffic accidents there as opposed to the U.S.?

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  2. CaryFujikawa's avatar CaryFujikawa says:
    February 3, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    Amazingly, there aren’t as many accidents as the U.S. That is mostly attributed to the lower speed limits. On the faster toll roads, speed limits seldom get above 80-100 kmh (49-62 mph). On normal street level 4-lane roads (2 each way), the speed limit is 50 kph (about 31 mph). However, I did see a guy run through an intersection about 5 seconds after it turned red. Let’s just say, the results were smashing.

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