On Driving

 I feel like I need to attach a GoPro to our car, so you can get a sense of driving here.  Obviously, driving on the left takes a little adjustment, but I learned to do that way back in the day in India.  Even after six months, I still occasionally turn on the wipers instead of the turn signal.  But only one time did I drive on the wrong side of the road (after pulling out of a parking lot onto a tiny street).  

What's really crazy, though, are the highways in town.  Driving on an elevated toll road that twists and turns and has no shoulder is really something.  Entrance ramps, exit ramps, or merging to other toll roads could be on either side as they are built for where space is - and there's not much space.  It requires such concentration to stay in the lane, stay aware of where cars are coming from, stay alert for the signs in Japanese (or unfamiliar English place names) for where to go, and stay focused on the road and not on the buildings/river/Mt Fuji.  

An hour trip south to Yokohama leaves me pretty tired.  I come back just after lunch and am pretty much shot for the day.  

And, while I've never experienced, I think speed racing at 2am on the highways must be a thing, because I can hear it from the highway near our house.  A friend confirmed my suspicions - and he said his friend told him she totaled her Porsche going around a curve too fast on the highway at a 3am joy ride.  And that Porsches are better than Lambos on the Tokyo highways.  I said he traveled in circles beyond mine :)  I don't think I'll be in a real life "Tokyo Drift" situation anytime soon - but I can see where the fascination comes from.