Driving etiquette

This may come as a bit of a surprise, but in Japan, people bow to show respect, thanks, apologize or simply to be polite. In fact, when in doubt, it’s best to bow. If someone has done something nice for you, you should probably bow. If you bump into someone accidentally, it’s a good idea to bow. If you’re alone, no one else is around, and nothing whatsoever is happening, you should probably ask yourself why you’re not bowing…and then bow.

So yeah, there’s a lot of bowing in Japan. What gets me, though, is people who bow in cars. You know how when you’re driving and someone purposefully lets you into their lane, or gives you their parking space, or unnecessarily gives you right of way, it’s usually enough to smile and wave, right? Well in Japan, people bow while seated! For example, when I get dropped off after work I usually bow and wave after I’ve exited the vehicle to thank them for driving me. At least I’m standing when I do that. To my surprise, the first time I did this, the guy who drove me bowed back, looking like he had just banged his head on the steering wheel.

While that definitely looks strange enough, my concern is that this usually happens while the vehicle is still in motion. I often see drivers bowing low, and thus completely eliminating their field of vision, while taking turns, or parking, or heading through intersections, when it seems as though a simple nod or wave would both satisfy politeness requirements and also prevent a dangerous couple of seconds during which the driver is paying maybe 5% of their attention on the car and 95% on bowing appropriately.


Also, the “dangerous” junior high school was thankfully nothing like what I expected. Yeah, the kids are kinda rough, but overall they seemed really into my English lesson and I was received really well. The first graders I taught were pretty awesome and the third graders were real awesome, using whatever English they knew to try and communicate with me inbetween classes and during lunchtime. Overall a kickass school, mostly cuz it has some actual attitude. Reminds me of my middle school a bit, actually.