Study finds riding motorcycles useful for brain training

Thursday 05th March, 06:09 AM JST

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some14some at 07:45 AM JST - 5th March

From 4-wheeler to 2-wheeler and finally they will say "One Master Brain One Wheel Motorcycle". Should the economy improve we will be back riding four wheeler.
soldave at 08:44 AM JST - 5th March

Who would have thought it: a study associated with a motorbike company states riding motorbikes is good for the brain at just the time when "brain training" is becoming the fashionable thing.
bamboohat at 08:46 AM JST - 5th March

Sounds like a marketing ploy in disguise.

Ryuta Kawashima, a professor who is known for brain research

Lots of people are known for many things, but that doesn't really tell you much about any results he's ever gotten, or his credentials in that particualr area. For all we know he could be the stooge chosen by the motorcycle company to promote their "research"
bushlover at 09:14 AM JST - 5th March

Motorcyclists have to be more vigilant in Japan because it suffers from the 3 ' O 's of Bad Driving: Old, Ovaries & Oriental.
Disillusioned at 09:31 AM JST - 5th March
What a fascinating report! It's a shame it doesn't mean anything when your dead! Motorcycle riders are temporary residents.
- Could this report explain why so many motorcycle riders turn into kamikaze meglamaniacs when they get on their bikes?
timorborder at 09:52 AM JST - 5th March

You wouldn't know it when driving in Japan. Like flies to shxt, many Japanese motorcyclists seem to have an attraction which finds them tucked into vehicle blindspots when riding.
tanyurine at 10:18 AM JST - 5th March

The health risks of riding on the train could be factored into the risks associated with motorcycle riding. I been riding a bike since I came to Japan in ’79 and feel I’m doing better physically and psychologically than I would if I had to spend the 3-4 hours on the train every day. Granted, crashing a motorbike is not a good idea (but crashing a car can be a bummer too). Motorcycle riders tend to be more focused than car drivers. They have fewer accidents per mile driven/ridden (this is a world-wide study, don't have the book with me now and don't know how it breaks down in Japan), although motorcycle riders involved in accidents tend to have more serious injuries (duh!)

Yamaha being the sponsor of the study does raise questions as to its validity, but anecdotally I have found that riding to work on the expressway and surface roads 5 days a week (35 kilometers each way) does tend to focus my mind and I arrive at work feeling alert and it seems plausible to me that riding a motorbike might help keep the brain active (assuming, of course absence of injury due to brain trauma).

As for the kamikaze riders mentioned, males and sports bikes don’t seem like a great combination. As a matter of fact, it's pretty hard to hold back the urge to play motorcycle racer even for us older fellers on a crotch rocket. I've learned to stay off those. 50cc fart bikes and scooters can be equally dangerous for boys with incompletely developed egos. Ban those. Anybody who wants to ride a bike should have to get a bike license. Instead of differentiating bike licenses by size of bike as now in place in Japan, issue just two types of motorcycle license: one for any bike that forces the rider into an upright riding posture. The other, after extensive psychological testing and further road training for anyone wanting to purchase and ride a racing bike on the street.
bobbafett at 10:48 AM JST - 5th March

If motorcycles are so good at brain training it explains why there are some many hells angels members moonlighting at Mensa events.
cnc at 10:58 AM JST - 5th March

So after the Japanese government effectively kills off the Domestic market for motorcycles...they come up with these sleazy ways to boost sales.

I dont know if all of you are aware of this. But, after introducing tougher parking rules for motorcycles it became a lot harder for the manufacturers to sell them. They started issuing parking tickets to bikes costing the same as cars for illegal parking, effectively doing so without providing adequate pay-for parking. Even running costs on a bike more than 400cc is the same as a car.... the number of bike related road deaths in Japan is astronomical and is so common that the media doesnt even bother to report it (very much like the JinshinJiko on trains).

And in actuality action based video games have proven to be more effective for brain training and kids who play these games have next-to-zero lag in reflexes. So which is safer? A bike or the all-popular Wii...
tanyurine at 11:28 AM JST - 5th March

But a Wii won't get you to work.
tanyurine at 11:34 AM JST - 5th March

re the bike parking, yes, it's become a read pain. Not only can you not park your bike on the side of the road, most car parks will not let you park your bike there even if you're willing to pay full car price. Weird...
knowitall at 11:37 AM JST - 5th March

Back when I was commuting to work by motorcycle, I was a MUCH more alert and productive in the morning once I reached the office than when riding the train. Spending an hour in cramped trains (in close proximity to people with all kinds of sicknesses on top of it), I was not in the mood to get down to serious work. But, when motorcycling to work, my brain was actually on when I made it to the office. Interesting that the Asahi Shimbun article on this mentions that it was 11 test subjects of average age of 46 years old. Asahi stressed that it was brain activity of older men that was stimulated by motorcycling, not the suicidal kids attempting the same thing with their brains off.
ca1ic0cat at 09:49 PM JST - 5th March

Not only is riding a motorcycle more mentally stimulating (between moments of sheer terror) but you save on heck of a lot of fuel and time on a bike. I don't even charge the company mileage when I am on my bike for a business trip. It is that much better than a car.

I don't know why the car parks won't allow bikes. Fortunately the factory has dedicated bike parking.
dontpanic at 10:23 PM JST - 5th March

As improving as it may be, back home we have another name for bikers - Organ Donors.
nausicaa at 12:52 AM JST - 6th March

Motorcycles don't have to be unsafe. They are a vehicle requiring a lot of caution and responsibility. (Sadly / Obviously, driving a car doesn't require as much concentration.) It isn't surprising that riding is "good for the brain". It requires a lot of concentration to ride. As long as you aren't riding improperly and you exercise caution, all is well. Most of the time, it's the motorists who aren't paying attention (not concentrating) that makes riding a bike unsafe. Being a safe rider requires looking far ahead for idiot motorists who are paying no attention, talking on their cells, etc. But that's just in my opinion. I'm not someone who is looking for speed. I just think that getting around on a motorbike is a lot of fun. And, just like driving stick, it's a lot more fun and less boring than driving a car.