Originally Posted by robyng

If you're talking about the Hana Highway on Maui - yup - that was a pretty regrettable decision on your part. We drove there once - but only did it about halfway or so. Because - had we done the whole thing - we would have wound up returning in the dark - like you did. BTW - I don't recall that our insurance was void driving there. Perhaps that is something recent (our trip was about 20 years ago)?

Driving bad/unfamiliar roads - especially mountain roads - is probably 10 times worse if you try to do it in the dark. Or in heavy rain/snow or when there's ice on the road. I can't imagine doing the Hana Highway in the dark - much less the coastal road in Norway through fjord country. I don't remember having any experiences like yours (at night) - but I'm sure we've had at least a couple (and I just blocked them out of my mind). I do recall having to abort certain drives/trips due to weather (e.g., wound up traveling 10 miles before aborting a drive in Colorado during a winter blizzard because our wheel wells froze up).

In terms of narrow roads - there are conventions that people follow. Like in the UK - if you're on a narrow 1 1/2 lane "brown" road - IIRC - the driver going downhill has the right of way - and the driver going uphill has to back down - without "kissing" one of the stone walls that often line the sides of these roads.

I'm sure there are similar conventions in Japan. You might start a thread asking about the major ones. Like who has the right of way in "traffic circles/roundabouts" - or at 4 way stop sign intersections. Or how people treat "passing lanes" on highways. Here in the US - many people think they have a right to be in the "passing lane" if they're going the speed limit. In many other countries - like Germany and Italy - the "passing lane" is strictly for passing. And - if you linger in that lane - you're going to wind up with a car or truck 3 feet away from your rear bumper.

There are booklets like this where you can start to read about the basics:

https://www.npa.go.jp/annai/license_renewal/english.pdf

Robyn