Afternoon folks, Kobayashi here.

Wangan Maxi 3 is not just found in Japan, but is actually shipped to America, Europe, and many other countries. So the development team sometimes take trips overseas to see how people play Wangan Maxi 3 in their own countries.
Today I'm going to tell you about travelling around one of those countries.

In some of the smaller countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, people tend to get around using the underground and taxis. But in bigger countries like America, the distances that you need to cross mean that you need to get a rental car and do the driving yourself.

As soon as we get off the plane at the airport, we make for the rental car shop and get ourselves a vehicle.
Then all that's left is to set up the car navigation system and set off...but it's always a bit nerve-wracking the first time you start driving abroad.
Because we're so used to driving on the left side of the road in Japan, riding down the right hand side feels really weird.
Turning left is really dangerous! If you don't concentrate when you're driving, you find yourself about to move into the left hand lane, just like in Japan. (this means you are going the wrong way down the road! Do not ever do this!) Until I get used to driving on the right, I have to keep telling myself "Drive on the right, drive on the right."

Even so, after about an hour I'm totally used to driving on the right.
I've always loved driving! Or you could say I'm a born fool for automobiles...anyway, whether I'm in Japan, America, or anywhere else I'm happy just driving along~~
Listening to local FM radio and cruising under a cloudless sky is one of the best feelings in the world.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. One of the first things I noticed driving in America was that everybody parks in a rather valiant manner!
Find a space, and bang! Dive in headfirst!! Nobody goes in delicately backwards like they do in Japan. But they don't even come close to hitting the cars on either side! Sweetly positioned alongside the white lines. Respect.
I gave it a go myself, but ended up just a little off on a diagonal with my car poorly parked... I've got to learn the American parking style.

So we spent a few weeks doing this and that, then, upon coming back to Japan, found that driving was......terrifying!!
I got so used to driving on the right in the USA that moving back over to the left in Japan was just as scary...

Righty-ho, see you again soon!!

(Original article in Japanese released on 7.9.2008)