Oita Bike-Riding Tips

As you may know, I recently acquired a bike. I've been riding it around a bit, and I'd like to share some tips of the road with you that I've picked up along the way.

First off, I should say that all of us international students were given a lecture on the proper rules of the road when riding a bicycle. It was your usual stuff: ride with traffic, be careful when crossing the road at intersections, don't ride the wrong way down a one-way street, etc. Of course, this being Japan, everyone courteously follows these rules, hyper-aware of the constantly shifting social environment. Yeah, and I'm fluent in Japanese.

The first thing you learn in Japan, whether bike riding or even walking, is that no one will see you, ever. Sitting still, these people will stare at you all day long, whether you want them to or not. On the road, however, where you desperately want to be noticed, they never do. Example: Even as I'm diving into a bush to avoid getting flattened by an old man on a very wobbly bike, he takes no notice. And you better believe this applies to motorists too. How bad is it? One of the Americans here got hit by a car the other week. While walking in a PARKING LOT.

So, no one is looking, everyone just tooling around on their bike with their head in the clouds. On the sidewalk. Or on the wrong side of the road. I try to follow the rules. I ride with traffic and off the sidewalk. Bikes are vehicles, hence they belong in the road. But here comes Johnny School Uniform on the wrong side of the road on a head-on collision with me. We both can't occupy the same narrow shoulder, and because he doesn't even see me I end up swinging out into traffic to avoid getting my chocolate in his peanut-butter, so to speak.

This is bad enough, to not be seen by bicyclists, but when cars refuse to see me as well, that's just dangerous. Note: if a car is pulling out of a parking lot or side-street, they will not consider your ass when deciding the best time to pull out. They will gauge their speed on the approach of other cars, but not by you. He pulls out, you either stop or table-top over his anime character-printed hood. Hope you've got your national health insurance all squared away. And word to the wise: that bike path down by the river, that impossibly narrow one with no shoulder and naught but a hill on either side? Yeah, that's a road and here comes a Daihatsu. Good-bye.

Lastly, be sure to have your bike licensed, so the cops know exactly which yakuza gang has stolen your bike, and from whom to collect the kick-back.

Happy cycling!

Comments

[rupan777]

Good to hear that the Tokyo way of driving has spread to other parts of the country. ;)