THE 'JOYS' OF DRIVING IN JAPAN - PART 1

First of all, here is a bit of trivia: There are 64 countries in the world where cars drive on the left - including Japan. What the countries basically have in common is that they all have a colonial past with the British Empire. So when was Japan colonised by the Brits, you ask? Well, it wasn't! So how come then that people in Japan drive on the left?

There are two common theories:

The first goes that at the time of the samurai, city streets and footpaths were quite narrow (in fact, they often still are). Most samurai warriors were right-handed and wore their sword on the left. That's why they kept to the left side of the road to avoid crossing swords and bumping into each other. Sounds reasonable and is actually not dissimilar to the apparent origins of left-side traffic in Britain, going back to a time when the main danger on the roads was mugging, and careful travellers would pass on-coming strangers on the left, with their sword arm towards the passer-by. I guess you can spot the sword being the common theme here...

The second theory goes back to 1872, when the British won out against America and France in getting the right to build a railway system in Japan, and those were all left-side running, which was then also officially adopted for roads. According to this theory, if American or French railways had been built instead, Japan would be driving on the right side of the road today...

Both theories seem perfectly plausible, but the actual truth may actually lie somewhere in-between.

Now, if you happen to come from the UK, which has left-hand side traffic and the steering wheel on the right, you would think that cars in Japan are built exactly the same way, right? Wrong. While in the UK the indicator and light stalk is on the left and the windscreen wiper stalk on the right (the same as in mainland Europe), in Japan it's the opposite.

For someone like me, frequently travelling to the UK, this means that you may sometimes see me activating the windscreen wipers at an intersection on a bright sunny day, prompting a small fright and great embarassment.

This usually happens in the first few days after arriving in Britain, or upon returning to Japan, and when I'm absent-minded (due to the inevitable jet lag), although I do agree that this is not generally recommended when you're behind the wheel of a car...

When recently asking a friend and car enthusiast about the positioning of the controls, his answer was that the general convention suggests that the most ergonomic placement of the indicator stalk (which is obviously used a lot more frequently than the windscreen wipers - unless you live in a very rainy country...) is closest to the driver's door, so as to allow the driver to indicate with one hand while the other is free to operate the gear shifter.

Which sounds very plausible and would explain the position of the controls in Japan (as well as in mainland Europe), although it's not nearly as relevant anymore as in the past, given that most people in Japan nowadays buy a car with an automatic gearbox.

The theory would then also give rise to the question why the logic doesn't seem to apply to cars in Britain... My friend didn't have an answer for that. One Internet forum I consulted, however, suggested that it's all got to do with 'European homogenisation', meaning that the EU wanted all controls in European cars to be in the same place, enabling drivers to jump in any car and know instinctively where the indicator stalk is. Except that since Brexit, the EU has no longer any say over UK rules, of course...

For someone moving to Japan, if you have a driving licence issued by a country where requirements for obtaining a licence are considered equivalent to those of Japan, and if you have its Japanese translation attached to it, you are allowed to drive here for up to one year. After that, you are required to obtain a Japanese driving licence.

Depending on which country you're coming from, that may be a mere technicality requiring only some paperwork, or it may involve both a written and a practical driving test.

In my case, I was lucky enough to belong to the former group, as a Swiss driving licence can easily be converted directly to a Japanese licence. All that was needed was to spend a couple of hours at a Driving Licence Centre to fill in some forms, and voilà, I was the proud owner of a Japanese licence. Naturally, my wife needed to accompany me and help out with language, as nobody spoke English there. But the process was very straightforward, and given that cars are driven on opposite sides in the two countries, as well as the complexity of some street signs in Japan (more about that later!), I was quite surprised that I was never quizzed about my ability to drive in Japan.

The same applies to citizens of most Western European nations, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, Canada and a handful of US states (5 of them precisely).

Should you come from anywhere else, you're out of luck and will have to go through the whole rigmarole of a written and practical test. Apparently this process typically takes several attempts, even for experienced drivers!

I do not know the logic behind the selection of countries and territories, and it does seem a bit arbitrary. Because if you, for instance, hail from the U.S. state of Virginia, your licence can easily be converted. But if you're the holder of a licence from its neighbour state West Virginia, Japanese authorities apparently don't trust your driving skills and want to put that to the test... Unless they know something about (particularly dangerous) driving habits in West Virginia that I don't...

There are three types of licences in Japan, indicated by colour:

A 'green licence' is given to beginner drivers and foreigners who are transferring to a Japanese licence for the first time, and it's valid for 3 years.

