Cross-country trips take forever on these roads. Between villages traffic can crank it up to about 50 mph, but often an old farmer driving a wheelbarrow-size pickup and going about as fast that slows everyone down. The city is where driving in Japan becomes an art form. The main city roads, two or three lanes in each direction, are virtually identical to ours and adequate most of the time. The traffic does not flow so much as ooze.
Cops seem resigned to illegal parking.
One day I saw a cop get off his motorcycle to close the door on an illegally parked car. His good deed done for the day, he proceeded on his way. All of this on the good-sized roads. Many city roads, however, even in the biggest city, are too narrow for sidewalks and are full of pedestrians, making near misses a daily part of the commute. Without sidewalks, often one's first step out of a house or store is directly into the street.