Nuts to Driving Here

I've been driving for about a month in Okinawa and let me tell you, screw this noise.  For one, it takes longer to get places than it really should.  Stateside, you can usually estimate about a mile per minute, because you'll be going about 70mph on the highway.  Here in Okinawa you have to estimate 2-3 minutes per kilometer due to traffic and lights and other nonsense.  There is an expressway but it is roughly $10 to drive to cities 40 miles apart.  I may need to just stop being cheap and drive it but the exits/entrances still get backed up during rush hour.

Luckily some of the roads here in Okinawa are a bit bigger than mainland Japan, but it just means more space for scooters/motorcycles to pass you while you sit in traffic.  I've heard that Okinawa just isn't conducive to have a subway, but I'm thinking it is largely the American influence of 'not giving a crap about the environment or convenience, or railroads'.  Would a monorail running throughout Okinawa be so hard?  They have one in downtown Naha so I know it can be done.  Sure the typhoons and constant wind would shut down the rail, but isn't being able to get trashed and not drive worth it?  The answer is DUH, of course it is worth it.

Seriously though, if mainland Japan took away trains it would take 3 days to get to work.  Why does Okinawa think it can go without a good rail system??  Whatever gets people off the road will improve things.

On a positive note, I love how old drivers and young drivers have a sticker they put on their car to let others know to just stay away (yellow and orange tear drop for old peeps, yellow and green chevron for the young kids).  That is a great idea!  Anyone with only 1 year of experience or 1 year left on this earth is just a vehicular manslaughter case waiting to happen, so keep your distance when you see these folks.  They should make those stickers bigger and glow in the dark too, and mandatory across the globe.  

Much like the prison face tattoo, the tear drop means death.