Why This Topic Landed in Japan

Japan's inbound boom has made tourist rental cars a lived experience rather than a statistic — wrong-way drivers and near-misses are now things people say they encounter personally. A collision with a train at a level crossing is about as legible a symbol as that anxiety could ask for, and it arrived alongside a separate irritant: a Spanish visitor describing Japan's left-side driving as "the reverse," which read to many as casting the local rule as the mistake. The two fused into one argument spanning licence conversion rules and a practical worry that a driver who causes damage can simply fly home before paying for it. The Furano Line crash was reported by local media. The Spanish tourist's remark circulated as a screenshot passed around online, and where it originally came from is unclear.

Key Reaction Themes

  • Fear of uncollectable damages — The recurring scenario was a totalled car, a damaged train and suspended service, with the driver flying home having paid nothing.
  • Blame aimed at the system, not just the driver — Licence conversion standards and rental companies' failure to brief customers drew as much criticism as the tourists themselves.
  • Pushback at "the reverse," and some relativism — "Go say that in Britain" was the standard retort, though a share of readers shrugged it off as mutual and unremarkable.

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

Rental car hits a train on the Furano Line

A rental car carrying five Chinese nationals collided with a train at a level crossing and its occupants were taken to hospital.

Sources: 2ch

Comments:

  • "What a genuine nuisance these people are."
  • "Are the train's crew and passengers okay?"
  • "Make sure they file a proper damages claim."
  • "people were family and friends — once friends are mixed in it starts to smell like an unlicensed taxi."
  • "Car totalled, train damaged, service suspended, medical bills — and they fly home without paying any of it."
  • "That side of it is the rental car's insurer, surely."
  • "How do you even hit a train? Hokkaido's crossings have great visibility — something's off about this lol"
  • "Reckless driving by foreigners is routine by now, but what surprises me is 100 people on a train out in the sticks nowhere near the Sapporo metro area."
  • "The rental company has something to answer for too."
  • "The odds of hitting a train that comes once every few hours, out in a remote spot with barely any traffic…"
  • "Lately there are so many people driving really strangely. Tourists maybe? It's unnerving."

A Spanish tourist calls left-side driving "the reverse"

A Spanish tourist's post describing Japan's left-side driving as "the reverse of ours" was picked up by an aggregator.

Sources: 2ch

Comments:

  • "Go to Britain and say the same thing."
  • "Does Spain not have traffic laws?"
  • "Take their licence away — don't let them drive until they leave the country."
  • "In Hokkaido you have to anticipate wrong-way drivers and deer running out, or you'll crash — rental car users, be careful."
  • "They just think, why won't you fall in line with white people?"
  • "The British are white too, you know."
  • "Watching foreign dramas always feels off to me, since it isn't left-side driving."
  • "Tourists can't do foreign licence conversion anymore, can they?"
  • "Same in reverse. Well, it goes both ways."
  • "Britain is the same as Japan, so they'd settle in fine."
  • "Why can foreign tourists drive here when they don't know Japan's rules?"
  • "Don't let them leave until they've paid the damages in full."