Driving deserves a post of its own…Most of you know that here the steering wheels are on the right side, hence driving is opposite side of the road. This Thursday we have our drivers test. They consider any vehicle operator a “Professional Driver.” As Americans with existing drivers licenses, we take only a written test and on the road we go! How scary is that?! The signs take some getting used to, and most roads aren't marked clearly anyway so that makes it more difficult. Though I hear there’s quite a bit of grace on base if you turn the wrong direction…people will patiently wave you to go to the other side. Not so forgiving off base I’m sure!
Driving must be one of the hardest things to get adjusted to. It’s been confusing even as a passenger to watch and “practice” by envisioning in our mind which direction we are to go. I consider us both good and quite confident drivers back in the states, but man, driving sure is different here. Traffic lights are slow to change. Red seems more like our yellow…so best to take a breath before you accelerate on a Green since its likely there are still people crossing on Red. We hear some Japanese people have television units next them (yes TV!) so they watch while driving! Some have curtains in their passenger and driver-side windows (wonder when they use that?!) And surprisingly, they aren’t so big on the infant car seats here either. Our sponsors have seen Japanese people just carrying their infants on their laps! Hence the lack of “Latch” systems American parents is used to. It’s interesting they don’t seem to use reflective paint, so rainy days you expect to lose visibility of the lines on the road. Good thing the max speed limit is 60 kph, which equals to only about 37mph! It’s impossible to “be in a hurry” here. That should give us more time to think of which way to go.
Good news is, we already secured a car! Although our sponsors were ready with a loaner car from a friend in case we didn't find anything quickly. We’ve been looking online a bit, but was most successful with the “Lemon Lot” on base (which is just for sale by owner, not actual lemons). It’s a popular place to find a reliable vehicle for a cheap price, and since there are so many military people moving in and out of island, the choices change daily. After looking at a few, we came back to our first find...a Nissan Rnessa. It's very well maintained compared to others we've seen, and we were able to bargain the cost down a significant amount of their asking price. It’s versatile and very spacious (plenty of room for the future stroller, groceries, and diving gear!) without the “mini-van” look and feel. There's a built in GPS (though never used by the family). Out here a GPS is practically pointless since I notice people rarely use street names for directions. It's "turn at the 3rd street"..."when you see the Blueberry cafe"...or "turn before the sign that says Cow Cow"...everything (including the base gates) are nicknamed different than their official map name, and plus we wouldn’t be able to read the characters anyways!
Driving must be one of the hardest things to get adjusted to. It’s been confusing even as a passenger to watch and “practice” by envisioning in our mind which direction we are to go. I consider us both good and quite confident drivers back in the states, but man, driving sure is different here. Traffic lights are slow to change. Red seems more like our yellow…so best to take a breath before you accelerate on a Green since its likely there are still people crossing on Red. We hear some Japanese people have television units next them (yes TV!) so they watch while driving! Some have curtains in their passenger and driver-side windows (wonder when they use that?!) And surprisingly, they aren’t so big on the infant car seats here either. Our sponsors have seen Japanese people just carrying their infants on their laps! Hence the lack of “Latch” systems American parents is used to. It’s interesting they don’t seem to use reflective paint, so rainy days you expect to lose visibility of the lines on the road. Good thing the max speed limit is 60 kph, which equals to only about 37mph! It’s impossible to “be in a hurry” here. That should give us more time to think of which way to go.
Good news is, we already secured a car! Although our sponsors were ready with a loaner car from a friend in case we didn't find anything quickly. We’ve been looking online a bit, but was most successful with the “Lemon Lot” on base (which is just for sale by owner, not actual lemons). It’s a popular place to find a reliable vehicle for a cheap price, and since there are so many military people moving in and out of island, the choices change daily. After looking at a few, we came back to our first find...a Nissan Rnessa. It's very well maintained compared to others we've seen, and we were able to bargain the cost down a significant amount of their asking price. It’s versatile and very spacious (plenty of room for the future stroller, groceries, and diving gear!) without the “mini-van” look and feel. There's a built in GPS (though never used by the family). Out here a GPS is practically pointless since I notice people rarely use street names for directions. It's "turn at the 3rd street"..."when you see the Blueberry cafe"...or "turn before the sign that says Cow Cow"...everything (including the base gates) are nicknamed different than their official map name, and plus we wouldn’t be able to read the characters anyways!
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