Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

This is actually Bryce's comments. Kim doesn't want any responsibility for things that I write because it might 'mess up her blog' as she puts it. No respect. So here it goes. The title, of course, is in reference to the movie but I don't have any Japanese plane stories besides running through the San Francisco airport to get to our Japan flight.

So, on to transportation experiences in Japan. It is probably most important to start from the time we got our rental van when we arrived at Japan. It was a nice mini-van, decent size, etc. After a few days of being in the house, we decided to take her out for a spin to the new IKEA store in Kobe. Not knowing how to get there nor trusting our sense of direction yet, I asked one of the landlords to program in the directions on the handy dandy navigational system. These babies are a must in Japan. It takes about 30-40 minutes to get to this store which is located on a man-made island. Anyhow, after about 10 minutes of driving Kim and I were both concerned as the lady talking to us from the navigational system kept yelling at us in Japanese. We had no clue what she was saying but we knew it wasn't good...something like 'turn here you idiot'. We actually made it there and back but not without fighting the machine. Thank goodness they re-calculate the route when we miss a turn. I of course do miss turns.....I take a different way. But it helps you on that too. Our new leased van has a navigational system in English....phew.

Driving on the left hand side of the road is something of a challenge as well. Having been driving on the right side my whole life, my brain doesn't convert to left side driving very well. I almost turned down a three lane road heading the wrong way. Kim needed to be resuscitated but we survived the near tragedy by swerving into a nearby drive. Also, since you drive on the left hand side of the road, your gears, blinkers and windshield wipers controls are reversed. I lost track of how many times I've turned on my wipers to signal my right turn. It has gotten beyond annoying but we have a good laugh about it.

Motorists here are on average polite and obey traffic rules. Not surprisingly, I probably am considered aggressive. However, there is one class of motorists that you have to keep your eyes open for....the motorcyclists. These guys zoom in between cars during the flow of traffic and when we are stopped. There has been more than once that I thought I was going to hit a motorist who zipped up between me and another car. It is a site to see how they swerve in and out.

Roads are skinny here and it creates an exhilarating ride for all involved. As an example, when leaving our home, we have a steep narrow road to go down. My two year old son Tanner always says 'whoaaa dada' . Kim is gripping onto the chair arms leaving marks. And the two older children say, “Let’s do it again!” It gets even better on the tight roads when you have two cars trying to get through spaces only big enough for one car.

Trains. Last to write about are the train commutes. Everyone really travels primarily by train here. The public transportation is fantastic. However, during rush hour going to work, I feel like a sardine...literally. It is only a 20 minute ride to downtown on the train. But you are elbow to elbow the whole ride. There have been times I can't even get my arms up to scratch in itch. And worse yet, it is deathly quiet. No one talks and you can't use your cell phone to talk. I don't know why, but you get some time to think that is for sure.