[thechat] No Roundabouts In Japan?

[Garrett Coakley]

I was in the pub last night with my landlord and we were having a
rambling conversation about travelling, different cultures, etc, when he
came out with this little nugget:

     "You do realise that there are no roundabouts in Japan?"

Now, I used to be an alt.folklore.urban lurker in my youth, so something
about the phrase got me thinking. Was it true, or was it another one of
those memes that gets passed around from pub to pub?

I'm not a driver, so my knowledge on traffic management and road design
could probably fit on the back of a matchbook, but we have so many of them
here the thought of a country without any seems odd.

Searching for "roundabouts in Japan" on www.google got me a great article on
one of the BBC local news microsites about a Japaness women who has moved
near to Wrexham in Wales

      "An interesting experience for me has been driving in Wales. Although
      Wales and Japan use the left side of the road, there are some
      differences. There are no roundabouts in Japan, mostly just traffic
      lights at junctions"
	    http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/sites/mystory/pages/kazue_parry.shtml


I also got a couple of bites on groups.google:

       "The one thing they do suck at is roundabouts - there simply are no
       roundabouts in Japan (well maybe there are some in Hokkaido) and so
       they have no experience.  But then it seems half of Australia can't
       use roundabouts either, so I guess they'd fit right in, especially up
       here in QLD!"
       http://yurel.com/l90

       "Oh !  You don't have roundabouts in Japan?  How can you enjoy riding
       without roundabouts? It is the place where all road races are either
       won or lost."
       http://yurel.com/l91


But these two kinda hint the fact that although they're very rare, they
could be found. 

So I turn to the great and the good of thechat. Anyone got a photograph of a
roundabout in Japan? 

Or know conclusively one way or another?


G.