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25-04.-2008, 12:38 AM
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#1 |
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Guest
Posts: n/a
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OT Bicycles in Japan.
Just got back from my first visit to Japan. 10 cities/towns in 3 weeks.
I was amazed by the amount of bicycles around particularly in cities. Apart from two days hire car we went everywhere by PT and shanks pony and in every city except Nagasaki which is hilly we had to keep dodging bikes. Lots of pavement riding, wrong way riding, no lights, ignoring lights just like people say the UK is except the volume. In Tokyo we found an underground bike park where the steps up to the pavement had a narrow conveyor next to it so the user pushed the bike on at the bottom and walked up beside it (holding it up for balance) without having to push. Then there are the multi story bike parks by stations. Mind you, they're not above facility of the month type errors. In Kyoto we watched a bunch of "bike wardens" removing bikes. As far as I can see the bikes had had warning labels attached which I suppose said don't park here or else and now they were being removed on a large lorry. Easy to do because people lock their bikes but don't lock them to anything. The bike warden didn't like me taking a photo! And the vast majority seemed to be single speed step through frames. I saw maybe two or three "Mountain Bikes" and a few more "tourer/racer" types. All the shops I came across with one exception only sold the step through type and maybe a few folders. Best sight? Probably the woman riding along in the rain with her umbrella held up with a clamp on the handlebars. |
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25-04.-2008, 04:15 PM
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#2 |
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Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: OT Bicycles in Japan.
Graham Harrison wrote:
> Just got back from my first visit to Japan. 10 cities/towns in 3 weeks. > I was amazed by the amount of bicycles around particularly in cities. > Apart from two days hire car we went everywhere by PT and shanks pony and in > every city except Nagasaki which is hilly we had to keep dodging bikes. > Lots of pavement riding, wrong way riding, no lights, ignoring lights just > like people say the UK is except the volume. In Tokyo we found an > underground bike park where the steps up to the pavement had a narrow > conveyor next to it so the user pushed the bike on at the bottom and walked > up beside it (holding it up for balance) without having to push. Then > there are the multi story bike parks by stations. ><snip> > > Best sight? Probably the woman riding along in the rain with her umbrella > held up with a clamp on the handlebars. > > Have been to Japan twice. The pavement is where you are supposed to ride. I got told off a couple of times for riding on the road. In Kyoto you can rent a bike for 1000 Yen (£5)a day so I rode round all the time I was there. Much safer than riding here. Hope you had a wonderful time. Stan Cox |
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25-04.-2008, 05:26 PM
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#3 |
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Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: OT Bicycles in Japan.
On Apr 25, 4:15 pm, Stan Cox <stanDOT...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> Graham Harrison wrote: > > Just got back from my first visit to Japan. 10 cities/towns in 3 weeks. > > I was amazed by the amount of bicycles around particularly in cities. > > Apart from two days hire car we went everywhere by PT and shanks pony and in > > every city except Nagasaki which is hilly we had to keep dodging bikes. > > Lots of pavement riding, wrong way riding, no lights, ignoring lights just > > like people say the UK is except the volume. In Tokyo we found an > > underground bike park where the steps up to the pavement had a narrow > > conveyor next to it so the user pushed the bike on at the bottom and walked > > up beside it (holding it up for balance) without having to push. Then > > there are the multi story bike parks by stations. > ><snip> > > > Best sight? Probably the woman riding along in the rain with her umbrella > > held up with a clamp on the handlebars. > > Have been to Japan twice. The pavement is where you are supposed to > ride. I got told off a couple of times for riding on the road. Riding on the pavement is technically illegal (except for a few shared- useless lanes etc) but widely tolerated. In 7 years of living here and daily commuting I have never been complained at for either riding on the road or (occasionally) hopping onto the pavement. James |
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25-04.-2008, 09:16 PM
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#4 |
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Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: OT Bicycles in Japan.
On Apr 24, 4:38*pm, "Graham Harrison"
<edward.obvious.harris...@btinternet.obvious.com> wrote: > Just got back from my first visit to Japan. * 10 cities/towns in 3 weeks.. > I was amazed by the amount of bicycles around particularly in cities. My only memory of cyclists on my one trip to Tokyo was by the Imperial Gardens. There's a three lane road round the gardens which is (or was) closed to cars on Sundays and used by cyclists. As we approached a pedestrian crossing across this road we saw maybe a hundred cyclists all waiting because the lights were on green for peds although there were no pedestrians on the crossing. The lights changed and they all cycled off, and then we started to walk across the crossing - the light was against us, but there was nothing moving in sight. On the far side of the road there was a guy sitting on a chair who blew a whistle and held up his hand to tell us to stop. We retreated to the pavement and waited. Nothing came past. Then the lights changed in our favour and the guy beckoned us across. This guy's sole job seemed to be to blow his whistle at any pedestrian crossing against the lights. We then went into the Imperial Gardens. This was free, but you had to have a ticket, a token something like a domino, which you handed in on your way out. In the ticket office were three people: one to hand out tokens to people coming in, one to collect them from people going out, and one to supervise them doing this. We were amazed by the number of people we saw with trivial jobs like this - another example was a guy standing all day next to roadworks outside our hotel waving a flag at passing cars, just in case they didn't see the cones. This was a few years ago, so maybe things have changed. Rob |
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27-04.-2008, 08:38 PM
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#5 |
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Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: OT Bicycles in Japan.
<leandr42@googlemail.com> wrote in message news:0212c975-c6e2-4862-aa73-b829dc080706@34g2000hsh.googlegroups.com... On Apr 24, 4:38 pm, "Graham Harrison" <edward.obvious.harris...@btinternet.obvious.com> wrote: > Just got back from my first visit to Japan. 10 cities/towns in 3 weeks. > I was amazed by the amount of bicycles around particularly in cities. My only memory of cyclists on my one trip to Tokyo was by the Imperial Gardens. There's a three lane road round the gardens which is (or was) closed to cars on Sundays and used by cyclists. As we approached a pedestrian crossing across this road we saw maybe a hundred cyclists all waiting because the lights were on green for peds although there were no pedestrians on the crossing. The lights changed and they all cycled off, and then we started to walk across the crossing - the light was against us, but there was nothing moving in sight. On the far side of the road there was a guy sitting on a chair who blew a whistle and held up his hand to tell us to stop. We retreated to the pavement and waited. Nothing came past. Then the lights changed in our favour and the guy beckoned us across. This guy's sole job seemed to be to blow his whistle at any pedestrian crossing against the lights. We then went into the Imperial Gardens. This was free, but you had to have a ticket, a token something like a domino, which you handed in on your way out. In the ticket office were three people: one to hand out tokens to people coming in, one to collect them from people going out, and one to supervise them doing this. We were amazed by the number of people we saw with trivial jobs like this - another example was a guy standing all day next to roadworks outside our hotel waving a flag at passing cars, just in case they didn't see the cones. This was a few years ago, so maybe things have changed. Rob Hasn't changed. Almost every car park has a man outside to stop pedestrians while the car enters/exits; building sites have men outside waving battons and blowing whistles to warn you something is going on. Not universal but widespread. Converseley I saw some work being undertaken on the railway where the adjacent track was being used by trains operating (apparently) at normal line speed. In the UK they would either shut the whole railway or (less likely) impose a drastic speed limit on the adjacent line(s). |
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