Driving in Japan
I have a new job and a not-so-new car. The car is old, perhaps as old as Japan itself, and is approximately the size of an ice cube, but it is a car nonetheless and for this I am grateful. You don’t need a car to get around in Hamamatsu and the neighboring cities, but unless you have the money for a cab or love urban hiking, the places you can access are limited.
This week I am “training”, in which I accompany the current teacher to various classes, meet the students, and introduce myself. It is also my crash course in navigating the greater Hamamatsu area and driving on the other side of the road. Tuesday was my initiation day, during which my head almost exploded from repeating the mantra “left-side left-side left-side left-side” and trying to decipher stacked traffic lights, effectively interrupting my mantra with, “which one is the signal for this lane?!” every minute or so.
Other than the old lady I almost hit and getting brilliantly lost, I would classify my first day as successful.