The the next level is the 'blue licence', which is the 'regular' licence, also valid for 3 years.

Finally, if you have been driving for 5 years or more with no traffic violations, you will be bumped up to the 'gold licence', the 'holy grail' of Japanese driving licences.

The benefits you get, apart from the feeling of pride, are mainly the duration (it's valid for 5 years), an easier extension process (a one-hour lecture on the rules and hazards on the roads, instead of two hours), and a discount on the insurance premium.

'Blue licence'

'Gold licence'

Needless to say, if you commit a traffic violation (and are caught), you will be downgraded to a 'blue licence'.

As happened to me last year on my way home from my third Covid vaccination, when inadvertently driving down a one-way street in the wrong direction, not realising that it's only a one-way street at certain times of the day (3 - 5 p.m., to be exact), while the rest of the time it's open for traffic in both directions...

Suddenly I had a police car behind me, with the megaphone blaring out something I didn't understand over the music from the car radio. I automatically assumed that they were on their way to an emergency and wanted me to let them pass, and since the road was quite narrow (going back to the age of the samurai, as we had established earlier...), I gallantly pulled into a side street, to make room. Only to realise that they were still following me!

In my dazed state after the Covid shot, it took me a little while longer to realise that the messages that were emanating from the megaphone were actually meant for me, requesting me to pull over...

The police officer that came to my car window turned out to be extremely friendly (remember, this is Japan, where people tend to be very polite in all situations - including police officers), and after patiently explaining to me the nature of my offence and taking down my details, I genuinely believed he would let me off with a warning. But no such luck!

So yes, after over 20 years of being the proud holder of a 'gold licence', I was going to be downgraded to a blue one at the time of the next renewal, which hurt more than the fine I had to pay. The only consolation was that the new blue one would still be valid for 5 years instead of the regular 3, providing I didn't commit any further offences till then.

And when I related my story to friends and relatives, I soon learnt that the reason the vast majority of 'gold licence' holders find it easy to hold onto their coveted permit is that they in fact never drive, nor even own a car. They are famously called 'paper drivers' in Japan.

It seems that for the past 20 years I had belonged to the rather rare species of active drivers with a 'gold licence'...

In Switzerland, it seems to much simpler. Or at least it did until now...

Driving licences in Switzerland have no expiry date. Unless you lose your licence due to a serious traffic violation, you never have to renew it. So mine is still the original document issued to me at the tender age of 18 (with the photo of a handsome young 18-year old to prove it...): A rather unwieldy document, which when unfolded, is half the size of a standard A4 page.

Recently, when I rented a car in Switzerland, the rental agent couldn't help commenting with a grin on his face that he hadn't seen such an 'antique' licence in quite some time...

Old Swiss licence, issued when I was 18, and still valid at the moment (but not anymore from 2024).

Because you see, times have changed, and the country has long since moved on to a modern licence in credit card format and with security features. Which is why the Swiss Government has decided that come 2024, the old licences would no longer be valid, so anyone still having an old document would need to have it replaced with a new one.

The trouble is that for that, you need to have a domicile in Switzerland. So essentially, Swiss citizens living abroad are caught between a rock and a hard place, because as of next year, their old licence will no longer be valid for driving in Switzerland, while at the same time they cannot get a new one...

For those living in European countries, this probably doesn't pose an issue, as the licence of their adopted home country can be easily understood by rental agents or police officers in Switzerland and are widely accepted. Not so if your licence is a Japanese one, which nobody in Switzerland would ever be able to decipher. For all they know, I could be showing them a supermarket discount card, as they wouldn't know the difference...

The only solution? An international licence issued in Japan.

The drawback? Not only does it have a validity of only one year (more - unnecessary - admin and cost!), but it looks even more antiquated than the old Swiss licence that is being phased out. In fact, it reminds me a lot of an old ID that my dad once showed me from his youth in the 1940s... Come to think of it, the design of the international licence definitely hasn't seen any facelifts since 1949, when the international convention on road traffic was conceived. And what's worse, it's made of rather thick cardboard material, making it impossible to fold and put into my wallet...

Japanese International Driving Licence

It's often the little things that can make life a bit difficult if you live abroad and are not part of the conventional norms.

Now, I haven't even touched on the actual process of driving in Japan yet. Which comes with its own set of challenges (though my experience with the 'part-time one-way street' may give you a hint). But I will reserve that for Part 2...