Visitors to Japan often comment on the way taxi doors open as you approach — at the touch of a button by the driver; and that those drivers generally wear smart white gloves. I apologize for the competitive tone, but there is something far more remarkable about London taxis: their drivers.
To qualify as a London taxi-driver and be able to cruise the streets plying for hire in an iconic "black cab" (though other colors are now also allowed), trainees must embark on an epic quest, known in near-mystic terms as "the Knowledge," in order to be awarded a coveted license.
This requires that trainees wishing to join the ranks of around 25,000 others currently authorized to helm a black cab in the capital's 1,578-sq.-km Metropolitan Police District — many of whom own their vehicles and are self-employed — learn 25,000 streets by name, and their intensely tangled layout. As well, they have to commit to memory some 20,000 landmarks such as hospitals, hotels and theaters — and then remember how to get between any and all of those streets and landmarks using the shortest possible route.