This of course cannot be objectively true.
(Unless the survey was conducted in Lake Wobegon from Prairie Home Companion.)
At least 40% of those surveyed were over-estimating their driving skills.
I belong to the 10%. I don't claim to be an above-average driver. At best, I am a barely competent driver.
Well, I believe I am a better driver than my wife, but that's only because she doesn't have a licence.
Anyway, I do not drive in Singapore, saving my driving skills to terrorise drivers in foreign countries (I have driven in Canada, US, Australia, and Japan.)
Perhaps my reputation precedes me. When I rented a Subaru Impreza recently in Hokkaido, the Nippon Rent-a-Car stuck this (right) on the back of my rental car.In English, it reads "Friendly Driving".
My wife says the Chinese characters read: "Intellectually Disabled Driver! Please give way. Apologies for the inconvenience. We need the business - Nippon Rent-a-Car."
Yes, I know it doesn't say that. But that was the intended message.
[My wife actually translated it as "foreign driver". Which to a Japanese literally means "Idiot Driver". I know. I love the Japanese, but I am also a cynic! The rest of the characters she could translate was along the lines of "please excuse his mistakes", I think.]
Later we would joke that perhaps we should have taken the sticker off and paste it on our backs when we walk around.
The car had a host of safety features.
First there was the "drift" alert". If I stray off my lane, there was first a gentle three beeps to warn me that I was drifting off my lane. And if the drift was quite bad, a louder beep (loud enough to wake a dozing driver) would sound.
And to evidence my claim that I am not an above average driver, the "Drift warning" sounded VERY regularly... and I was not even sleepy!
Another safety feature, was the "blind spot indicator". Whenever a car passes me on the right, some sensor would detect a vehicle in my "blind spot", and a light on my right side mirror would light up to warn me that there was a vehicle in my blind spot.
The headlights were automatic. Or there is an auto function. I avoided driving at night, but there were quite a lot of tunnels in Hokkaido, and the headlights would come on automatically whenever I entered a tunnel.
One day, it started to drizzle. A moment later, the windshield wipers came on automatically. I know these automatic functions exists, but it did surprise me.
The Subaru was remarkably well-powered. If I needed to, I had the acceleration to easily overtake slower vehicles.
I did not do that often. I prefer to let other drivers lead, and I follow.
The speed limit is 50 km most of the time, but Japanese drivers travel at a respectable 70 - 80 km/hr.
I try to follow the speed of the traffic.
On some highways the speed limit might go up to 80 km/hr, and local drivers may travel at about 100 km/hr.
Most of the time, Japanese drivers are content to follow the informal speed limit.
I am most happy when there are no drivers behind me, and everyone is in front of me.
I was hoping that I would not need to refuel the car, but approaching Biei, the tank was down to a quarter, and so I pulled into a "unbranded" petrol station. It was not Eneos or part of a chain.
From my previous car rental, I knew that the pumps were all highly automated. I studied the pump and finally figured where to put my Yen notes.
Or so I thought.
The proprietress (or some random woman who was curious as to what this idiot foreigner was doing) pointed out the correct slot to insert my banknotes.
So I put in a 5000 yen note. And then a 1000 yen note. And then another 1000 yen note. And then another one.
And that was when the woman intervened again to show me that I needed to touch the screen to confirm the process and to start pumping the petrol.
(Foreign Idiot!)
Which it did. To my great joy and sense of self-worth!
Then it stopped. Because the tank was full. At about 6300 yen (IIRC).
But I put in 8000 yen!
"Give me back my money!" I wanted to shout. Except I was sure the petrol pump did not understand English.
Anyway, the woman was there to help. So I got my receipt from the pump. Then she guided me to another machine, where I scanned the bar code printed on the receipt, and the machine spat out my change.
Self-worth re-instated, I went to mark my territory (i.e. use the washroom. It had been a long drive.)
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I rented a car for three reasons. Or rather to get to three places - Takinoue to see Pink Phlox, Kamiyubetsu to see Tulips, and Log House Wagyu Bibi Restaurant to eat Wagyu beef.
As a bonus, we visited the Shirogane Blue Pond.
My only regret, is that because I drove, I did not allow myself the indulgence of a beer with the wagyu beef at Log House.
Sigh.
But the beef was good. The pork was good. And the bread basket was wonderful!
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I drove from Asahikawa to Takinoue (Pink Phlox) first, and then on to the Okhotsk Sea Ice Museum in Mombetsu.
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| Hokkaidotachi Okhotsk Ryuhyo Park |
Day 3 of the driving tour saw us visiting Akanko Ainu Kotan, before driving down to Kushiro.
Tip: unless you actually have anything you want to do in Kushiro, you can skip this town. There is a zoo, but it does not have very good reviews. We did not visit this zoo, so all I can tell you is what other visitors have said in their reviews.
On Day 4, we headed to Biei (on my way to Chitose and my rendezvous with Wagyu).
There was nothing I really wanted to see or visit in Biei. Shirogane Blue Pond (right) was not big on my list, but it was something along the way.
But it was a long drive to Biei, so we went to the hotel first.
I do not know why people come to Biei. If you do, I hope you have a reason. But Biei was a small, pleasant, quaint, charming, and quiet town.
VERY quiet (at least the night I was there).
Since the blue pond was only 15 minutes away, we went to take a look on the morning of Day 5 of the road trip. We spend a short time there because there is only so much you can do with a Blue Pond.
Then I headed to my REAL destination, a date with Wagyu beef at Log House Wagyu Bibi Restaurant in Chitose.
Oh I lost or misplaced my directory with map codes for the GPS at either the Kushiro or Abashiri hotels. And the GPS could NOT find Log House restaurant. Fortunately I could find it on my phone's google maps, and got the phone number of the place. The car's GPS can also guide you to a location based on the phone number.
[In my head I am thinking the GPS dials the number, and when someone picks up the phone, it goes, "Hi, I'm a GPS trying to get to your location. Could you give me the address please? No, I don't need to get a pen. Just tell me. I'll remember. OK. Got it! Thank you!" *Click* And that's how the GPS guides you to places with just the phone number!]
We got to the Log House at about 2 pm. I was really hungry, and really looking forward to a feast.
I was NOT disappointed.
I can die happy now, with wagyu fat coursing through my veins.
After that lunch, I drove to Chitose and our last hotel in Hokkaido. It was about 20 minutes from the Log House.
Day 6, we checked out and returned the car to the branch at Chitose near the airport.
When I picked up the car in Asahikawa, the staff told me I was to return the car with the tank full. However, he also said that the Chitose branch where I was returning the car had a petrol station within so if I did not return it full, they would fill up and I would just pay the cost of topping up the fuel tank.
I liked that I did not have to go through the ordeal of being a foreign idiot who did not know the right way to use a petrol pump. What if the other petrol station had a different system? So with 3/4 of the tank full, I simply drove into Nippon Rent-a-Car at Chitose. I told the receiving staff that the car had not been refuelled, he said no problem, and that he would refuel it.
A few minutes later the counter staff called me and told me the car had been refuelled to about 2400 yen, I pulled out my wallet, but she stopped me. And told me that because I had returned the car about an hour early, they would be required to refund me some of the rental fee.
WHAT?!?
There's Japanese Integrity for you.
Man, I love this country!
And the people in it.
So I got a 391 yen (IIRC) refund (which is about S$4.75).
I rented the car for S$916 (69,840 yen). Or about $150 a day.
But I was SO HAPPY to hand the car back.
I really do not enjoy driving.
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