私の自転車 - My Bike



Everybody cycles in Japan. My bike is basically a pile of scrap. The people that were here last year left their bikes behind, and so they were "recycled" and re-sold to the new students this year, with the profits going towards parties and such. When the buddies took everyone down to view them, I was on the phone or something, so I only got down later, when all the crappy ones were left.

The asking price was 3000 yen (£15) but it was halved to 1500 yen (£7.50). Then it was pointed out that it had no gears, the front brake didn't exist, the seat was tatty and the wheel lock (no need for chains and stuff here!) needed a new key. But it was the best bike that they had left, so Naoki offered to take it to the repair shop for me, and said that if the total cost including repairs came to more than 5000 yen (£25) in total, the House would refund the difference. Fair enough, I needed a bike. So the next day, it came back looking a lot better, with two working brakes, a new seat, and a new lock. Gears are apparently unnecessary, but it also has a bell and a light. And best of all, a huge front basket, which seems to be the fashion here.

I asked how much the repairs came to, and Naoki replied
"It's cool, it wasn't your fault that it was falling to pieces so the House just paid for it".
So, delighted, I offered him the 1500 yen initial asking price.
"To be honest, its such an old bike, we can't ask you to pay for it. And the tyres are a bit old too, so yeah, you can just have it".
So that is the story of my free bike. Which may fall to pieces on me yet, but its better than Mat's bike. But not Other-Matt from Edinburgh's bike, because he paid 14,000 yen (£70) for his. However, his bike is new.

There are pros and cons to owning a new bike here.
The pros: It won't fall apart. And it looks cool.
The cons: Even though people seem to just park their bikes everywhere and anywhere, there are rules about where you can and can't park which aren't indicated by signs in any way, and so us gaijin are totally unaware of them.
Example: Julie and Aude, the French girls on my floor, bought bikes, rode them, liked them, and then rode them to the shops the next day. They came out of the shops to find that they had been lifted by police, because they were illegally parked. Even though there were tons of other bikes there, and the place didn't look any different or anything. So, they must now buy new bikes, as the place where bikes are reclaimed is many miles away, and a hefty fine must be paid. Luckily, their bikes were cheaply bought from the House, so they didn't lose too much money. This is why I win.

Moving on, now, to the rules of riding your bike on the street: There are no rules. This was confirmed by the University during orientation.

- Cyclists do not wear crash helmets. This worried me a little, but they just don't exist, and so cannot be purchased. I found it hard to believe, but it's true.

- Cyclists do not signal when they turn corners. Or stop. Or anything. I'm guessing if I make arm signals anyway they should be understood, but we're so close to traffic there's no room to actually stick my arm out anyway.

- Cars do not have to stop and look for cyclists when coming around corners, at small junctions without lights, etc. It is the cyclists responsibility to stop before a car comes out and ploughs into them.

- Cyclists may cycle on the the pavement, or on the road. Usually both. Cyclists just ride on and off of pavements as they please, although pavements don't exist half the time anyway, and so you never know what they're going to do next. One reason I can think of for this is that although cycling on the pavement is generally safer, every few yards there is a big thick telephone pole, which must be avoided. There is no room to cycle between them and the buildings, so you have to veer out into the road, which can be more dangerous than just going on the road in the first place due to lack of signalling, etc. You'd think cycle lanes would be a good idea in this country, but no.

- Cyclists may cycle on either side of the street. Again, on the road, or pavement. I think this rule is shocking, and stupid. But people do it everywhere, you see lots of cyclists going head-on into a flow of busy traffic. I've had to do it a few times myself already, in order to avoid the liberally-scattered tram lines, railways, etc.

Conclusion: Cycling here is scary, but necessary. The public transport here is very very cheap and efficient, but for people using their own private means, it is complete chaos. There are a lot of cars, but most people do just get around by either bike or moped. One reason for this may be the fact that having a car here is extremely expensive, as the car must be under a certain age, there are many taxes, tolls, MOT checks, etc, and you must rent your own parking space, which costs a fortune in itself. It is in fact banned for anyone to commute by car to Ritsumeikan University, including staff. It's great that so many people cycle, for health and environmental reasons, and apparently you can cycle to any location in the city within an hour, if you know where you're going. But I'm surprised that there isn't a better system for cyclists, who must constantly put themselves and pedestrians at risk to get anywhere. Walking isn't always an option, as it would just take too long, and it just seems to be taken for granted that this many people choose to cycle, and that the government does not need to encourage them in any way, i.e. by actually making the system safe. When we were given our talks on why entering the National Health Insurance scheme was necessary, the sheer amount of students that have cycle accidents every week was a key reason. But nothing is done about it, as far as I can see, and perhaps the people here are happy with their system, after all, this is through the eyes of a foreigner.

Having said that, I do enjoy the bike ride to uni every day, a 15 minute ride through relatively quiet streets, and there are some very enjoyable nearby routes through residential areas that we can ride along for pleasure, and most of them will take us past temples and shrines. And it is a huge convenience, as walking to some places would just take too long. So, perhaps I will get used to it all soon, I don't feel that I lack confidence while cycling on these roads, I personally took to it quite quickly, and if I have to cycle along a busy road, so be it, I won't avoid it. But I think it would be interesting to ask Japanese cyclists for their opinions on the system, and drivers as well, and also some of the foreign students who are living here with me. I don't know much about transport systems throughout the world, so who knows, maybe this is just a typical example of what you could find in any country, and I'm just being stuck-up about it, but its my only big gripe about Japan so far, so I'd like to try and understand it a little better!