Probably one of the few Japanese Facts that I was aware of before coming to Japan was the importance of Japanese bicycles.I remember when I first started working in Toronto and was at an age where physical fitness was of the utmost importance. My first job was about forty minutes away by car, taking into account a day that was fairly clear of traffic. However, the parking spaces were limited and paying for gas meant digging into my savings and that wasn't really something that I felt keen on doing. So, after a stubborn one-sided argument with my parents, I ended up riding my bike to and from work. In the beginning, it was tough climbing all those steep hills and negotiating across several lanes of traffic, but it got me from ‘A' to ‘B' in a decent amount of time and burned off several hundred calories per day in the process.
When I changed jobs, I came to the realization that I could no longer ride my mountain bike to work due to the increased distance. It would take me nearly three hours one way! It was with great disappointment that I gave up my cycling habits and reluctantly took up the habit of driving to work. During the winter, I was forced to take public transportation thanks to the driveway being snowed in without a snow plow in sight.
Living in Japan has given me the opportunity to get back on a bike so that I may also get back into shape and save some extra cash. Sometimes, depending on where I want to go on my days off, the transportation costs really start to add up. I find that this is easily avoidable by sticking to my bicycle and taking more direct routes to my intended destinations.
Whereas in Canada it is considered to be strange for someone, especially fully clad in a pristinely ironed business suit, to ride their bike to work, it is perfectly normal in Japan. I see men and women everyday cycling to the station, crossing over the bridge to Umeda, or racing around corners to make up for lost time. Bicycles are a very important means of transportation in Japan, and not just for saving money and staying fit. They are convenient for navigating the back roads where most motor vehicles dare not tread. Shorter distances travelled by bicycles makes more economic sense, allowing the cyclist to make use of the basket connected to their front handlebars for shopping and carrying baggage. Since children cannot ride on the backs of scooters, parents without cars use bicycles to chauffeur their infants and smaller children around. There are specially designed seats for children that attach to either the front handlebars of the parent's bicycle, or over the rear fender, to make the ride a safe one for the child.
I used to arrive at my destination in Toronto via my bicycle and then spend precious minutes scouring the area for somewhere to lock it up. In times of desperation, I would choose a spot far from where I was headed. A couple of times I ended up chaining my bicycle to a nearby fence, stop signs, and slender trees crawling with ants. In Japan, locking up my bike has never posed much of a problem. There are parking areas for bicycles just about everywhere. In front of or next to train stations, alongside the shopping malls or department stores, at the bottom or underneath apartment buildings etc. I never have to worry about finding a place to park my bicycle so long as I don't accidentally leave it in a bicycle restricted zone.