Can you afford it?
Page: 3/5
Really Random
5
Dinosaurs are living healthy and well in Japan... didjaknow?
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As seen in every anime that features an episode-by-the-sea... those jacks-shaped breakwaters line the whole coast.
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I am very surprised to not see many boats on the rivers. However, when you go to the seas and oceans, there are boats everywhere. Boats are not used much as recreational-vehicles in Japan... mainy just for fishing and transport.
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I've mentioned the ratio of porn-to-non-porn mags in convenience stores in other entries... now here's the proof. And as I've further pointed out, these just sit in their displays for all to see.
Road Notes
I've discussed many road-rules facts and oddities in past "Living in Japan" culture articles, but I always manage to think up more shortly after publishing. Here's what I came up with this round.
- In any car accident, it doesn't matter what the circumstances are; both drivers are 50% responsible. This is Japan's non-confrontational "c'mon, let's all play nice" social-vibe in play. Same rules apply for people who get in fights, too... though all this might change eventually starting with 2009's introduction of a trial-by-jury legal system. Under the current-system that has existed for generations, Japan has a 99% conviction-rate. Essentially, in the eyes of the court, if you've been arrested, then you must be guilty. The notion of "guilty until proven innocent" reigns supreme... and considering that police can arrest you without formal charges (and hold you in jail for at least 7 days without letting you have a phone call), you better be sure you're behaving super-well when in this country.
- When you approach a regulated-intersection, bear in mind that the lights are on the far-end of the intersection... and usually there is just one set. I don't know if this is just how it is around here, but when I was living in Massachusetts USA, every intersection had lights on the near-corner AND on the far-corner. Why am I pointing out something so idiotically-obvious? Well, if you're not used to this layout and you're driving at night, you could very well end up stopping in the middle of the intersection!! It's happened to me at least twice... luckily it was late at night in areas without a lot of traffic. Phew.
- Police cars and fire trucks drive with their siren-lights flashing anytime they are on the road. They're not responding to any emergencies... they just drive with their red-lights on (no blue-lights on the cop-cars here, either). Why they do it? I have no idea... it's rather annoying since you're never sure if you should be moving out of the way or not... but even that doesn't matter since, as I pointed out last time, traffic doesn't have to pull over for emergency vehicles (though it would be wise to do so when you have a chance to get out of the way for obvious reasons).
