busypavements.com

it's taken me a while but I've gotten around to writing a piece about one of the most common sights in japan: the bike park. they take all shapes, from highly ordered multi-storeyed affairs to bikes being strewn everywhere in a random and usually dangerous mess (my mum had a bad trip over one during her last visit).

there is always one beside a train station. there's good money to be made as well - when we lived in taishi I used to pay 200 yen for the pleasure of parking my bike (if I was going out on the lash I missed the last bus) in the underground bike park. yes, a custom made underground park only for bikes with travelator and two staff. all this, of course, is bliss for a cycling enthusiast, but it's just normal here. people use it, it's a thriving business, it works. but then people cycle here and the weather permits it.

the business of collecting illegally parked bikes is also a profitable one for the local governments and infact in quieter suburbs you have more chance of being nabbed than if you do it downtown. downtown though is a completely different matter. it is just teeming with bikes (there are approximately 1 bike per person of working age in japan) and on a typical day the main thoroughfare in osaka, the midosuji (or argyle street to you and me), is lined with parked bikes taking up half the pavement space, just waiting to be tripped over.

ah! note to self - register bike. spot checks are random and often due to the theft problems and I've a number of colleagues who have been stopped at night. you have to show identification and your police registration documents or a reciept for the bike. and knowing my luck.....