Japan Top 10

Japan is much further south than you usually think – Hokkaido is at the same latitude as Milan (and New York). This means Japan does not have the endless white nights of the Nordics, but neither does it have the sudden fall of darkness and deep starry nights of the tropics, except in Okinawa (where the southernmost islands are in the tropics).

The sunrise and sunset are not really very long. The dangerous time of day comes right after sunrise and before sunset, when the sun is really low – so low it shines into your eyes.

Most of the year, the sunrise is quite early, before traffic has really started; and sunset happens after people start going home, too. In winter, the days are short enough that the sunrise and sunset happen during the working day.

But in late spring and middle of fall, they coincide with the rush hour, making the hours of low-standing sun extra dangerous.

Yesterday, for instance, I was driving home about 16:30, and when I threw a gaze to my right to check if there was any traffic coming on a side street, I got the sun straight in my eyes and was blinded for a few seconds. Extremely dangerous. Felt like being blind (and I have actually experienced that). Not a state you want to be when you drive a car.

So then I flipped the sunshade to the right (our car has sunshades that come loose on the left side so you can turn them, exactly for this reason). It kept the sun out of my eyes most of the time (there was a few times when the road turned so the angle changed, and I almost got the sun in my eyes.

And of course, next I had to turn right, and if it had not been for the turn being shaded, I would have been blinded again before I could flip the shade.

Since the sun is low exactly when there is the most traffic, you have to be extra careful. Being aware helps a lot.