Originally Posted by gnaget

The wipers/ turn signal issue is not universal. Ford uses the same LHD steering wheel/ cluster install on some RHD cars to save money. I rented a Ford in NZ while living in Japan, so was engaging the wipers a lot. When I came back to the US on trips it took me a day or two to not make the mistake.

The thing to think about is that the turn signal is adjacent to the window (unless you are in a RHD Ford!)

Another tip is that the driver should always be adjacent to the center line. If you find yourself next to the curb....... This tip came from an Irish friend who traveled back and forth a lot to the US.

I was contemplating buying a German car model in Japan that only was imported as LHD but I decided that was going to be too tough in the beginning.

It's pretty high status in Japan to buy high end tuner Mercedes, Porsche models and whatnot that is exclusively available in LHD. Even the in-house models like AMG seem to be LHD in Japan. I saw lots of rare tuner cars like Brabus, Lorinser (Mercedes), RUF (Porsche) in Japan, whereas never spotted one anywhere else in the world. Of course, the most notorious Porsche tuner is actually in Chiba: Rauh-Welt Begriff (sic). I took a young visitor from Germany to this bodyshop (what it actually is) in 2013. RWB is hated among Porsche purists for its cartoon-like body kits.

There was a lady in my old neighborhood who tooled around in an older Rolls Royce. I often spotted her car down the road illegally parked outside Tokyu Honten in Shibuya while she did her shopping. Remarkably, it was a LHD model!