indosnm 0 Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 What's up with the kids here? Don't they get taught road safety at school? yesterday I was driving and turned left at a signal where 2 fat Jnr. high school students were coming up my side of the road ( wrong side on a bike), before the intersection they cut across as they thought its their right to do so as my light was now green. i nearly took them out and you should have seen the frikkin stinky that I was given! Hey you are on a frikkin bike which is smaller than my car, if i hit you I will hurt you, if not kill you. don't they dumb asses know that?" This is one things that pisses me and I really want to hit one of these dumb asses one day just to make a point! But my wife says to me that as a car, almost always if we hit a cyclist that we are ****ed? Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 Indosnm, Perfect Timing with this: Dont even get me started on the lack of common sense in this country. I saw the funniest/scariest scene yesterday after my run when I was walkin around tryin to cool down some and was standing at an intersection waiting for a red light. A woman ridin her mamachari with a little kid on the back seat was approaching from the opposite direction I was heading. Of course, this being Japan she wasnt even looking for cars as she approached a RED light and continued figiting with her kid. Another women coming from my left, again with a young kid, was emailing or doing something on her keitai without paying attention or even bothering looking up as to not run over anybody. Its one of those scenes where Ive thought a thousands times, "what if these women collided with kids in the back with no helmets on?" They sure would learn a lesson the hard way. Guess what happens, the first lady turns right (with the most halfassed glance up) at the same time the other women on her keitai comes around the corner.............BAM!!!!! They crashed into each other and here I was watching this scene unfold in slow motion. God, a guardian angel, or their dead ancestors they pray to, must have been watching over them as both miraculously got a foot down in time to break their fall and keep their bikes from becoming one with the pavement. The kids never touched the pavement - but arms were flailing and they were balling after the nasty jolt and nearly getting embeded in the cement. Stunned, but not surprised, I asked if they were ok and got stuttering answers from both of them, "da da dada daijoubu de desu" came the response from one woman. "mo moshi moshiwakearimasen" from the other. Stared at them both and said I "hope youve learned your lesson to look forward when riding a bike and pay attention as your kids couldve been seriously hurt. Your luckly thats your keitai on the ground and not your kid." I walked away saying shinjiraren shaking my head. Things like this happen so often here because people here DO NOT pay attention. Maybe it has to do with the population never having learned common sense like looking where your going, the fact that this country is so safe that Japanese dont think about a purse or wallet being stolen off the street, but it gives me a headache. Moms never say anything to their kids as they walk down the street out into on coming traffic. Abunai Abunai is the most common response, when it should be watch where the F#$K youre going next time. All I hear is Abunai - this is a country of Abunai, not common sense Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 Your wife's a wise woman. You hit anything no-motorized in an urban area, you're shagged... Being an urban cyclist and pedestrian, however, I have to say that most cars here take the piss when at crossings, etc. How many times have cars overtaken me and then tried to turn left right in front? and only the other day I had to slap a car that failed to stop at a zebra crossing (the 'i'm a car what you gonna do about it' mentality, along with the 'if I don't look at you you're not there' one) Well, I enjoy making my presence felt at these moments, and am even contemplating carrying around a highway code in future, creating a scene by slapping the windscreen with it and inquiring as to how th f-wit got his license... The spot it always happens is pretty busy, so much embarrassment should ensue. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 At my boy's playschool there were a brother and sister who came into school one day both with skin missing and bruises on the right side of their faces - they were on the front and back of a bike that 'went down'. Of course mum was a disaster waiting to happen. I once watched a schoolgirl and a noodle delivery guy on bikes ride toward each other on an empty, wide road, see each other coming, fail to take any action, collide, bang heads, and get covered in boiling hot noodles. I was perhaps more stunned having seen it than they were. The 'Abunai' shriek really bugs me when I'm on a bike, because when a Japanese person is 'abunaied' by another one, they jump in a random direction - more often than not right into your path. It's a different world. Link to post Share on other sites
