Here's a video we took while we were driving from MCB Camp Courtney to Kadena AFB the day after Typhoon Mufia hit. Enjoy! And I hope you don't get sea sick.
It didn't take us nearly as long to get used to driving on the "wrong" side of the road as I thought it would. Because you're driving from the right side, it's only natural that your body is towards the inside lane. So it's easy to remember which lane to drive in. For me, the hard part to remember is that your blinker and windshield wipers are switched in Japanese cars. I am forever turning on the windshield wipers when I want to make a turn. Also parking lots can be tricky, because there's no real lane and especially if there is no one else around to remind you which side you should be on.
But by far the hardest part of driving in Okinawa is navigating the roads. Two things totally drive me insane-first, there are rarely any street names or signs. Some have numbers, and sometimes they are posted, but usually not. And secondly, the road numbers change for no reason. For example, if you start out on 74 and stay straight you'll end up on 85, with no idea how it happened, then 85 will turn into 23. I know! Completely confusing. But the island is small, and it IS an island, so if you go too far you'll just hit water and turn around. After five months I feel pretty confident that I can get almost anywhere on the island. I've been from one end to the other and back. It's only about 70-ish miles but takes several hours with all the winding, narrow roads and the speed limit of about 35 mph (50kmh). But getting lost and going exploring is so much fun!
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