Early on in our time back in the U.S., my husband and I had an experience which came to represent one of the many psychological differences between Americans and Japanese. There was a judgement call at a crosswalk in which a pedestrian who had not yet entered the crosswalk was walking fast down the street toward it as our car approached the intersection. There was no crossing light but there was a stop sign. Since the pedestrian was not in the intersection and was somewhat distant from it, my husband had to make a guess as to whether or not to pull up to the intersection to turn right and proceed. He went up to the intersection, and was preparing to turn when another vehicle came up rapidly and he had to halt in the crosswalk due to the unexpected change in conditions.
The pedestrian deemed this to be a violation of his right of way and the law that cars yield to pedestrians because he could not merely saunter straight through the intersection. He had to walk about 4 feet back around the car or he had to wait for our car to clear the crosswalk. Never mind the fact that he wasn't in the intersection when these events rapidly played out (which is a clear indication that a car should yield and stop before the crosswalk). He felt so entitled to walk across the moment his pace took him to the crosswalk that he banged his fist on the back of our car in angry retaliation at what he viewed as a violation. What it was was an issue of timing and judgement, and an unclear understanding of when he was actually going to enter the intersection and the impossibility of predicting that another car would come and our car could not clear the crosswalk as anticipated. The pedestrian is, at least in California, king.
In Japan, no pedestrian expects that cars will yield to them unless the light has been on "walk" for quite some time, and even then you have to be apprehensive. In America, I've seen pedestrians scream or behave angrily more than once over perceived failures to yield. In Japan, drivers behaved far more aggressively toward pedestrians than they do here because there are rarely consequences either legally or socially. I don't miss the way cars would regularly run lights and cut me off while the police stood by in their koban (police boxes) and watched it happen.
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I could 120% relate to this post. Living in Asia has made me a much more forgiving driver--and I'm much more willing to admit when I make an error (by U.S. standards). Living in Asia taught me not to care about saving face too much.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic I was having with a friend recently. Many pedestrians in the US (at least on the East Coast) have become complacent and extremely entitled when it comes to what they see as their right of way. While it is a federal law (applies to all states) that all cars must stop for pedestrians at a cross walk, it is also true that many crosswalks now have a timer. It has become common practice to cross when they don't see a car but the timer hasn’t designated them to cross yet meaning, they are Jay-walking which is, as far as I know, in fact still illegal. Furthermore, it's much worse in parking lot cross walks than on the streets.
ReplyDeleteMany times my mother has had to stop the car because some random family (and I mean full on wife kids and husband) decides they want to cross the street without waiting. Being as patient as we are we usually allow them to cross even though we have the right of way because no cross walk is present. The worst part is that sometimes these people don't even say thank you or show some acknowledgement as they just leisurely walk across to the street/parking lot with their kids to whatever store/venue they are going to. All the while, we're sitting in the car thinking could you be any slower, or what if we were gunning the car at 45 mph? We would never be able to stop in time. Of course the police are never around when the jay-walkers are committing a crime but god forbid you go over the cross walk when they are about to cross that ticket alone costs a fortune where I live. I would love for some of these people to go to Japan so that they can appreciate the fact that most people in the US will stop for them even though most of use really don’t have too so long as we have the right of way.
My experience here has mirrored yours. That is, people cross whenever they feel life it, against lights, and without looking both ways. And, yeah, they do go slowly. We've seen women pushing baby carriages sauntering down the middle of streets or crossing on a long diagonal very slowly without even looking. They just assume cars will stop. Somehow, "cars must yield to pedestrians" has been misinterpreted as, "we'll do whatever the hell we please!"
DeleteHonestly, I think the police wouldn't do anything if they saw this. I could be wrong, but I'm not even sure they cite for jaywalking anymore!
I don't question your experience, but do not go to Toronto: coming from there Tokyo is heaven.
ReplyDeleteOh dear. I've been to Toronto, but I was only in a car there. ;-)
DeleteWhen my boyfriend (now husband) first moved in with me, he came from a predominantly anglo neighborhood and moved into my Hispanic neighborhood. He quickly noticed the pedestrians in my part of town were king. He went so far as to jest that, "Mexicans don't believe in cars." Maybe I have gotten used to it, but after he mentioned it I did seem to notice it more. I have been heading home where droves of kids are crossing, not in a crosswalk area, diagonally and slowly down the street. They care not about road safety.
