Will Miss #53 - getting around by bike (reflection)

America is well-known as a country in which car use is the norm. A lot of people criticize this as wasteful, indulgent, and selfish. However, it's important to know how geography and history dictate how people get from place to place. In New York City, for example, many people don't have or use cars because there is adequate public transportation and high population density. The rest of America doesn't have cars because they want them so much as they live in circumstances which offer them little reasonable option. That is, they either have no or terrible public transport and/or things are too spread out. Americans didn't plan things this way. It has to do with how our history unfolded.

In my current situation, I'm in between the "must have a car" and "can live without a car" life. There is some public transport, though it is expensive, inconvenient, not particularly reliable, and painfully infrequent. It is, surprisingly, pretty good about trying to accommodate cyclists. Many roads have lanes for cyclists and motorists are supposed to share lanes with them. For a suburb, it's probably more cyclist friendly than other areas.

Unfortunately, all of this really isn't "enough". This is mainly due to geography. Everything is still pretty far apart and riding even in bicycle lanes is not easy. There have been many cases where cyclists have had to move with the flow of traffic in a way that makes me nervous as a passenger in a car and I couldn't imagine feeling comfortable with as a cyclist. The irony is that, in CA, it's illegal to ride on sidewalks, but there are very few pedestrians and wider areas in which to negotiate a bike. There is every reason to allow cycles on sidewalks, yet you have to be in the street.

In Japan, I felt a lot more comfortable with the prospect of cycling and I still miss having that particular atmosphere and those riding conditions despite the drawbacks of limited parking and sometimes crowded sidewalks.

Won't Miss #52 - bicycle parking problems (reflection)

Bikes being taken away for illegal parking. To retrieve them, you had to wait several weeks and then pay $25-$30 to get your bike back.

For many years during my time in Japan, I suffered from severe back pain. I'm not talking about the type of thing where you exert yourself and your back hurts later. I'm talking about the thing where you wake up every morning, walk for a minute and agony sets in. If you walk or stand for too long, you suffer burning, agonizing pain during every moment that you are sitting. There was a time when I'd get up in the morning, go to work in pain, and sit there for 6 of my 8 hours in horrific pain. This ended in my taking two months off and working from home in bed.

During this time period, which lasted, oh, about 9 of my 12 years at the company I was at, using a bicycle was my salvation. I even rode the bike to work rather than endure the suffering of walking 15 minutes from the local train station to the office. Even forty minutes of sweating through the Tokyo summer (one-way) was better than the pain I endured. Unfortunately, my ability to use a bike to mitigate my pain was monumentally undercut by the increasingly limited and difficult bicycle parking situation. As I mentioned in my original post, it went from a situation in which I could park nearly anywhere for any length of time to nowhere for niggling amounts of time. Eventually, the parking situation became so hard that I took to struggling to walk the 9 minutes to the subway (stopping three times to rest to reduce some of the agony as it got worse the longer I walked).

I don't miss how owning a bicycle turned into a nearly useless thing because someone decided that having bicycles parked along the street in Tokyo was too troublesome or aesthetically displeasing to permit it. 

Won't Miss #436 - cycling cell phone users

She looks like she's standing still here, but she was actually riding around with her phone glued to her ear.

I always loved the idea of people riding bicycles in a country instead of taking cars and originally, it was a great point about living in Tokyo. As the years went by though, things got to the point where both being a cyclist and encountering them became increasingly frustrating. Bike parking was made nearly impossible for more than the shortest time period and long term parking was troublesome as the desire for clearer sidewalks edged out accommodating cyclists. What was worse though was that cyclists became increasingly stupid and reckless with the advent of cell phones. It's technically illegal in most places (bike laws are different from area to area, even in the same city) to use a cell phone while cycling, but people do it all of the time and the police rarely (if ever) uphold the law and fine them.

Between their attention being divided and one hand being on the phone (sometimes sending or reading text messages!), such cyclists are a huge hazard and I won't miss nearly getting knocked over by those idiots.

Won't Miss #407 - bicycle/bike confusion

Neighborhood kitty doesn't care what word I use. It just wants a place to sleep.

