Zoom Zoom Zoom
Before I came to Japan I was driving this beauty, a 2006 Honda Civic LX. I bought it for myself a few months after I graduated from college. My Civic and I have been through a lot together. As soon as I bought it I drove it all the way over to the Eastern Shore to visit my homegirl, Salima, at her college. I drove it back and forth between New York several times to visit my ex-girlfriend, Renee's, family and to see the ball drop in Time's Square for the first and last time. Pretty sure I tried banging people in it too once upon a time, so if you are ever in it and come across a white, gooey, substance..well...it probably isn't hair gel.
I tried selling my car before I left, but Carmax was not trying to give me enough money to justify such an action. So, I kept it. Thank Jebus, too. I love DC public transportation as much as the next person, but it's nice to be able to get up and go wherever the fuck you want to whether it's Metro accessible or not.
I kind of had to rewire my brain to be able to drive in the US again. Driving on the left side of the road isn't the only difference between Japan and the States when it comes to driving and automobiles. The driver's side is on the right side of the car. The turn signal and windshield levers are the opposite of what they are in American cars. On my first few days relearning how to drive, I tried getting in on the passenger side (thinking it was the driver's side) a total of 450, 827 times. I accidentally turned on the windshield wipers when I meant to turn on the turn signals around 17 billion times. And I almost killed myself and anyone riding with me by almost making turns into lanes on the wrong side of the street like...14.28763333 trillion times.
Driving in Okinawa is a relatively peaceful affair. In fact, ask someone what their hobby is and you're likely to hear "go driving" almost as often as "go drinking". The only thing you really have to worry about are the cab drivers, none of whom have any damn sense or regard for human life. So my blood pressure damn near shot through the roof when I started driving in DC again. The influx of out of town fuckers to the area has lead to worse traffic than ever before and even more trifflin' people who don't know how to drive properly. It was a lot to deal with on top of having to basically relearn how to drive, but I've mostly managed to get back into things.
A few other things I noticed while driving...
- Red light and speed cameras are everywhere. They're non-existant in Okinawa
- People are not afraid to honk their horns for any reason.
- I may actually drive slower now than I did before...probably because I actually drive the speed limit in Okinawa. The speed limit, by the way, is generally 40km/h, which translate to 25mi/h in the US. Who the hell drives the speed limit in the US?
- Parking in DC is both ridiculous and expensive.
- Right turns on red are a-ok. After living in Okinawa for so long, I had forgotten this fact. It's never ok to turn on red there.