ReplyDeleteIn the Hispanic area of Redwood City, I've noticed this as well. They just cross wherever and don't seem to care. I mind less that they do that (though it is incredibly dangerous) and more that people do it slowly, as if there was no risk of ever getting hit by an inattentive driver!
Deleteit's odd. In Chicago, the pedestrians will stop and verify the cars will stop before going out into the intersection.
ReplyDeleteOut here on the Left Coast, it appears this is the opposite. Pedestrians will nonchalantly just wander out into the intersection if there's a crosswalk. However, people do pretty much stick to the intersections and if there's a crosswalk signal they will obey it and not jaywalk... at least here.
I've mainly seen people jaywalk in areas in which there aren't any crosswalks for a fair length of space. They're insanely lazy sometimes about walking a minute or two to get to the corner. There's a stretch of road that we lived near for about 7 months (called Rengstorff Ave., in Mountain View) which people used to cross stupidly in the middle or other areas all of the time because the crosswalks were about 5 minutes apart. It struck me that they were incredibly reckless. I would not take my life in my hands (as many of them did) to save a few minutes!
DeleteI refuse to walk in front of any car at an unlighted intersection in Tokyo. In the US in some states drivers behaving the same way could be charged with vehicular assault (you needn't hit someone to commit an assault. Only do what would put a "reasonable person" in fear of being hit. With a car other otherwise, though it may vary by state). As you mentioned, cars will do this right in front of "law enforcement" officers without fear of being stopped or cited, even though it is technically a violation. (In some states, merely entering an active crosswalk with your front bumper is a violation.)
ReplyDeleteTwice I have seen police do something. Once, when I was living in Kanagawa, I was crossing an intersection on the way home and a car came flying up to me as if to flatten me. Nothing unusual there. However, there was a patrol car in the other lane and as soon as the driver saw that, he slammed on the brakes and stopped to let me cross. The police warned him over the speaker to stop for people. I am sure he went back to ignoring that law.
Another time in the same area, I was walking across a crosswalk with the pedestrian light green. A guy just cut right in front of me, with obviously no attempt to yield. Unfortunately for him, another patrol car was coming down the road, saw him, hit the siren and stopped the fool. I was quite happy.
Were the same thing to occur in the US, I could have spent an entire shift writing citations for failure to yield for pedestrians.
In the residential areas near my home, I never, ever trust a driver to stop. Crosswalk or not, unless there are actual traffic lights. Stop signs? Well, people know about so-called "California stops," but they ain't nothing like Tokyo stops. Acceleration right up the the last second, hit the brakes, and sorta maybe slow down before entering the intersection. If you must stop and look, wait until you car is partially or fully in at least one lane of the intersection, then look and maybe yield.
I lived right across from a police box in Denenchofu for 7 years. Never saw a cop stop anyone for blowing the red light nearby or running rolling through the several stop signs within a few hundred meters of the cops.
There is a different view/philosophy of law enforcement in Japan vs the US that hasn't been researched by anyone competent in the field as far as I know.
Oh, time to shut up and go. Enjoy your blog as always.
My experiences very much mirrored yours, except those rare occasions when the police did something. You are absolutely right about the different view/philosophy of law enforcement. I helped a student who was studying criminal justice and, through this, I learned a lot about the forced confessions, lack of investigation, lack of evidence, and pretty much slipshod work that the Japanese police do. One must wonder if they've spent so many years hearing about the lack of crime in Japan that they believe they don't have to trouble themselves.
DeleteThanks for your comment!
So, a reasonably common trope in anime is the inattentive (or just plain impatient) driver - often a truck driver, but not always - striking or almost striking a character, or forcing a character to dive in front to rescue a pet or small child.
ReplyDeleteYour post has given me a chilling thought: is this not a fictional trope but actual reality?
I think that art when it is at its most effective is a credible reflection of reality. Sometimes, that reality is uncommon, but it is known enough to have verisimilitude.
DeleteIn Japan, I think drunk driving is far more common than in the U.S., and the punishment is pathetic. I read a story in the Japan Times in the past 10 years in which a man was drunk and killed a parent and two or three children (can't remember exactly) and got 4-6 years for that.