The real fun is when you are in a RHD country driving a LHD car.,...
Then I put a sticker on my dash saying. " Drive in the gutter"
And not sure how good it works in Japanese but Google Translate has a photo button where you take a picture of a road sign etc and if translates it to English.
Works with magazines too !
It's very easy actually. You'll pick it up in about 10 minutes.
I tried it when I went to the UK. I had a Skoda Fabia. Funny thing is that the turn signal and wipers stalk aren't reversed. So if you want to slow down and signal, you cannot do it while downshifting. Also, the bonnet release handle was still on the left side of the car. For a few days, we had a Eunos Roadster. On this one, the stalks were reversed and made the signal-while-you-downshift process much easier.
In reply to Rocambolesque :
That awkward control deal on the Skoda is typical of cars designed to be LHD but sold in the UK. I had a rental Fiat once where the throttle pedal was so far from the kick panel I bought a book to keep my throttle foot leaned against.
First time doing it i pretty much got in with traffic in town(prob 35 mph tops)and just went. Getting in the flow was the best way for me to learn. Went from terrifying to fun pretty quick. Its a very humbling change.
_ said:sleepyhead the buffalo said:you've got an international driver's license, right? pretty sure you have to have one of those to drive in Japan, iirc?
Got that last month. It was comically easy.
Yeah, I figured I’d post that for everyone else that comes along to read.
My experience has been in part that most places that want it, do so because of language/consistency/‘security’ of the “ID”... although it may be harder in some states, if their drivers ed requirements are stringent enough.
Standard caveats... i’ve not gotten one yet, I could be wrong in my impressions, ymmv, etc
also, I’d suggest you go down to the fish market in Tokyo. Dunno if it’s still open to wander around. But, some of the best/freshest sushi is had there, from my experience.
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
The fish market moved, but still exists. It’s on the docket as a “we can’t sleep because of this weird time paradox, so let’s do this” plan.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
RHD driver here, NZ.
Slightly off topic but the controls on the "wrong" side is an EU thing, Ford shifted them across in the mid 70's (Mark II Escort was my introduction here) which produced a spate of people putting the wipers on when they wanted to turn left...
Moving from one to the other, Jap to Euro has never been much of an issue for me but what is really doing my head in at the moment is my new Focus which for some reason has the indicators on the right (like my Subaru) but my partner's Fiesta, which looks almost identical from the drivers seat, is on the left.
FWIW for the original poster, having driven in the US a few times, is there are two pitfalls to concentrate on;
Cheers
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