LSDCD

Overall the switch to left-side driving hasn't been too excrutiating. When you first arrive you go through a period of what almost feels like vertigo because of everything being reversed and the fear and dizziness that comes with that. Your brain is constantly telling you, "No! Something's wrong!" and you're having to suppress it. Then, if you're like Nathan, you go through a few isolated incidences of LSDCD (Left Side Driving Confusion Disorder) because driving on the left suddenly feels natural, your brain stops telling you that something is wrong, and so then you panic, thinking that something IS wrong even though you're driving where you're supposed to be. Or if you're like me, all of your panic is justified because you have suddenly reverted to driving on the right. But now it's finally pretty natural. After 5 weeks here the only time I have to deal with LSDCD is when I've not driven myself for a couple of days--like if it's a Monday and Nathan drove me everywhere that weekend, or if I've been too busy dealing with Okinawan germs to leave the house.

Other driving-related miscellanea: It's perfectly legal here for people to "pull over" (move as close to the curb as possible, thereby only blocking half of the lane) in order to hop out at a vending machine and grab a juice, a coke, or a BOSS coffee (as advertised by Tommy Lee Jones' unsmiling face). They are into their refreshments. I have also seen multiple people smoking while driving scooters (something I never saw in Italy, but I didn't hang out in the wild south that much). A well-commented-upon issue is the lack of car seats or even butts in seats for little kids...among their in-car gymnastics I've heard of them sitting on the dashboard. And in general, their cars are quite small--but Nathan pointed out the other day that for little bitty Japanese ladies, these station wagon-type things really are minivan-sized. It actually made me feel less bad about driving a bigger car.

And now, a couple of articles about Japanese culture (in case you're like me and just skip over stuff like this until you move there). Oh wait, except Blogspot won't let me paste into this window. Am I just a moron? Does anyone else have this problem? I'll have to put them on facebook.