Driving

Every American knows that old stereotype of the bad Asian driver but to drive in Japan you really need to be a pro. Just look at that picture on the left - that is your average two-way street in Japan. The white mini-van is actually parked in a spot so the road is just the tiny blacktop that you see. What do drivers do when they are heading down the street and someone is coming in the opposite direction? I really have no idea.

In the United States drivers are used to wide six-lane highways with enough room on each side for a breakdown lane, even our rural streets are at least twice as wide as the road in the picture and yet somehow I would pass multiple accidents on my way to and from work, but for the almost three months since I've arrived in Japan, I have yet to see one accident; I haven't even seen a car with dents!

Parking your car in Japan is another matter. The size of your average home garage is crazy, you have like two inches of clearance on each wall, I seriously have no idea how people get out of the car after they park, much less how they park without scraping the heck out of the sides.

Yet people drive all the time in Japan like it ain't-no-thang and somehow everyone thinks they are rotten drivers. I don't understand it. I've been driving for over 25 years and I'd be scared as hell to drive anything larger than a Smart Car on the streets of Japan.

You want to know true terror? Try driving with your brother-in-law down a street like this, but with a few hairpin turns, in a full-sized van doing about 40. At night.

Great Adventure can kiss my ass.