The Beaton Life: Driving in Japan

Moving to Japan meant a lot of different adjustments, and driving was a big one. Here they drive on the left side of the road, the steering wheel is on the right side of the vehicle, and the road signs are different then we are used to, not to mention in Japanese.

The triangle on the top left is a Japanese stop sign.

When we got here one of the first things we did was go to the SOFA driving class, it was a couple hours long and at the end we had to pass a test in order to get our SOFA driving license. (SOFA stands for Status of Forces Agreement, it allows the military to reside in country with certain restrictions and libertys, such as driving) Base road rules follow the same rules as out in town. Most vehicles bought on base are "recycled", meaning families that are PCS'ing out sell their cars to the families PCS'ing in, most vehicles are older and you can buy for less then $3,000. We ended up with a 1995 Honda Odyssey that seats 6 for $1,500, instead of the sliding rear doors most vans have, this one just has normal opening back doors.

Our van

Most vehicles in Japan are very very small, they only seat around 4 people and usually have small engines to make them more economical. There are also a lot of scooters and bicycles on the roads. It helps to have a small car here because there are some extremely narrow roads, there have been a couple times I think something is a walkway, or a pedestrian bridge, and it turns out it is a two-way road.

This picture actually makes the bridge look wider then it is.

Also a lot of the parking is very narrow and small, and almost everyone backs into the spaces in order to be able to get out successfully. Being as how we had a pretty big diesel truck back in the states I am no stranger to backing into spaces, I used to consider myself a pro, until we came here.

We all exited the vehicle through the back.

It is obviously nervewracking the first time you drive off base in a foreign country, after about a week of driving on base the only thing I was really worrying about was road signs and other vehicles, and the tiny roads of course. A friend and I decided to go to Nafco, which is the local home depot type store, and instead of taking the main roads, I ended up on one of those pedestrian roads, which turned into a pedestrian bridge, literally. I turned onto this bridge that barely fit the van, then had two people walking across at the same time, AND a truck at the end of it waiting to take it's turn to cross! Did I mention that the road bordering the inlet didn't have any guardrails? I barely made it past the truck, even after a couple of times reversing and pulling forward, and reversing again, and the truck reversing, trying to let the horrible white girl driver by. Oh yea, I know we sterotype asians driving in the states, but here in Japan, it's the white people who suck at driving. Needless to say, I barely made it to the store without having a panic attack. But I did make it.

I had been wanting to go to Ikea since before we even made it to Iwakuni, so as soon as we got there I started making plans. The closest Ikea is in Fukuoka, which is a couple of hours away.

I kept putting off the trip because I was so worried about driving the far in Japan, I was basically picture the roads of Iwakuni the whole way there. Which is NOT the case. Mark and I made the trip and were completely surprised at just how easy the whole drive was. We got on the Sanyo in Iwakuni, and took it the entire way to Fukuoka. The Sanyo is the expressway, or toll road, they run all throughout the country, but have different names. On our way to Fukuoka it changed names about 3 times. It is not crowded, and has some really awesome rest stops, they are well maintained and are basically a small strip mall with different food vendors, a bakery, lots of bathrooms, a playground and anything else you could imagine. It can be pretty expensive to take though, from Iwakuni to Fukuoka one way, cost 5,000 yen. (At the moment the exchange rate is 94 yen to $1)