The taxi driver
September 29, 2008
Slightly less than a year ago, I was walking with Steve to the classroom in Namba for our kung fu class. This was when I was still the only student. We were crossing the street and I kept my eye on the taxi driver who was turning. The taxi driver also kept his eyes on us and slowly crept forward, hoping to get past the pedestrians as quickly as possible. Because he kept his eyes on his, he turned his head to keep watching us. His head turned left, he released the brake and the taxi started moving forward. Unfortunately a woman had not finished crossing and was hit by the taxi driver.
He had completely taken his eyes off the road and drove forward, hitting the woman.
The woman was not terribly hurt as the car was moving slowly. Still, this basically summarizes my opinion of Japanese taxi drivers. They all seem to be a hair away from an accident and badly injuring other drivers or pedestrians. They often drive excessively fast and cut corners (literally and figuratively) whenever possible. I’ve seen so many red lights being run by taxis and narrow misses.
A few weeks ago, I was at home reading something on the internet or playing a game or something when I heard a loud bang from outside. I got up, looked out the window and saw a taxi driver pulled over with its blinkers on, a crowd of pedestrians gathering near the street, a kid’s bicycle on the road, and finally, a kid, being carried from the road to the sidewalk. The taxi driver had hit the kid on the bike.
The kind people on the street got the kid to sit down and just consoled him and waited for the ambulance. The kid was not terribly hurt as far as I could tell from the 11th floor because he was conscious and not crying.
The ass of a taxi driver spent the whole time on the phone and checking things in his taxi. He did not even approach the kid, to check if he was ok, to say sorry, to do anything a human being with compassion might do when he or she accidentally hits another person with a car. I present the ass:
The ambulance came very quickly and put a neck brace on the kid and hauled him off in a stretcher. As he was facing upwards I could see his face and he did seem fine. I’m sure he probably got kicked out of the hospital the next day and made to do his homework.
The police came rather late and questionned the pedestrians and finally the taxi driver. They checked the taxi and the bicycle and from the way they put the bicycle against the taxi to confirm stratches, it seemed like he hit the bicycle head on, on the right headlight.
Since the driver sits on the right side of the car, the kid was basically right in front of the driver when he was hit. This leads me to believe that this taxi driver did not have his eyes on the road as well, otherwise he may have seen the kid on a bike and avoided him. I can even believe that the kid probably came racing across the street when he wasn’t supposed to but as a driver, the taxi driver should’ve been prepared for things like this and stopped in time.
I sincerely hope for better driving habits in this country from all people before more stupid kids are needlessly hurt.
TIP: highlight a phone entry in your cell phone
September 22, 2008
Today I got a call from Steve asking for my help in translating Japanese and English.
One of Steve’s students, someone I haven’t met, had gone into a hospital because of an ulcer. They wanted to operate on him immediately but needed consent from him. He does not speak Japanese it seems, or maybe he was unconscious at the time but the doctor called Steve because his name happened to be in the student’s cell phone. Luckily for him, Steve went to great lengths to help him and that’s how I got involved.
After I spoke with the doctor and the student, I realized how important the cell phone is in emergency situations when you’re unconscious – someone will use it to contact someone you know. However, who would they contact? If someone looked at your cell phone address book – who do you think would be chosen first? Your boss? Neighbor? Someone you haven’t spoken with in years?
Anyway, my tip today is, in your cell phone address book, find a way to highlight the person that you would like called in emergencies. On my phone, I’ve surrounded my wife’s name with heart icons (stop laughing). It also happens to be immediately visible when you access the address book. This way, hopefully, she will be contacted first should someone ever happen to me. I suggest you do something similar with your phone. Perhaps use icons like I have, capitalize a name, or use hyphens like, —-Billy—-. Do something to help yourself out.
Wall-climbing Monkey
September 21, 2008
I found a rather large primate hanging out at a store in Nipponbashi. It was scary.
King Kong
I’ve unknowingly let my blog grow stagnant for over a month! I have a lot of stuff to say but no time to write it. My proud moment of the week was getting 97% on my kanji exam, the top score of my class! I am happy!
