International Criminal

I spent most of yesterday down at the local police station being grilled by an officer about my driving skills! Hehe, but dont worry its not serious. Let me explain...

Last May as I was coming out of a narrow road, a girl on her bicycle on the pavement did not see me until late and then swerved and fell off her bike. It is a totally blind corner for the driver as there is a building just beside the road. I was edging out very slowly and trying to see when she fell off. I suppose she thought I was coming so she swerved and fell, although I did not hit her nor would I have hit her if she had just lept going. Anyway, she was fine and on her way soon enough and we kind of decided it was no-one's fault. However, as i now understand it from the police officer, even minor incidents like this one tend to involve the police in Japan (thus creating huge delays in dealing with incidents). So the police had me in to hear my side.

It was an interesting experience and I was treated really nicely, and it all worked out in the end with the police concluding that while it was no-one's fault, I take most responsibilty as I was in a car and she was on a bike. But they said there will more than likely be nothing done against me as in reality I didn't do anything wrong. So all was well in the end and I had a bit of a day out with a chance to study some native Japanese along the way.... although there were a few weird moments...

At one stage the police officer said (note: these are not direct quotes, but are roughly accurate!):
Police Officer: "There was nothing you could have done to prevent this i suppose, but i cant write that on the report so we have to find something that you did wrong and write it."
Me: !!!
Police Officer: "OK, let's see.... Did you make an effort to see if anyone was coming from both directions?"
Me: "Yes."
Police Officer: "Do you think you made every effort possible short of getting out of the car to look."
Me: "Yes."
Police Officer: "Did you put your head so far forward so that your head touched the windsheild therefore leaving an oily mark on the window?"
Me: "Errr.... no."
Police Officer: "Why not?"
Me: "Errr...."
Police Officer: "OK, I think we found something we can write on the report."

So our report concluded that i was at fault because I didnt put my head forward enough so that there was oily mark left on the windshield!! It actually said that in the report which I thought was funny and had a good laugh on the way home.

So all is well again, although it could have been much worse... I learned that I was actually driving without a licence at the time as international licences become invalid if the holder returns to his own country for a holiday, as Maiko and I did just prior to this incident. But it seems that in Japan ignorance of the law is a valid excuse as I was let off with this as I was unaware of the rules. Great!