April 1992-the dreaded month had arrived. The shaken (mandatory car insurance and check) on the 8-year old light van my manager had given to me had run out, so I either had to pay $800 to get it re-certified or be car-less. After sadly resigning myself to forking out the cash, I began to hear strange noises whenever I hit 70 (44 mph), so I said eNO WAYf and had the van scrapped. Another friend found a car with three months left on its shaken for me to use while I searched for another car. I registered this new car in my name and made sure it was covered with extra liability insurance.
That was on a Monday.
Two days later I had to drive to a nearby city to get a visa re-entry permit. On the way back, I decided to stop at one of the elementary schools to finish shooting a video to send to a school in the States. To get there, I had to take a narrow but newly-paved twisty mountain road. Having driven it a time or two, I knew the scenery was nice.
Taking the road, I fell in behind what I was later to find out was a 4-ton truck. It barreled its way up the road, and I followed a ways behind. Two kilometers later, it suddenly stopped. I pulled in behind, assuming a car was coming from the other direction on the narrow road. Then the truckfs backing lights went on . gHmm,h I mused, gthere must be something in the road.h I started shifting my car into reverse and that was when it hit me-the truck, that is. By the time I hit the horn, by car had been foreshortened, with the radiator smashed and the hood bent in two. My first thought was, gThis canft be happening-Ifve only had this car for 2 days!h But my next thought was, gHmm, maybe this wasnft such a bad turn of events after all.h About this time, the driver and an elderly couple rushed/made their way to my car. He immediately began apologizing, saying he had heard something that sounded like something falling out of the truck, so he back up to see if something had or not., and that since no one EVER used this road, that he had backed up WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING! This also presumably explained why he didnft see me following him for over 2 kilometers!
Well, if I related all the problems that the driver found himself in it would take a small notebook, so let it suffice to relate that the shaken date on his company truck had run out the day before, and that the mandatory insurance had run out 90 MINUTES earlier, making for an embarrassing situation for him at the small local police station. I sat in the office drinking wheat tea and catching up with the latest news with the police officer, as I knew him and his family, and making humorous comments about the wreck. The officer called my city hall office to let them know I had been in a wreck, and he embellished it a bit, first telling Mr. Hashimoto that I had broken my leg and been seriously hurt. The company president arrived at the office, and I found he knew me-we had both been at a party at the mayor's house at New Years. He said the company would take full responsibility. Then the insurance agent arrived. He knew me because he had attended a speech I had given at his club. After learning that I would be in Nango until August 1993, the company president, gWell, if we find you a car with the shaken good until you go home, will that make things right with you?h
It sounded like an intriguing idea, worthy of further thought.
"SURE!"
It took them a week to find and deliver the small yellow Daihatsu Mira to my door, so in the interim the president found another car for me to use.
Japan, isn't it great!?!
Epilogue: The truck still had valid secondary insurance on it, and the policeman did not ticket the driver despite the many violations. The only thing I have yet to figure out in this complex but happily-ending affair is, why would a person who thought he had heard something drop out of the back of his truck look for it by BACKING UP?
© 1993, Louis A. Floyd