This week, I attended my "Newcomer's Orientation." This is the official welcome that all military personnel and their dependents receive when they arrive in Okinawa. Given the events of the past couple of months, the opening speaker spent some time with the recently revised liberty policy: no drinking off-base for military personnel, although their dependents may indulge; no purchasing of alcohol on-base between the hours of 10am and 8pm; and the 11pm curfew is still in effects for all military personnel but not their dependents. This wasn't news to me, but the policy changed just over the weekend, so I'm sure it was a bit of a shock/disappointment for those servicemen and -women just arriving.
At the end of the briefing, we were given the test for our Status of Forces Agreement license, or SOFA license. As long as we have a valid US driver's license, the only other document we need to drive in Okinawa is our SOFA license. There is only a written test, thank goodness, and you have to score an 85 or better to pass. In Japan, we are considered "professional drivers." The primary effect of this classification is that, in most accidents, the professional driver is considered at-fault except in extreme circumstances. Another interesting thing that I particularly like is that new drivers or older drivers have decals on their cars to let you know that they are either new or older. The joke in the orientation is that you should stay away from them, but the rationale for these decals is so that you can recognize them and help them out by giving them extra room, time, patience, whatever. I know this would never fly in the US, but I like the idea that the decal indicates a need for community support, rather than a target or a danger. Maybe this is further evidence that my glass is always half-full...
Other generalities about driving in Okinawa:
- they drive on the left side of the road
- speed limits are in km/h
- the steering wheel and everything else inside the car is reversed
This last part doesn't seem like a big deal, until you do the "Yankee wave." The Yankee wave is where you turn your wipers on instead of your turn signal. An extreme version is that you splash your windshield instead of flashing your lights, but it is all because the turn signals and the wipers are reversed on the console.
I passed my test and we went looking for a car! Ryan's car is our Okinawa car. It has 4-wheel drive and can go anywhere on this rock. In contrast, we decided that my car should have high clearance but otherwise be enough to go from A to B. There are some really cute cars out here! Tiny things, funny-shaped things, and then really cool things like Mitsubishi Delicas. The best way I can describe it is this: it's like an older Toyota mini-van, the ones that are slanted on both the front and back ends, that is jacked up and offers four-wheel drive. These things go ANYWHERE. They seat seven, and we could sleep inside if we got really rained out. We found one for sale on one of the bases and looked at it. It's simply too much car for two people, though. I could not justify getting it, despite the fact that I know it would be a conversation piece for everyone back home. If you're not familiar with these Delicas, you need to look them up.
Instead, we found a Honda H-RV at a used car lot with only 39000 km on it. This is even more amazing when I tell you that it was new in 1999! Okinawa is a big island, but a difficult place to mileage on the car, I suppose. The inside looked brand new: clean and almost a new-car smell. They offered to swap out the Japanese navigation system, because the directions in kanji would help me none, and installed a radio to which I could connect my iPod, a necessity because there are only two radio stations out here.
So, here's my beautiful new car! The color was described as "gold" on the lot, but it's really more of a chartreuse or a lime green. It looks a lot better than it sounds, and I've no problem locating it in a parking lot.
I admit it's not very rugged looking, but it has plenty of clearance. It's smaller than the Honda C-RVs that we have in the states in that it's more squat and a bit narrower in the width of the body.
The "Y" on the license plate lets everyone know I'm a Yankee. Not really. The "Y" means that I am not Japanese, that I am a foreigner. Again, this would probably never be tolerated in the states, but these types of public disclosures are common in Okinawa. Residents of Okinawa have varying katankana symbols on their cars. I don't know if they indicate the beginning sound of the driver's last name, or if they are generated at random, but are more interesting to look at than our "Y."
Another thing I learned? Ryan can take rapid-fire pictures with my phone.
POSTSCRIPT: At the writing of this post, I've been driving around for more than three weeks. I turn on my wipers instead of my turn signal almost daily, but it IS getting less frequent. Ryan says he still does it occasionally, but I've never seen him. My hope is that after six months, I'll have his mastery. The beauty of driving in Okinawa is that no one goes very fast. On the main roads between our house and the nearest bases, the maximum speed limit if 50 km/h, which is around 30-35 mph. This gives me plenty of reaction time, because the pace, feel, and attitude of Okinawa drivers is very different. They're not careless, but they do things we would NEVER do in the states, like stop in the middle of the road for no reason. Motorcycles and scooters drive along the dotted lines of roads all the time, and they have this annoying habit of riding up to the front of the lane when there's a red light and getting in front of the first car. This behavior is illegal, but tolerated.
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