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Japan - What To Expect
  • Japan - What To Expect - Highlights
  • About Me & Where To Find Me
  • How To Get The Best Out Of Japan
  • Japan Travel Planning Tips And Highlights
  • March 21, 2022: Going To School
  • Driving In Japan
  • Car Rental Tips And Tricks
  • The Year In Japan
  • Discovering Tohoku
  • Japan - What To Expect
  • April 10: Seasonal delicacies at McDonalds
  • April 20: The Dangerous Japanese City Streets
  • The Five Seasons Of Japan
  • Read More Tips Here Every Other Week
  • May 3, 2022: Garbage Collection
  • Triple Toddlers In Tokyo
  • May 11, 2022: Vegetable fields close to Tokyo
  • Taking the train in Tokyo
  • Staying Safe In Japan
  • May 29 2022: Dog Pooping Not Allowed!
  • June 27, 2022: How To Navigate A Japanese Hotel Breakfast
  • Wisterian Watertrees Writing Samples
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  • August 12, 2022: The Kei Truck
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  • September 7, 2022: Rainy Days And Traffic Dangers
  • September 25, 2022: Masks Will Not Go Away From Japan
  • October 15, 2022: Is It Open Or Closed?
  • My Current And Forthcoming Books About Visiting Japan
  • Worcationeering - how to prepare for remote vacation work
  • November 13, 2022: The Osaka And Tokyo Escalators
  • December 13, 2022: Seeing Around Corners
  • Japan - What To Expect - Highlights
  • About Me & Where To Find Me
  • How To Get The Best Out Of Japan
  • Japan Travel Planning Tips And Highlights
  • March 21, 2022: Going To School
  • Driving In Japan
  • Car Rental Tips And Tricks
  • The Year In Japan
  • Discovering Tohoku
  • Japan - What To Expect
  • April 10: Seasonal delicacies at McDonalds
  • April 20: The Dangerous Japanese City Streets
  • The Five Seasons Of Japan
  • Read More Tips Here Every Other Week
  • May 3, 2022: Garbage Collection
  • Triple Toddlers In Tokyo
  • May 11, 2022: Vegetable fields close to Tokyo
  • Taking the train in Tokyo
  • Staying Safe In Japan
  • May 29 2022: Dog Pooping Not Allowed!
  • June 27, 2022: How To Navigate A Japanese Hotel Breakfast
  • Wisterian Watertrees Writing Samples
  • Sign Up For My Newsletter And More Here!
  • August 12, 2022: The Kei Truck
  • What Am I Writing Now?
  • September 7, 2022: Rainy Days And Traffic Dangers
  • September 25, 2022: Masks Will Not Go Away From Japan
  • October 15, 2022: Is It Open Or Closed?
  • My Current And Forthcoming Books About Visiting Japan
  • Worcationeering - how to prepare for remote vacation work
  • November 13, 2022: The Osaka And Tokyo Escalators
  • December 13, 2022: Seeing Around Corners

December 13, 2022: Looking Around Corners

Driving in Japan gives you a superpower: You can see around corners. If you look up, instead of straight ahead.
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Even a quick walk tells you that Japanese cities are full of narrow streets with sudden intersections with other, no less narrow streets. In the crowded residential areas, where houses are stacked more or less on top of each other, the small spaces around the houses are usually filled with high walls, or tall trees, or hedges that have grown all the way into the street. Much taller than your car.
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It literally becomes impossible to see what is around the corner, and even if the speed limit is 30, you can cause quite a bit of damage to your car - and the one you might crash into.
​Not to speak of children playing, elderly cyclists, delivery bikes, and anyone else who may be traveling on those narrow streets. You need a way to see who or what is coming before you get out into the intersecting street.
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This is where the Japanese street authorities found a way to help out. At almost every street corner, and fronting the narrow alleys leading off the much not larger streets, there are street mirrors. Typically mounted on the same orange poles as speed limit signs and other traffic signs (or sometimes on the utility poles that sprout at different angles into the narrow streets), they sit high enough over the street to give a view of oncoming traffic. And since they are mounted at an angle, that view is visible to cars on the intersecting streets.
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Looking at the mirrors gives you a view of the oncoming cars in the intersection, but there is usually a dead angle too close to the mirror. While it usually not wide enough to hide a car, a cyclist or pedestrian can easily be hidden inside the dead angle. So you always have to take a quick peek to your right and left, as you creep out into the intersection. Because you can never turn out quickly in Japanese streets. There may always be something (or someone) coming.

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