There are jobs here in Japan that simply couldn’t exist in New Zealand, and in the case of this one, there are times when they shouldn’t exist. The main reason they can exist here but not in NZ is because the wages here are so low. The minimum wage here is just over half NZ’s.

I often complain about how our taxes are going towards parking wardens who simply aren’t necessary. And it gets worse because people trust them rather than checking for safety for themselves, which you should always do.

I just witnessed a near full speed accident with a car pulling out into a two-lane road, and if it had happened, it could have totally been the parking warden’s fault. I was in the left-hand lane and the parking warden was standing in front of my car telling me to stop so he could let other cars in once the lights had changed.

When they did change, the warden let in two cars in front of me, the first one into my lane, which is fine, but the second one wanted to cut across our lane in an attempt to get to the lane to my right. Next second, a car was moving at full speed down this second lane, and if the car that cut across hadn’t slammed on the breaks, and the other car hadn’t maneuvered out of the way, there’s a high chance someone could have died. All because of someone doing a job that shouldn’t really exist.

Thank god nothing happened. Please be careful out there and never trust someone else in situations like this when you are driving!