Stranger In A Strange Land

Today I got to see an unfortunate situation, that defined the phrase "Stranger in a strange land" to me. I was driving home when I spotted a hapless American in a car wreck on the side of the road. He stopped me to ask if he could borrow my cell phone as he forgot his at home.

Realizing with out my help he was going to be stuck, I of course pulled over and let him use it. The guy ended up rear ended by a big Oki truck, no one was hurt and no serious damage was done. But in Japan your required to call the cops and can't even move your car until the cops arrive. I am actually pretty sure that the Okinawan just wanted to drive off and call it even, but that doesn't fly here. Somehow that always turn into an international incident.

SO on the island, if you get hit by a local national or vice versa, you always call the cops. Well, they usually call the Japanese cops, you call the American cops to make sure you don't get screwed, even though from what I hear, your gonna be a little screwed no matter what.

However even with my help it turned into a fiasco and a half to get an American cop to come out to the scene of the accident. Many calls were made, and we all sweated it out in the sun. So until the American cop and translator showed up a lot of nothing was happening other than the Japanese cop talking to the Japanese guy. They didn't speak English and we didn't speak much Japanese.

It is a bit of a situation to be in, your "in trouble with the law" but you have no idea what the law is doing or saying. I am glad that I have not been in an accident yet on Okinawa, or well, I was rear ended by an American going onto base but neither of us had damage so we just drove off. I would like yet much to get off this island without having gotten into an accident, but we shall see what the fates have in store for me. We still have 2 more years...