Driving

Driving in Japan is a real trip. Everything’s opposite – you drive on the left side of the road in the passengers seat. The first time I drove, I made an American right turn… I won’t do that again. Since then though, I’ve gotten used to it. I drive an old white Honda Vigor. There are all sorts of weird Japanese cars that never make it over to the States. Honda, Toyota, and Nissan pump out all sorts of cool designs over here. Its really rare that you see American cars here (surprise, surprise). So far, I’ve seen three – a Buick (what?!), a Mustang (apparently they’re fairly popular), and a Hummer (I hear they’ve caught on as a status symbol). We were driving around the other day, and we saw a guy in a red Ferrari. Beautiful car. The guy must have imported it because the wheel was on the left side.
The nomenclature for roads here makes navigation very difficult. When a new road is built, they don’t bother giving it a unique name. Instead, they name it after an already existing road. I live on Rt 52, but there are three other Rt 52’s that run parallel to it. They don’t even bother with words like “new” or “old” – all the 52’s are just 52. Good luck figuring out which is which. And its not just 52. There are many Rt 5’s, and several Rt 12’s. Its fun to come to an intersection where, any way you go, you’re on the same road.