Taunting Death

Cars don't often stop in Tokyo just because there is a person in the crosswalk. As long as they miss you by .000001mm, they'll blow right through them. Often the "police" will watch and do nothing, although I did actually see one stop a guy for that once. A few days ago, a guy on a motorscooter was going to blow through a crosswalk while I was in it, but then he saw the cop who was parked right beside the crosswalk watching and he slammed on his brakes. So it must be illegal, but it's just like many Japanese laws---only occasionally enforced against select people.

Look at this poor guy trying to cross here without being killed. Notice the walk signal is green. So is the traffic light! This is in an extremely dangerous crosswalk at Tameikesanno in Tokyo. These are all different cabs too. In the closest lane to the camera, three very polite taxi drivers sped through the crosswalk. Today was actually pretty safe at this location. Oh, the silver car in the foreground? Don't worry about him, he was merely parked in the crosswalk. No problem.

Note the adverb sales shop next to the cheapo eateries on the other side.