Today I Conquer My Driving Anxiety

I have become comfortable driving from my house to the base and then on base. There's still one place that's crucial for me to continue in derby and that's Ikego. Ikego is a Navy housing detachment about 20 minutes from the main base. There's stories that it was once a mass gravesite during WWII, so the Japanese were happy to give the space up to the Americans. There's reports of ghost sightings and strange happenings around the hiking trails of Ikego.

Anyway, cool ghost stories aside, I need to be able to drive there at least once a week for some indoor derby practice. I've been avoiding it like the plague. First, Japan has very few street names. In order to get to Ikego, I go through 12 tunnels, look for a large sign that says Toshiba, turn left, go past three stoplights and turn right at the 7-11. So, if you're not paying attention you can get turned around pretty quickly.

To compound my anxiety, getting lost in Japan is not like getting lost in the US. If you go to your smart phone to try to pinpoint where you are, the directions and location names are written in Japanese. There's no place to pull over and figure things out. The roads are very narrow and often one-way without being marked one way. Traffic can be intense and then there's learning new road rules all over again....for example, in Japan you CAN wait in the middle of an intersection if needed...

So, today I'm going to drive to Ikego. One of the derby girls is going to drive in front of me to help show me the way. I can do this! Then next time, I can do it on my own!