Cross-cultural communication （107）　

107) A driving trip in the German-speaking world
This was in the late 1980s. At the time, I was working in internal medicine at a national hospital in Osaka, and my main job was to supervise resident doctors. At the same time, I was working with a senior surgeon on research into the media for local administration of anti-cancer drugs. I had the opportunity to present the results of this research at international conferences in Wurzburg and Munich, and I was given two weeks' holiday. The presentations at both conferences were a great success, partly because English was the official language at the conferences, and of course I was able to answer the questions well.

What I learned from this experience at the international conference in Germany was that if they are intelligent young persons, they speak English almost perfectly. What I had planned for this conference trip was to drive a rental car to the two cities where the conferences were held and to travel after the conferences. The outline of the drive was to drive south from the first city visited on the conference, Wurzburg, along the famous Romantic Road, to Fussen at the southern end of the road, where Neuschwanstein Castle, said to be the model for the castle in Disney's “Sleeping Beauty”, is located, and then drive to Munich to finish the second conference presentation. After that, I had a rough plan to rent a car again in Munich and drive to Austria.

My German was limited to being able to count from 1 to 100 and being able to greet people and go shopping, having only studied it for two years as part of the liberal arts program at medical school. As the doctors and staff at the conference venue were fluent in English, I expected that English would be no problem at the car rental company, which was also used by many foreigners, and when I called the rental car company in Wurzburg, the English of the woman who answered the phone was impeccable. The drive along the Romantic Road in the Mercedes I rented (outside Japan, the name Mercedes is used for the Benz sedan) was as comfortable as a dream. This road is not an Autobahn, but a normal road with two lanes on each side, but as it was early summer and not high season, there were not many cars, so we were able to drive at a leisurely pace of around 100km/h. Along the road, there were wide open meadows and forests, and when we came to a town, we saw the medieval-style stone-built streets. If I tune the car's FM radio to a classical music station and hear a Mozart concerto playing, I feel on top of the world.

After my presentation in Munich, I rented a new car, and again I chose a Mercedes. In countries where the risk of accidents is higher than in Japan, you have to choose a rental car based on performance and sturdiness. If you're going to rent a car in Germany, a Mercedes is the obvious first choice. From Munich, we drove along the longed-for Autobahn into Austria, and planned to visit Innsbruck and Salzburg. As expected, the German Autobahn was even better than I had heard. There were many times when I was passed from behind while driving at around 140km/h in the overtaking lane. I realized within half an hour that you have to be driving at least 160km/h in the overtaking lane. The autobahns were almost straight and the road surface was well maintained, with no loose objects on the road, so as long as I was driving a well-maintained Mercedes, I had no sense of anxiety even if I continued to drive at speeds in the high 100s. After passing through Germany and entering Austria, the autobahns (I'm not sure if I can call them that) continued on as before. We stopped for a break in Innsbruck, and then stayed overnight in Salzburg, which is famous for the film “The Sound of Music” and the Salzburg Music Festival, before returning to Munich.

At the time, I was still in my 30s and my sense of balance was still good, so it wasn't a problem, but now (2025), at the age of 74, I wouldn't even think of renting a car when I go abroad. Everyone, please be careful about this.

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