Tokushima Drivers

Last Wednesday morning it snowed in Tokushima City, which was a big surprise considering it’s mid-March and spring break for students start at the end of next week. Typically, the snow rarely sticks in the city, but the day before yesterday, the park outside my apartment was blanketed and traffic was almost at a standstill… National traffic accident statistics show that Tokushima is notorious for bad drivers. There seems to be no middle ground to the rules of road etiquette here, one is either being carelessly reckless or overly cautious. For example, when given the green light to cross a crosswalk in Tokushima, it’s absolutely necessary to wait at least another 5 seconds while looking both ways, in order to avoid the numerous cars that run red lights. Driving back home, there’s a point when one has to decide when the light is yellow whether to speed up or slow down in order to make the change. However, this point is not universal. The decision by Tokushima drivers is not made while the light is yellow, but rather after the light has already turned RED… As for highway patrol, it’s almost non-existent it seems. With electronic speed traps that everyone knows the locations of, who needs police officers? On the flip side, my predecessor told me that snow once caused a Tokushima resident to abandon their car in the middle of the street… Below are some rare pictures of snow in Tokushima City around my beautiful city villa, known as Naka Showa Cho Heights. I’ll be moving to a new apartment soon, so this is a last tribute to my hood.