Still alive

As I was riding my Yamaha to work the other day, I noticed something white out of the corner of my eye. It was boxy, and big and by the time I felt its menacing presence it was just inches away from me.

There was some asshole trying to pass me on the right, even though he had no room to pass at all, and never mind that I was barely a car length behind the vehicle in front of me.

Statistically speaking, it's fairly safe to drive in Japan. Yes, there are a lot of road deaths every year but comparatively speaking Japan's roads are much safer than the US or a lot of other countries with a similar number of vehicles. My gut says it's due to the high level of congestion and narrow roads which both force people to drive slower, and also because of Japan's insanely harsh drunk driving laws that make it possible to get prison time for almost any amount of alcohol in your system. Put that fear into people and even the biggest douchebag rarely will decide to drive drunk.

It's also especially safe for people on two-wheeled motor vehicles - the last time I got my license renewed I remember the Chiba police stats showing not a single motorcycle or scooter rider had been killed in the past several years.

But not due to a lack of trying. On the part of other drivers, that is. Well, I mean on the part of kei truck drivers, anyway.

In Japan everywhere you go you find little subcompact trucks with small engines called "kei trucks" (軽トラ in Japanese) - light trucks with a small wheel base and a max engine size of 660cc. They're used by utilities for maintenance crews, in small scale construction projects, shipping, and all kinds of low-weight industry.

They're also, IMO, generally driven by two groups of people: old guys nearing retirement and young dudes just starting out in manual labor. And of course neither group gives a damn what they do or who they nearly plow into. Yes, of course the majority of kei drivers are probably really swell folks who are super polite. But they don't stand out in your mind because of all the crazies out there.

I have been nearly rammed a few times in Japan on the road. Two instances really stand out in my mind, though. The first was a few years ago when this old dude turned left through my lane and I nearly lost control of my bike. I was just lucky enough to avoid impact, but you could feel the wind rushing off the window of his truck, we were that close. And the second was this dumbass who was apparently trying to squeeze me off the road, never mind that there was no shoulder at all where we were. Both times they were driving little white kei trucks, and both times I felt like it wasn't that they didn't see me; they just didn't care.

So if you're thinking of getting a license here, I say go for it. But just watch out for the little trucks hurtling along everywhere.