Car

Car.

Oh Car. This is the thing I drive to my different schools in. I'd say it's nestled right between a PT Cruiser and a go-cart. It's a kei-car, or "light" car, which is like calling the Everglades damp. There is a hypothetical back seat (it exists, but I don't know anyone small enough to fit in it), and a trunk that I think could fit two duffel bags. The transmission feels like a single, lonely gear (Gundam transmission, I call it), and it can do 60 kilometers an hour, downhill. It does the job though--I like it (not enough to give it a name other than Car, though).

The thing about driving in Japan that you always want to remember, of course, is that they drive on the left. The steering wheel is on the right, and the turn signal is flipped (which has led to a couple of impromptu windshield wipings at intersections). Thankfully, the gas and brake pedals are in the right order.

The other thing about driving in Japan is that roads, while achingly quaint and picturesque (see below), are too narrow. Overmore, I'm sharing the road with pedestrians because there is often no sidewalk, and behemoth trucks because there is, of course, a quarry nearby. By way of compensation, though, the highest speed limit I've seen here is 50 kph (just over 30 mph) which I've made a point of respecting since I'm in an office car. Mercifully, there are also safety mirrors at every blind turn.

Achingly quaint and picturesque road (overly-narrow).