Life in Japan - Pictures galore !! Arcades, Temples, Rainy days, etc

Yakumo - how was the drive down there mate? Roads like that must be fun in a car like yours. I know I love taking my Supra down windy roads

I take it you've not been to the UK recently? The signage here is equally ludicrous.

 

It was heaven! Blows away anything we have in Yamaguchi. The Aso mountain pass has some fantastic banking curves just like a rollercoaster as well as some of those very cool power slide corners one after another. But the real pleasure of this road is the shear length and the fact that the bends never really cause you to drop lower than 3rd gear. The slowest bends I took were all at 60kmph which is just over 37mph. According to the car's computer the average speed was just under 100kmph so around 60mph. May not sound fast but for roads like that it's plenty and fantastic fun.

If you ever do try to drive on a road like that do it in the early morning when there is no traffic. Even the low amount of traffic you'll come across is easily avoidable due to the lay out of the roads. You can see well in advance of where you are heading. Even on the corners due to the banking.

Yeah, but in the UK it's for a different reason. In Japan it's because they're pretty much brain dead when it comes to individual thinking. Just drive down the road and you'll notice most will happily stay in the right lane in a jam rather than using a bit of initiative and moving over in to the left. Still, that leaves more room on the left for those of us who can think. Anyway, the UK's problem is the stupidly over protective health and safety bollocks which they have these days.

Yakumo

 

Nice tips Yakumo, cheers

If I do have a car whilst I am out there, then I will definitely find roads such as this and go very early in the morning. And you're right' 60mph is plenty fast enough around most corners - nice work!

As for the signs, people in the UK are getting dumber and dumber though. Thinking less for themselves due to the state.

I don't really care though. I don't care about Engrish either - makes me laugh TBH. Malaysia has much worse.

 

Is it true that in Japan if you're driving around people that are drunk, you can all be fined? In other words, defeating the purpose of having a designated driver?

I was talking to a couple people who lived there for a while and one night they got stopped at a DUI check. The driver blew a zero but they were drunk in the back and they all got a fined. Can that actually happen??

 

I would call bullshit, but I don't drive.

 

I don't drive (here) either, but I am one of the regular drunks next or back seat.

 

It's bullshit. If the driver has even a tinny trace then he and the passenger(s) will all be fined. The idea is that you don't allow a drinker to drive. The driver will also loose his license.

Basically Japanese are shit at driving. I see it EVERY day. So you can imagine how bad a drunk Japanese would be. Now in Japan it's illegal to have ANY alcohol in your body while driving. I do drink 0.00% Kirin free though while driving. At last after many years an alcohol free drink that does actual taste like beer and nice beer at that.

Yakumo

 

Worth mentioning though that the test for drinking and driving (in Tokyo at least) is to pull over and breath in the cop's face.

 

Cummon. that's so not true. And wasn't it you who ranted about Asahi Superdry, and how this liquid manure shoulnd't be called beer at all?

That 0.00% ex-beer things are all awful and do not have anything in common with a real beer. Altough, peeps who drinking that because they have to drive have my respect. Good gesture.

 

No, honestly the Kirin Free isn't that bad at all. It really is a refreshing beer tasting drink. Give it a try on a hot day, well any day until November that is and you'll be surprised at it's taste. I still stand by Asahi Super Dry being nasty shit though

 

I really don't mind Asahi :shrug:

I find it nicer than American beers anyway. I'm not a big drinker though. I prefer plum wine or sake usually.

 

LOL. I wonder if he didn't let you in because the mighty 50mW green laser, which are not allowed to buy, possess nor to sell :lol:

 

Wow, the awesomeness

 

Not to be a bother, but did you ever get a chance to post these?

 

oops! Let me get that for you - will put on the web somewhere today

 

Some pictures taken with the phone over the last few weeks.

Yep, it's that time of year when these buggers are out and about.


And these F*ing ugly spiders. Thankfully these don't come in to your house. You can mostly find hem around trees or bushes.


Despite being September the weather is still good but on the down side this lake is still bone dry. To be fair, the water is behind a damb half a mile up the road but lake is also normally quite full.





Hungry? No problem. Hot water also provided



Yakumo

 

I see you peeps need some rain down there

 

Thanks for the heads up, gonna be crawling around a lot of bushes this time next month!

 

@Tatsujin, yeah it was quite dry down in southern Japan this year but we had no water shortage unlike Manchester in the UK. That always puzzled me about the UK. It always rains but in summer they seem to almost every year enforce a hosepipe ban to save water!

@Tachikoma, oh yes, you'll see a lot of these nasty spiders if you're going around bushes. Keep an eye open above you too because they also live in trees. These nasty things are around until late October and even until december for the big 10cm ones! They do tend to only live in trees or bushes or near by them.

If you are going in to the forest or thick tree area then watch out for a big mother fucking ugly brown spider. They can poison an adult and even kill a small child. I've only ever seen one in 11 years here but i can tell you that it was BIG. Saw it out in the street not far from a forest.

Yakumo

 

Thanks for the warning, guess my bravado from the rather pathetic non-poisonous British spiders could have got me into trouble!