Eddisofbextar comments

xmugwump at 09:58 PM JST - 9th July Jesus Christ. Are you people for real?! How dare you criticise the manners of Japanese people. You're living in the WORLD'S biggest megalopolis. A city crowded with millions and you expect every stranger to be courteous?! Where did you people come from, Sticksville USA? Go to New York or LA and you'll find some majorly rude asses, far worse than a Japanese girl who has fallen asleep on a train after working a 15 hour shift. Talk about the 'Ugly American'....

wareware nipponjin!

back to reality however, this isnt just restricted to major populations like Tokyo or Oosaka. Ive seen this in Fukushima, Aomori, Miyagi, Akita, Okinawa and Hokkaido.

As most intelligent people will already know, there are kind people and rude people and a bunch of in-betweeners in every country. But I tell you one thing, if someone tried to drag a young girl into a train bathroom to rape her (Toyama incident) in Canada (or the US I am sure), the guy would get the beating of a lifetime by most every passenger on the train and likely wouldnt live through it.

tell me again xmug how great it is here compared to other countries. It makes me chuckle.

Not only earphones, people riding bicycles and driving cars can often be seen using cell phones to send email. While they are moving no less! In one day in the around 2.5 hours of driving I do I can usually see 30 or more drivers, and 100 or more children on bikes using cell phones.

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OssanAmerica at 06:53 AM JST - 10th July

I still cannot comprehend how Japan has a traffic light system where >pedestrians, including children, are given a green light to cross and >cars turning are also given a green light to turn.

I can. Because we have the exact same system here in the United States. The rule is that the non-driver ALWAYS HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY. In other words, the car must wait for the pedestrians to cross before proceeding. I was under the impression that Japan had the same traffic law. Correct me if I am mistaken.

If you drive down a straight road with sidewalks for peds, and someone standing on the sidewalk decides to jump in front of your car just at the moment when it would pass him by - for reasons of suicide, neglegence, or ANY other reason - the driver is at fault in Japan, regardless if he has time to stop or not.

Its odd tho, because suicide jumpers in front of trains, their families must pay gross ammounts of money to JR to pay for the delay to everyone.

Its only a matter of time before someone with a video recorder catches someone with lack of regard for their surroundings while riding a bicycle and then sues the government for making rediculous laws that should protect everyone, not just peds and bicycle riders.

I am not saying these 2 girls were doing anything wrong, since there are no details included in the report - but when I think about if I were to hit a ped and then go to jail, or have to pay huge sums of money when the ped for example fails to stop at a stop sign, red light, or similar situations, what happens to my family then? because of the poor judgement of someone else, my family should suffer? I dont think so, tim.