Sometimes the simplest conversations get tangled in a web of confusion and the use of the word "bike" in Japan always seems to spin this web. When I'm speaking in English with a Japanese person and ask, "have you ever had your bike stolen," and the answer will be, "I don't have a bike." That same person may have mentioned previously that he or she indeed has a bicycle, but this is a Japanese-English problem. In Japan, "bike" means "motorbike" or motorized scooter. You may not think bicycles are going to be discussed all that much, but, in Tokyo, more people use bicycles than cars by a huge margin. It becomes very frustrating and tiresome having to modify my natural and absolutely correct English to suit the manner in which Japanese-English works.

No matter how many times I tell students that, in English, "bike" and "bicycle" are one and the same, there will be a miscommunication any time this simple topic is broached and I won't miss it.

Won't Miss #399 - dogs in bike baskets

Perhaps I'm paranoid or overly sensitive about how people deal with their pets, but it makes me very nervous when I see an unsupervised parked bicycle with a dog sitting in it. The primary problem I have with it is that parked bikes are relatively unstable and I'm concerned that a careless pedestrian or cyclist, a gust of wind, or even a small earthquake will send the bike toppling and the animal will get hurt. None of these things are exactly rare in Tokyo. The other thing that troubles me is that most of the little dogs I see perched in these baskets are tethered on a short leash to the bike's handlebars. I'm sure this is done to keep them from jumping out, but I worry that this will just mean the dog will hang itself if it does try to jump out or at the least bring the bike down on itself if it attempts to jump out.

Seeing a pet sitting on a lone parked bicycle is not an uncommon sight and I think it's very irresponsible. I won't miss seeing this worrisome situation. 

Won't Miss #282 - "the stare and swerve"

Somewhere in the cobwebbed areas of my deeper memory, I recall seeing a comedic scene in a movie or T.V. show where a person is riding a bike and is so distracted by an attractive women, that he doesn't look where he is going and crashes into something. Seems rather silly, eh? Well, there is a situation in Japan that happens to me which makes it seem much more plausible. When I'm riding my bike, other bike riders coming in the opposite direction (when not busy talking or texting and staring at their cell phones) suddenly become stunned into a stupor at the sight of a foreigner. They gawk, and their bike starts to glide toward me. This is when I either have to defensively drive or ring my bell and adopt an angry look to get them to put their eyes back on the damn street. Two people in the last 3 months have actually crashed while gawking at me (I kid you not - one was an old man and the other a little girl).

I won't miss being nearly run into by idiots who seem stunned into paralysis at the sight of a "gaijin." (foreigner)

Won't Miss #244 - bike abuse

One of the things you'll find out rapidly in Japan if you ride a bicycle is that other people have no respect whatsoever for your bike. Besides filling your basket with their empty beverage cans, used tissues, and onigiri wrappers (something I dealt with on a daily basis when I parked at the station for work), they will also do whatever it takes to cram into what limited bike parking space is available. If they have to smash the hell out of your basket until it is a misshapen piece of metal, they will do it. If they have to knock the spokes loose cramming in their kickstand, they will do it. What is more, if they are shoving their bike in and set off a domino effect which knocks down other bikes, they will not pick them up if no one else is there to witness it happen.

I won't miss the abuse my bike gets put through by selfish people who have no respect for the property of others.

Will Miss #224 - adult tricycles

About once a week, sometimes more often than that, I see an adult riding around on what is essentially a big tricycle. Most of the time, though not always, the bicycle is being used by someone on the older side. I never saw such bikes back home, but I think they're a good idea not only for people who have problems keeping a two-wheeled bicycle stable, but also for those who take their bikes shopping and want to use a larger rear basket for groceries. Frankly, I think they're a great idea and wouldn't mind using one back home.

I'll miss seeing these adult tricycles.

