Why does Japan drive on the left, even though they have never been a part of the British Empire?
In: 9363
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
Latest Answers