Bicycle use grows in popularity amid recession

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kanadamanada at 12:55 PM JST - 19th February

There is simply no better way to peel the lard off than the bicycle. I'd be a total lardball without my mtb.
lazyman0909 at 01:05 PM JST - 19th February

I really like the way Nagoya has encouraged people to ride bicycles by charging bicylists to park their bikes. They even hire old men to give bicycle parking tickets. Way to go. Just my 2 yens worth
Gaijinocchio at 01:23 PM JST - 19th February

Perhaps the government could suddenly use the trillion+ in handout money to instead fund some new useful bike trails. You got your jobs and your green! A man can dream, can't he?
tmarie at 02:03 PM JST - 19th February

I agree Lazy. You can't park anywhere in the cities here without fear of the bike police and having to go get your bike out of bike prison. If they would allow free parking near stations and whatnot there wouldn't be an issue with bikes paeked all over the place!
stipend at 03:55 PM JST - 19th February

Impounding bicycles if I remember correct was pushed by the Japan Bicycle Association in Sakai and they started with Osaka. The idea was to recycle the "abandoned" bikes left a stations which were getting out of hand. Probably that's what they did in the beginning until people started showing interest in all those perfectly good bikes.

In my town the impound lots are so far from where the bikes are taken. The closest lot to me has bikes that come from way yonder and vise versa. And why so far the station! Clearly their slant was to encourage new bike sales.

My push bikes only bacome "abandoned" after they got them. For a couple thousand yen more at my local shop I can buy somebody else's "abandoned" bicycle. It's just plain stupid.

Plenty of issues but one big one is providing parking.
LoveUSA at 10:20 PM JST - 19th February

Bicycles should be banned. I hate them. Today I was almost run over by a bicycle.
Sarge at 10:24 PM JST - 19th February

"Bicycles should be banned"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

"Today I was almost run over by a bicycle"

The rider of that bicycle should be slapped upside the head.
usaexpat at 12:25 AM JST - 20th February

Bicycles have always made sense for short trips. Parking in Japan is such a hassle that I only drive as a last resort.
ThonTaddeo at 01:26 AM JST - 20th February

Bicycles are the best form of transportation there is -- good for your health; zero pollution; they take up almost no space compared to automobiles; you can get from one place to another with a fraction of the sweat that would accumulate when walking.

It's always bothered me how badly cyclists are treated. Parking in front of a station has become more and more dangerous -- in the past, as Stipend mentions, only abandoned bikes would be taken away; now they give you much less time to get your bike out of the way, and the fine can be more than the bike is worth! There are still plenty of spatially-challenged pedestrians who will see a bicycle approaching from 100 meters off and then still shriek with fright when it comes close to them. And the police's attitude towards foreign-looking cyclists is of course well-known.

Non-cyclists love to talk about how dangerous bicyclists are, but I think the benefits outweigh the dangers, and also that many other bigger dangers are being understated. The automobiles parked on the sides of main roads, forcing cyclists on to the sidewalks? The people who stop in the middle of the sidewalk because they've spotted something that's kawaii? The imbeciles who are looking at their cell phones and not the road? The nighttime dog-walkers whose leashes turn into invisible tripwires? The taxi drivers for whom things like traffic lights are vague guidelines?

I suspect the government just hates bicycles because (1) they don't bring in the big taxes that cars and trains do, and (2) streets full of bicycles remind them of the poorer countries that Japan desperately wants to not resemble, and streets full of gas-guzzling cars make them feel rich.
flammenwerfer at 08:18 AM JST - 20th February

As for cyclists there are many fools in our camp too - no lights at nights, no helmets ever, so safety clothing at night, riding 2,3,4 abreast on narrow roads, standing on rear footpegs, riding on the wrong side of the road, riding with earphones, riding while emailing and the old ladies who ride so slowly they wobble and weave and seldom of ever look before cutting you off. Its enough to make you wont to quit the roads here for good.
stipend at 03:14 PM JST - 20th February

Everyone is familiar with riding here and that's excellent. When I'm going somewhere and I find myself having to leap frogging buses there's never a problem. Cars, people, bikes, it all works and there is a particular flow it. And it's different here than from other places.

I cringe most days at what I see but as long as someone's not endangering my life I'm usually ok with it -usually. Lots of issues to deal with for cyclig here and many things probably can't be fixed (like common sense). But traffic at least, for the most part, is friendly.

Ah.. and I see it is time to get on my bike again. The next 20km of a 40km day :-)
Ranger_Miffy at 07:47 PM JST - 20th February

Really good comments today on this issue. I don't have a car, and my work is one or two hours away by train, so riding a bike is out of the question. At my station, I noticed there were areas set aside for bikes with stickers, so I bought one from my local "ku" office. Only Y2,000 a year and basically worry-free parking quite close to the station. At least this is a good solution. But, really, bikes should be allowed to clutter up the local area near the stations of Japan.

Give bikes a break! And a brake!
M_Lammerse at 09:01 AM JST - 22nd February

Well I will use the bicycle again a lot from next month in Osaka. Coming from the bicycle nation in the world, Holland, I must admit that the promotion of bicycle usage and the facilities for bicycle users is still at stone age level in Japan. Also by law as said by others, seeing that cyclists in Japan do not have to use lights at night, do not have to give direction by hand, can cycle at either side of the road and on the side walks. It would also be very handy to give the ability to carry your bicycle with you in longer distance trains (special carriages at the end of he train for example) and that bicycle lanes are much more integrated into traffic planning.
stipend at 10:29 AM JST - 22nd February

You can carry your bike anywhere across Japan by train in a bike bag. On JR they insist you buy an inexpensive luggage ticket. Not ideal for a commute but it's great for touring.
Seawolf at 12:22 AM JST - 24th February

I rode about 8000 km in Tokyo during the last year commuting to work and back. And about the one thing I would like to see are bicycle parking areas with shower-box attached...As mentioned before, even if you have some wind while you are riding, there are a few times where you really have to stop for more than a few seconds, despite all efforts of left-turn and right-turn at cross-lights and than you can literally "hear" the sweat running down your back. Plus, I guess everybody here still remembers last years guerrilla rains - I myself got caught up a few times, starting totally dry from home, than getting drained in Shinjuku, and arriving in Roppongi to dry roads and people, not an umbrella in sight...