if you don't like my walking stay off the road. (vudeja.com)

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if you don't like my walking stay off the road.

Posted on June 08, 2003

Something I neglected to post about yesterday, I was almost killed, seriously. When Masako and I got to Minami-rinkan yesterday we spilt up and were to meet up again at the hospital lobby. My job was to get the morning Mr. Donuts coffee. As I was making my way back toward the hospital with bag-o-coffee in hand I stupidly thought that I, as a pedestrian, would have the right of way at the crosswalk. Well Ms. Heavy foot-san didn't think so and nearly ran over my foot. Did I say "almost killed"? okay maybe it was more like "almost badly hurt my foot" I was wearing birkenstocks you know!

I feel like I've gone from one extreme to another extreme to another here in Japan. In my home town of Thunder Bay, Ontario I clearly remember our drivers-ed teacher telling us that we didn't have to worry about crosswalks on the drivers test because there was only 2 Xwalks in the entire city but we were still taught that the pedestrian always has the right of way. When I moved out to Victoria, BC I was shocked to see how many crosswalks there were and how bold the pedestrians were when crossing. Pedestrians in Victoria just cut out in front of you while jogging with their baby carriage (you know the type with the bicycle wheel up front) with out even looking and call you a Nazi when you have to hit the breaks hard cause you didn't see them coming! And Japan, were you are lucky if anyone lets you cross at all. There must be a rule they have here regarding crosswalks like the red plus three rule.

Leave a comment.

silly, dont be so bad on the japanese system.. pedestrain right of way is only a social construct, and its not even in all the states of america, so dont think of it as your godgiven right or whatever... anyhoo, good site!

::posted by: random_user at June 10, 2003 09:13 AM

"its not even in all the states of america"... I'm not sure what you mean by that? I guess one of the main points that I have forgotten to mention comparing say, Canada and Japan is that if you run a red light or almost hit someone at a crosswalk in Canada the majority of driver would have one of two possible reactions. Either they speed off and pretend nothing happened, or they would stop and say sorry. My experience in Japan is when the same thing happens the majority of drivers seem to think it is all your fault. "what is that crazy guy doing crossing the road when im tring to run through this red light!" or "does that crazy guy think that crosswalks are for people to cross at? weirdo!" and give you that evil stare. Again this is not everyone, just the majority that I observe. Also when posting comments please use a real email address or URL

::posted by: Mark at June 10, 2003 09:37 AM

How do I get photos of Minami Rinkan? I lived there in 1967 when my father was stationed at NAS Atsugi.

::posted by: David Guffey at July 5, 2005 06:16 AM

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