If you are going to drive in Japan

[post of Tuesday 7th of august 2012] 

Tomorrow we will be flying to Japan. There are many people waiting for us there, as well as many more here in Spain (and betond) helping and supporting us from here. One of these is David, Gabriel’s brother, who has signed up to our project, together with his knowledge of Japanese, to help us prepare for the journey. David has also written the summary we present below, which is about how to approach Japanese roads, above all when you are travelling by bike.

To get to drive in a foreign country (both by car and by bike) means that you have to get to know its laws and ways of “circulation.” Japan is one of the few countries in the world where people drive on the left side of the road (U.K. is another), and this is the first challenge for those who are used to drive on the right side of the road.

With regards to the traffic signs, Japan is one of the countries that didn’t sign the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals in 1968 (Spain signed it but then didn’t ratified the Vienna Convention). Therefore, some of the Japanese signs may be different from those we are used to here in Europe. Nevertheless, the majority of Japanese signs are the same, or at least very similar, to those established in the Vienna Convention.

The main cathegories of Road Signs and Signals are as follows:

• Informative signs. They present words and symbols in white on a blue or green background (for highspeed ways). Usually, these are squared signs, although those indicating a pedestrian cross, or a cross for bikes, are triangular.
• Hazard warning signs. These signs are diamond shaped and present words and symbols in black on an orange background.
• Restrictive and special regulation signs. These are usually circular signs, with white words and symbols on a blue background, or blue words and symbols on a white background with a red border. Perhaps the main difference for us is the Stop Sign, a red inverted triangle with the word “止まれ” [pronunciation tomare], literally “stop”, in white.

 

Together with a basic knowledge of Road Signs and Signal, it’s also good to understand warnings and signs telling you when there is a work going on in a road, a flood, or some other other exception to the normal restrictions in a road, etc. Of course, these are all written in Japanese, so it’s important to recognise at least the few, more iportant, words on them. Without doubt, the most important of all them is “注意”[pronunciation chūi], warning, and “禁止” [pronunciation kinshi], forbidden. For instance, “落石注意”[pronunciation rakuseki chūi] means that there is a danger due to a flood, and “立入禁止”[pronunciation tachiiri kinshi] that the road is closed. Above all, if you are to travel across the whole country (like us), it is very useful to know, and recognize, the word for “bike,” which in Japanese is “自転車” [pronunciation jitensha]. Also, you might find very useful to know that “自転車を除”[pronunciation jitensha wo nozoku] means “not for bike.” Indeed, to get a jitensha wo nozoku right after the much scary tachiiri kinshi may be an authentic salvation