I've gotten a few questions about driving in the States again...
"Is it hard to drive on the right side of the road again?" Quick answer, no. Long answer, if I lived in the country it might be more of a problem, but since I live in the Bay Area, I just follow the perpetual car in front of me. I'm yet to drive on a road with absolutely no cars in front of me. If that were the case, I might accidentally turn into the left hand side of the road, but yeah... I think I'm done explaining this one.
"Is it hard to shift with your right hand again?" No. If the pedals were switched then we'd have a whole different issue.
"So is there anything difficult about readjusting to American driving?" Yes. But stupid stuff. Example: It's been a long day and I just want to go home. I'm about to make a right turn. I get to the right hand side of the right lane and... woop woop, there go my windshield wipers. The lever for the blinkers (or winkers as the Japanese like to call them) and windshield wipers are switched. This makes sense because the gear shifter is on the left side of the driver in Japanese cars. Why does that matter? Well, suppose you're driving a manual Japanese car. You want to make a right turn. You slow down, because you've put your rice rocket days behind you, flip your turn signal with your right hand, and shift down with your left hand for maximum acceleration out of the turn. It would just be hectic and stressful if the turn signal remained on the left side of the steering wheel (as it is in America).
One more example: I go to run errands. I go to the grocery store. I buy some stuff. After finding the car in the vast American parking lot, I get ready to get in, and put the groceries in the car... only I open the right front door thinking that it's the driver's side. I play it off like I meant to do that (to who, I don't know because no one can see this small little Japanese man in the vast expanse known as the parking lot) and promptly drop off the groceries into the passenger seat, close the door, walk around the car, and get into the real driver's seat. Real slick.
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