Why does Japan drive on the left, even though they have never been a part of the British Empire?
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The Japanese are actually kind of…adopted children of the British Empire, in that the Brits were actually a really big influence on the Japanese during the Meiji Restoration and the rapid industrialization of the country. The Brits also were a major ally of the Japanese during their formative Imperial years (particularly during WW1), to the point that the war planners in Washington assumed that WW2 would pit the United States against both the British and Japanese empires at once for control of the Atlantic and Pacific.
Point being; the Japanese got a lot of influence from the Brits, so it’s not unexpected for them to have picked up some British customs along the way.
Here’s a great resource going into more detail: [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-do-japanese-drive-left-side-road-vlad-levada](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-do-japanese-drive-left-side-road-vlad-levada)
The summary is that traditionally, Samurai wore their swords on their left, so when they walked or rode through the narrow streets, they kept to the left side of the road, so that they didn’t cross swords and could face oncoming traffic with their (right) sword hand. Then in the late 19th century, the British won the bid to build the first Japanese railway system. So the Brits made all the train tracks run on the left side as well, because that’s how the British system worked. In 1924, an official law was passed to codify that all traffic in Japan, on rails or roads, needs to go on the left.
When Japan finally opened up to international trade and tried to catch up technologically in 1853 the British already had a strong presence in the Area (Hong Kong) so the first real influx of modern trade and technology was supplied by the British empire
Minor tangent: The Japanese also swap the turn signal and wiper stalks to opposite sides. In the UK, your turn signal is on the same side of the steering wheel as a car from the US. In Japan, the turn signal is on the driver’s right, between the steering wheel and right window.
50-50 chance? They had to pick a side.
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In the US, before motor cars, what was the convention of carriages on roads and cities?
I believe that it began not *because of* British influence, but rather for the same reason the British adopted it.
It harkens back to “ye olde sword and horseback” times.
Most riders were right hand dominant, so they would ride to the left incase they had to draw their weapon and wield it with their right hand while on the move (receiving the same in return, of course).
Thailand, a country that has never been colonized also drives on the left.
The reasoning is similar to Japan as well. Many Thai elites in the early 19th century got a lot of influence from the British. There is a myth that the first car in Thailand was British, but really we don’t know. The more accurate reason is that the first Thai drivers were educated in Britain and simply learned how to drive the British way before bringing it back home.
Driving on the left was actually the default at first, since believe it or not it is a bit safer on average. I’m not an expert on that one but you can google it and find well explained answers.
From what I understand it was Napoleon who switched that to the right hand side – because he didn’t want his armies to become congested. However some say that it’s a class thing that was challenged during the French Revolution – the rich would stick to the left forcing the poor to the centre or right. So during the revolution they said f the rich and switched it. Also possibly as a middle finger to a previous papal decree to drive on the left, which dates back to ancient times. Or a combination of all those factors.
Napoleon ended up conquering a decent part of Europe and all his conquered territories switched to the right as a result. It become popular and spread to other parts of the world, but Japan stuck to the old ways since there was no real reason to change – but they were also quite isolationist until 1868.
I’m an armchair historian at best so please correct any of my post
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