So I’ve already given up on which side of the sidewalk/stairs is the correct side to use. But I’m having a hard time understanding why pedestrians walk without any concern of those around them? Ex. Walking straight then stopping abruptly and turning around. I have had people many times walk into me or nearly into me and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I try to be courteous of others but I think I’m doing something wrong.
With cyclists, I notice they just cross 4 ways at full speed with no regard to crossing traffic. Multiple times almost taking me out. Is there no sense of danger here or is there a Japanese intuition of knowing when vehicles/people are approaching?
I’m not hating, I just genuinely want to understand the thought process. TIA
Edit: I live in Osaka for context
17 comments
> So I’ve already given up on which side of the sidewalk/stairs is the correct side to use.
In Kanto, the general convention is to keep to the left unless there is signage indicating otherwise. But of course many people default to “wherever I happen to be”.
> I’m having a hard time understanding why pedestrians walk without any concern of those around them?
Because they don’t give a toss. And the older they get, the less of a toss they give.
> With cyclists, I notice they just cross 4 ways at full speed with no regard to crossing traffic.
Side effect of the traffic law automatically assigning a large percentage of fault to the larger vehicle. Many cyclists (wrongly) have no fear of cars and trucks and believe (correctly) that car and truck drivers will make a serious effort not to hit them.
Sorry, adding a complaint of my own here, but why tf do bikes not give way to pedestrians at lights? Sure, if you have room or theres no one in your path, fine. But to swerve through crowds of crossing pedestrians just pisses me off! And wtf is with doing the same while crossing the crossing as well! Ugh! Rant over.
I also absolutely agree with what you’re saying. What erks me too is when people walk up to the ticket gates, stop at the gate, then decide to look for the IC card. Like is this step a surprise to you? Were you not expecting this to happen?
People don’t give a fuck that’s why. You just get used to it (I do ride a bike safely and keep a safe distance from pedestrians)
Interestingly, I’ve found pedestrian behaviour to be worse in Tokyo than Osaka. I went up to Tokyo for the first time in seven years a couple of weeks ago and I was shocked at the lack of spacial awareness/sudden stopping. It was a constant thing.
I met up with a mate who’d recently moved there from Kansai and he opined that “There’s so many people here that if you tried paying attention to everyone around you, you wouldn’t be able to move.”
I know it’s cliched but I agree that bikes in this country are absolutely deadly and I don’t understand why they don’t crack down on it. Almost got taken out by a bike last night crossing the road. It was a one-way, major road, I was at a pedestrian crossing with right of way (green pedestrian signal). The instant I stepped onto the road a bike came within about an inch of colliding with me, traveling the wrong way down the road.
Not to mention driving and seeing some geriatric traveling down the wrong side of the road, weaving backwards and forwards on a mamachari laden with shopping. It’s constant in Osaka and it’s absolutely insane.
I see all the time bikes riding into oncoming traffic.
I’ll just /s this right away.
Re Pedestrians and Cyclists and you: it’s not their fault if they didn’t see you. You are nothing more than Schrödinger’s cat and they are moving through this world with quantum mechanics.
Re Cyclists and Cars: same as above but add faith into the mix. I thought this wasn’t a particularly religious country but you gotta have a lot of faith to blow through a red light while holding an umbrella and watching a YouTube video.
Most others covered it already but just to add a few points.
– Cars also like to still cross even after the traffic light turned red
– When walking, avoid eye contact. Just hold your line. Makes it easier for both sides to just “flow” past each other
– Regardless of what others do, be careful and mindful of your environment
– When riding a bike, wear a helmet and ride on the street
I had so many people almost bump into me. Most of them way smaller than me. There were some instances I didn’t dodge as some seriously just pretend like they don’t see me or because they are so glued to their phones.
I think it comes down to the ancient Japanese tradition of not looking behind you, and not looking left or right for that matter…
Walking without concern seems to be a thing in a lot of asian countries and they take this outside of asia too, many times outside of asia I’ve had people just walk right toward me or others and expect you to move out of their way – it’s like they’re playing a game of chicken on the wrong side of the road. My mum once decided not to move out of the way and let them walk right into her, while watching her, it was weird haha
Anecdotal, but I feel like its because a lot of these people rarely or perhaps even never are behind the wheel in a car. They haven’t had or practiced the training you get from driving. So they don’t check their surroundings.
I think a lot of bad behavior here can be partly understood when you consider the lack of consequences. Confrontation is avoided at all costs. If you’ve ever seen people actually bump into each other, it probably escalated to a grumble and no more.
Tldr lotta people over here made it through life without a proper asswhoopin’ and it shows.
Many cyclists don’t give a fuck and just assume that the world will line up and no one will pop out of a corner when they are going full speed on the sidewalk. I’ve seen way too many near misses. If you really look into it, many have gotten injured or died as a result of careless cycling.
Funny, I used to feel this way when I moved here. I vaguely remember having this kind of conversation with friends. Eight years later I guess I have figured it out haha, doesn’t bother me anymore.
I think a big part of it is the sheer number of people you’re passing by every day — no time or emotional energy to be polite to// care about the 10,000 people you’ll walk by in an hour in the city. That leads to an attitude of “this is just a sea of warm bodies, they aren’t actually people,” which maybe sticks around even when not walking around Tokyo anymore..
I also live in Osaka. It was jarring at first, but bikes will give way to you. Just keep going and they will move the fuck out of the way. People stopping and shit is just per diem. Once the chines… ehem .. tourists, come back it will be a billion times worse with stopping in front of ticket gates and on stairways. You’ll get used to it
There is just too many people in this country to safely & peacefully walk down the street with no issue
What pisses me of the most is those people who are either on their phone while riding their bicycle (preferable with both elbows on the handles and not way to properly use the brakes when needed) and those drinking alcohol.
I tend to get frustrated with those who ride they’d bicycles on the wrong side of the street and expect me to maneuver around them. When I’m feeling fancy I just stop my bicycle right there and wait until they get the hint (I only do that when I know there is no one right behind me of course)
Word. I’m not afraid of aliens/Islamic terrorists/Putin/God’s wrath, but old people on bicycles terrify me. Clueless pedestrians I can deal with, just move slowly and expect idiocy at every turn. But old women on mamacharis zooming out of nowhere and seemingly hell-bent on kamikaze-crashing into you? That is not anything you can prepare for. Just hope and pray.