Path: ccsf.homeunix.org!ccsf.homeunix.org!news1.wakwak.com!nf1.xephion.ne.jp!onion.ish.org!news.heimat.gr.jp!news.jone-system.com!mmcatv.co.jp!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!not-for-mail From: "John W." Newsgroups: sci.lang.japan,fj.life.in-japan Subject: Re: Driving on the left Date: Thu, 07 Oct 2004 19:28:09 -0500 Lines: 31 Message-ID: <4165DF19.3090902@yahoo.com> References: <4165DEAE.1090107@yahoo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: news.uni-berlin.de tEdi0bGvpSX7W638NY8g5QHohuh3az0gvJdxMmZ43tqmS1MQbG User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 X-Accept-Language: ja,en Xref: ccsf.homeunix.org fj.life.in-japan:19261 John W. wrote: > necoandjeff wrote: > >> Does anyone know the origin of driving on the left side of the street in >> Japan? I seem to recall hearing from someone a long time ago (it may have >> even been my Iaido buddies) that it was actually an established custom >> long >> before automobiles, and that passing on the left had to do with drawing >> one's sword (if you were to pass on the right it would be difficult to >> draw >> your sword and strike in the event you are attacked since you draw >> from left >> to right.) A friend, on the other hand, seems to think it was a more >> recent >> development and had to do with an early association between Japan and >> British motor car companies. I did a quick Google search and didn't >> come up >> with much. >> > Did a Yahoo! search for [japan driving on the left why] (no brackets), > and came up with ample results. The first one I checked out was > Japan-Guide, which led to http://www.2pass.co.uk/japan.htm. Confirms the > samurai theory, with some historical notes from folks who witnessed the > behavior. > Note that the above site also mentions that Japan got their rail system from the UK, and that enforced the previous samurai behavior. Somehow the notion that the British rail system is more efficient is... interesting. John W.