And in passing, why does this particular country get the moniker "Land of the Rising Sun"? Well, actually, I know the answer to that, it's Japan's location in relation to China. That is, farther East, where things begin. Korea gets stuck with the piddling name "Land of the Morning Calm". I guess it's calm since Japan stole the entire sun rising thing, but I digress.
By the time I arrived in Japan, Will had already secured a car. A tiny, white Mitsubishi Minica. Have no idea what it is? That's because cars of this ilk generally aren't manufactured in the States. It's very small and known here in Japan as a k-car (kei-car?). K-car's aren't just Mitsubishis but any car that has a small engine. Those with smaller engines are given yellow licence plates, instead of white, and I think have a break on some taxes. I swear you could fit this car into your pocket.
Japan, as most of you know, operates on slightly different driving rules, that is, they drive on the left hand side of the road. Or to North Americans, the WRONG side of the road. I don't see why the entire world couldn't all drive on the same side but there it is. At first it was strange to look at cars and see the steering wheel situated on the right side of the car but you get used to it surprisingly fast. Since I'm following traffic most of the time, it isn't hard to figure out where you're supposed to be. If I was alone on the road then I think I'd run into some trouble. Traffic lights are also reversed. The red light is on the right and the green on the left (which leaves yellow in the middle as usual). Then, in bigger places, there are some funky lights where the solid red stays but green arrows light up underneath it and traffic seems to proceed as normal. The meaning of this? Who knows? To spice up life maybe?
Driving a colleague home one day to a place called Koyadaira which is high high up in the mountains, I discovered that small mountain roads are only one lane. What happens if one meets oncoming traffic? Well, you slow right down and stay to the side as much as possible to see if both cars are small enough to squeeze through. If you're lucky there is a dip or shoulder in the road to swerve into to let the other car pass. If you meet a truck it is your responsibiity to back up and make room for it. The truck takes priority over all other cars. Luckily, I was just a passenger and Will was the one who had to stress about curves and oncoming traffic. I continued to usefully gape at the narrowness of the road.
In this country, cars are inspected every 2 years. This is called shaken. In order to continue driving your car, you must pass shaken, if you don't then no more driving until you get a better car. While this could be a good thing (you know if you pass that your car is in pretty good condition) it makes quite the dent in the pocketbook, anywhere from about 72000yen to 128000yen per shaken. I believe that if the car is older, and therefore needs more maintenance, then the cost of shaken goes up. *note: if you're interested in price conversions, look up the universal currency converter online*
Our little Minica went through shaken just this past year and won't need another until 2007. At that point who knows how much it would cost? But it's always nice to have some mobility, no matter what country you're in.
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