Davo 1 Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 It certainly is Ocean 11. A lot of people walk around doing good imitations of weaving drunks. I get the impression that many people have not a clue where they are going. Cellphone use has only served to compound the general lack of spacial awareness in this country. Maybe it has something to do with the "be careful" culture. Perhaps people lose their common sense due to the barrage of warning announcements, or the presence of the ubiquitous "guardmen", and so-on. I heard that a huge amount of people are killed each year as a result of being struck by cyclists. The combo of cyclists and pedestrians who don't pay attention is a recipe for disaster. A significant number of people get taken out in bowing related accidents as well. Bowing your way into oncoming traffic is an entirely pointless way to die. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted June 19, 2004 Author Share Posted June 19, 2004 I like Indonesia's way.(where the bigger vechile gets right of way) After spending so long there you sometimes feel that the people are sometimes a lot less than smart, but when it comes to road sense they at least know that the "bigger" thing gets right of way ( because it's not going to stop for you)otherwise you end up dead. In japan where I would have thought the people to be a little smarter ( than Indo) constantly proves that theory to be incorrect. Thats not saying that japanese people are dumb. just the cyclists Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 Yeah, rule of law and civilization, bummer, eh? Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 I used to speculate that being aware, alert and responsive was too easily interpreted as being decisive and pushy and we all know how the Japanese are seemingly uncomfortable with being decisive and pro active. etou desu ne, desu ke dou It seems that the last time the Japanese were in fact remarkably effective in decisive action was around Pearl Harbour times, and that caused a lot of pain for the country in the end. Sometimes I swear they put it on. I have seen a guy get out of the same elevator every day for 2 years (and he had already been doing it for 5 years or so before that) and EVERY TIME he would exit the lift, tilt his head, look at the ceiling, do a 360 and then work out which office door belonged to him. He would announce his discovery with an universal "ahh!, sumimasen". I had no confidence in this guy at all and this was as a result of his indecisive act that he performed each time he left the lift. I wonder if Japanese society was so obvious in their indecision and lack of awareness before WWII, cause it seems that during the war they had no problems at all getting things done and on occasion were quite successfully able to kick the ass of America in the world of triforces manoeuvre warfare... no mean feat at all and it took two vaporised Japanese cities before they stopped being so damned alert, decisive and effective. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 A good theory, but I believe the Japanese 'decisiveness' present at pearl harbour, still exists, as always, as executive decisions. Take your typical company, boss listens to presentation, then makes a decision based on his gut feeling, followed by no discussion. This, despite the fact that he may be going counter to expert advice just given. Many people in Japan don't make decisions well because they're not allowed to/expected to/it often makes little difference if they do. Politics-nothing changes, company-no reward systems, best to just second-guess the boss - I think many people just switch off and drift around. Link to post Share on other sites
proudtobegay 0 Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Any of you tried driving in France? I did once and it was an experience I can tell you. I found the French to be mad drivers, more than here. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Sometimes I swear they put it on. >> I always get that impression too. Its maddening (and funny at the same time) Link to post Share on other sites
Plucky 0 Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 I could type for days on this subject. Right now, in Misawa, the mayor (the guy getting 1 million dollar kickbacks a year) has said that Americans drive too fast. I got a speeding ticket 2 weeks ago - yep, 14km over. WOW! 12,000 yen. I'm framing that bastard. I got rear ended the other day while I was at a red light. The guy that hit me got out of his car and started screaming at me. I calmly stepped out my car, pissed off, but calm, and told him in English to shut the f up. Now, I've been here for 3 yeas. Do all Japanese just take gaijin as suckers? I could have thrown this guy 5 cars back and driven off. Now, if I'd run into him, I'd have to pay restitution, get my insurance jacked up, pay a police fine....but he hits me...at a red light...and blames it on me? I'm sorry I have to say this, but Japanese are the biggest sheeple I've ever been involved with. I'm not a big fan right now. I'm so tired of this place. I'm so tired of the racism here. comments are appreciated on that last comment... Link to post Share on other sites
wendy-cake 0 Posted June 21, 2004 Share Posted June 21, 2004 You seem to get involved in lots of incidents Plucky, don't you? Link to post Share on other sites
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