Won't Miss #165 - stacked bike parking

When I first saw the type of bicycle parking in the picture above, I thought it was an ingenious way of allowing more bikes to park in a limited space. After I had to start using that type of parking, I felt rather less impressed. Sure, this is a space efficient method, but it's a pain to use. I'm not a puny woman, but I'm not particularly strong and I have some back issues. Hauling the bikes onto and off of the rack is not a trivial matter, and it's exacerbated by the fact that the racks are often poorly maintained and get jammed or won't move smoothly.

I won't miss the time, effort, and bruises that I get from using this type of stacked parking for bicycles.

Will Miss #140 - unicycles

One thing you notice in summer in Tokyo is that there are far more kids, especially girls, riding unicycles. It's quite impressive to see their balance and speed on them. I've been told that elementary school kids, and girls in particular, join unicycle clubs or teams. I'm not sure why unicycles are relatively common in Japan, but it is always interesting to see as one tends only to see acrobats use them back home.

I'll miss seeing kids on unicycles.

Won't Miss #137 - kiddy seats on bikes

One of the amazing things you see in Japan are bicycles with the equivalent of a baby seat attached to the front and/or back. What is more surprising is the way you see mothers (and on rare occasions, fathers) lurching or speeding around with their kids plopped into them. They are often helmet-less and not strapped in. If the mother were to lose her balance or have an accident, the kid could easily crack open a head. Since they aren't carrying my kid, I guess this isn't my business, but what does tend to be an issue for me is the parking of these massive bikes with their over-sized front and back baskets. Since most bicycle parking in Tokyo is packed, having one of these monsters parked (that is, crammed in) next to my bike results in my handlebars getting jammed and wedged into first the front and then the back kiddy seat.

I won't miss these unwieldy baby-carrying vehicles.

Won't Miss #83 - squealing bicycle brakes

There's a particular type of bicycle in Japan which is marketed toward housewives. It's a cheap, but serviceable model which is sold new for between $80-120 (8,000-12,000 yen). This type of bike is called a "mama chari". That's "mama" for "mother" and "chari" is supposed to be the sound the bells on those bikes make. These bikes seem to have a common problem in that their brakes squeal horribly loudly, and it's the worst at crosswalks because you tend to get people slowly laying on the brakes on a long approach up to the light. It's the worst after it rains. It's extremely grating and annoying, but because these bikes are so cheap (and bikes are so often stolen in Japan that people don't want to buy pricey ones), these bikes are everywhere.

I won't miss the fingers on a blackboard feeling I get when I hear these brakes squealing.

Won't Miss #61 - aggressive bike bell ringers

About 90% of people on bicycles are generally not too obnoxious, but there is a minority which feels that the sidewalk belongs to them and aggressively ring their bells from a mile away in a vain attempt to clear the path ahead. They do this so they can barrel down the street without stopping. Some older men actually ring their bells constantly with a few seconds between each ring as they head down the street. They are the worst because they do this whether someone is in their way or not.

I won't miss these people who lay on the bicycle bell because they feel the roads and sidewalks belong to them and everyone should be making way for them at all times.

Will Miss #52 - getting around by bike

While parking for any length of time is difficult, being able to get around by bike is pretty appealing because it is legal to travel on the sidewalks in most areas of Tokyo. That means you don't have to compete with cars and worry about getting run down. You get exercise while you run errands. The cost of maintaining a bike is low, and you can pay more attention to your surroundings. In fact, it's one of the best ways to explore neighborhoods in Japan without your feet killing you.

I'll miss the pleasure of getting around by bicycle.

Won't Miss #52 - bicycle parking problems

Bike rent-a-cops load illegally parked bicycles onto their truck. They'll be taken to an impound lot and people will have to pay about $30 to get them back.

For a country that is trying hard to reduce emissions, it sure is hostile to bicycle parking and therefore makes using a bike less appealing. When I first arrived in Japan, I could ride and park my bike anywhere. Now, I can't park it anywhere for more than 15 minutes without risk of having it tagged by the cops and then impounded a short while later. While there are a few paid parking spaces (100 yen/a dollar a day), most of them are far from the stations or hot spots or packed to the gills by 8:00 am.

I won't miss having to worry about having my bicycle taken away by the cops any time I use it to go anywhere because of pointless restrictions on when and where you can park.