Although it varies from prefecture to prefecture, the punishment for drinking and driving in Japan is severe. In Kochi, where we live, government employees caught driving under the influence not only lose their driver's license, they lose their job, their pension, their respect in the community and any chance of ever regaining a sense of normalcy. In essence they become shamed persons, untouchables.

A friend of ours knows of a school principal who slept in his vehicle after a night of drinking. The next morning he was pulled over by the police who smelled alcohol. The breathalyzer confirmed alcohol in his bloodstream. Now he is a construction worker, one of the many Japanese waving a stick for long hours in the blistering sun. He lost his job, his pension, his self-respect and his dignity. When he isn't waving a stick, he spends long hours in his dark living room, flipping channels.

While the circumstances may seem severe -- caught the next morning -- the outcome is ordinary. Needless to say, its almost unheard of for people to drink and drive. As a result, my own attitude toward drinking and driving has changed 100 percent.

Before coming here I would think nothing of having two or three drinks and then driving. I wasn't overly concerned with having a pissed drunk driver, either. A large part of growing up in small town Saskatchewan was and is drinking and driving. Most people believe there to be no alternative, that they have to drive. "It's too cold. It's too hot. It's too far. It's only a few blocks. Cabbies talk to much. Cabbies smell funny. I'm not even drunk. One or two isn't going to hurt anybody. There's no one on the roads anyway." The rest accept this faulty logic.

When I come back to Canada I won't drink and drive, nor will I step into a vehicle with a driver who has. If there isn't a designated driver, I'll be that person. I'll take a cab or sleep it off. There really isn't any excuse. No one has to drink and drive.