Okinawa consists of a lot of islands all of which are isolated from the four main Japan Islands including Honsyu, Hokkaido, Kyusyu and Shikoku. In the 47 prefectures of Japan, Okinawa is the only prefecture which cannot be accessed without airplanes or ships -- any other prefectures are connected each other by roads or rails. Plus, this prefecture had been the U.S. domain for decades even after the World War II. All these things influence the characteristics of the traffic in Okinawa. As you can see in this picture, the ratio of yellow license plates against white plates is big. Cars with yellow plates are called "Kei," which means "light" in Japanese. They have a small engine less than 660 cc displacement and smaller body compared with normal compact cars. They are very popular because they are easier to drive even on a narrow road and more reasonable in tax and running costs. They are less comfortable while a long drive, but Okinawa is such a small island that we can drive anywhere wihtin a few hours. Each license plate has the city or prefecture name on it so that we can easily know where the car comes from. As far as I have seen, all of the names were Okinawa domestic. Anyway, Okinawanese are friendly and not hectic, but their driving is more or less rude. They are not so fast in driving because there are few long roads here, but they won't stop even pedestrians are crossing forward. It's totally different from the driving manner in any other prefectures in Japan. We are educated thoroughly that the pedestrians have the absolute priority, but they are not following the standard and their manners look like the North American style. We had better take care of cars while walking in Okinawa. Sure, this is Japan, but the driving manner is still American.
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