Traffic: Red, Green, and In-Between

In my last post I mentioned the traffic. Although some things feel very much the same as they do in the States, there are some very distinct differences in the way the signs look and the behaviors towards other drivers. First of all, everything here in Japan is completely compacted: the lanes; the parking spaces; and therefore, the cars have to be as well. The most common cars are the small cubes (ignore the two work vans): The other personal vehicles are motorcycles and tiny two person cars. Our first week here we actually saw a one person car that looked really funny but we didn't take a picture. We haven't seen any since.
Our car is still small but more of a western design. Our '97 Nissan Primera:

As you can see, the steering wheel is on the right side and we drive on the left. We originally thought this would take alot of time to adjust to but once you get behind the wheel on the right side you just automatically convert everything. It seems completely normal now. Dayne's even caught himself driving on the wrong side in his games.

Many of the signs are also different:

Although people do follow the signs here unlike some other countries we've been to, there is some delay in stop lights. Once the light turns red you can usually expect about 3 cars to go through before it is safe to go on green. Another fun fact: because of the limited parking, it is not uncommon to see vehicles parked up on the sidewalk.

My favorite part about driving in japan is the attitude that everyone has. In America we have a "me-first" mentality that translates into people cutting each other off and honking their horns or yelling profanities. The Japanese culture is all about respect and you can see this in their driving. However, this also goes the other way and they just assume that you will let them go first too. It is really common to come to a place where traffic merges and you see them start waving at you. This means "I'm coming in. Thank you in advance." They usually won't wait to make sure you stop because they assume you will out of respect as they would for you.

A few more pictures from driving in Japan: