Our group photo in Aling P

We love Aling P. We found our old group photo pasted in their board when we rode there yesterday. Guys, sinong nag print at nagbigay ng photo sa kanila? Super thank you, 🙂

Manila to Davao on a Folding Bike

My work has taken me to (almost) every major city in the Philippines.

From as far North as Aparri to as far South as General Santos City. Being a member of the United Folding Bikers group, I feel it as an obligation to promote cycling as an alternative form of personal transport, not only because I have loved cycling all my life but the sheer joy of riding has made my work and my cycling passion work together.

A typical 10am Davao flight for me would be something like this…

Leave the house at about 7am and head to NAIA 3 Terminal, which would take me about a little under two (2) hours (I used to take the MRT, before it has turned into the hopeless mode of transport that it is now), get to the to Arrival gate (theres an entrance and access to the Departure area on the rightmost part of the building so you don’t have to bike up the Departure ramp).

Then I fold and pack my bike, amidst all the amazement and bewilderment of passers-by, head straight to the bathroom (just below the escalator after the entrance), wash the face and extremities and go up to the departure area on the 2nd floor, check in my bike and head off to the terminal area. First part done.

Then I basically get on board, fly and land in Davao.

Then I wait for the luggage carousel to spit out my bike, bring it outside and unpack my bike, reinflate the tires with my Dahon Postpump, roll up my Dahon travel bag and just ride to the hotel, again amidst the oohs and aahs of all the people waiting for taxicabs on the curb. I’m in the hotel in about 10 minutes.

I will gladly do this for all my travels in exchange of this…

Bicycle culture in Japan: Everybody rides

An office lady riding her “mamachari” (granny bike) up a slight incline. She wears a face mask because of pollen and other allergens that abound in the springtime. Osaka, Japan.

I was fortunate enough to go to Japan for six days in April. It was right in the middle of cherry blossom season, but it was also right in the middle of springtime – which, as it happens, is perfect weather to ride a jitensha, or bicycle.

Our first stop of the trip was Osaka. The third largest Japanese city by population, it is also home to two of the largest bicycle component companies around: electronics firm Cat Eye, and drivetrain colossus Shimano. It’s also immediately apparent that they love their bicycles here.

A row of folding bikes parked along an Osaka sidewalk at midnight. Osaka, Japan.

B3F of Bicqlo in Shinjuku is home to a multitude of “mamachari” bicycles. In total, bicycles took up 1/4 of the retail floor space. Tokyo, Japan.

Folding bicycle maker Dahon also has floor space at Bicqlo’s B3F area. Tokyo, Japan.

JUST RIDE AS YOU ARE

Everybody rides here, and by “everybody” I mean “adults.” It is not only the young and adolescents that ride, but also salarymen and office ladies. Most of them ride on mamachari or “granny bikes,” characterized by a hefty step-through frame, swept-back handlebars, a large rear kickstand, and the signature front basket. Mamachari are built more for reliability and personal transport than outright speed. I did see my share of folding bikes and small-wheeled mini velos, though, as these petite urban commuting machines steadily grow in popularity.

A salaryman riding another “mamachari” (granny bike) around a corner. Tokyo, Japan.

A man riding on the sidewalk just outside the Imperial Palace Gardens – the residence of the Japanese emperor and his family. Tokyo, Japan.

Safety advocates will notice one trait most Japanese riders share with their Dutch counterparts: no helmets. This is in stark contrast to most Western countries, which strongly advocate helmet use while riding. Many Japanese riders also don’t make use of any special cycling-specific clothing. They can get on the saddle in three-piece suits and office attire, no doubt helped along by the spring season’s temperature range (8-16 degrees Celsius).

A construction worker and a white-collar salaryman – both riding bicycles. When was the last time you saw this in the Philippines? Tokyo, Japan.

A spandex-clad cyclist, decked out in road shoes for clipless pedals and a helmet, with his road bike parked on the side while checking his phone in front of the Imperial Palace Gardens pedestrian crossing. These guys are more the exception than the rule here. Tokyo, Japan.

WHAT STIGMA?

Jitensha are class-less vehicles in Japan. There is no stigma attached to people making their merry way around the city on a bicycle, unlike in the Philippines where bike riders tend to be treated like second-class citizens, and where bike commuting is attributed to construction workers and manual laborers. The closest automotive equivalent of the “class-less” vehicle is the 1959-2003 BMC/Austin Mini, driven by both celebrities and plebeians and a reasonably affordable family car. However, the BMW-reborn Mini has since morphed into a style-led plaything for a rich, moneyed person and one passenger.

Many of Osaka’s sidewalks have guard rails separating pedestrians from vehicular traffic. It is not unusual to see bicycles of all shapes and sizes locked and chained to them.

A row of bicycles parked on the sidewalk right in front of a “Don Quijote” discount store at midnight. Osaka, Japan.

A lone flat-handlebar hybrid bicycle parked and locked to the sidewalk guard rail at midnight. Osaka, Japan.

You may have heard of Carlos Celdran’s recent altercation with the security agency of a certain mall in Ermita. Said agency so vehemently opposed Celdran parking and locking his bike in front of the mall that they essentially “detained” it with handcuffs. You will not see that kind of power-tripping shenanigans in Japan. The Westin Osaka is a swanky hotel, but there were three mamachari parked on the sidewalk right in front of its parking entrance. No harrassment, no shooing, no power-tripping, nobody thinking that the bicycles were eyesores.

Three “mamachari” parked right in front of the Westin Osaka’s parking entrance sidewalk. Admittedly not one of my best photos, but the point is obvious here: bicycles are respected and not looked down upon. Osaka, Japan.

Bicycle parking just outside the pedestrian underpass across the Grand Front Osaka mall. Osaka, Japan.

SHARING THE ASPHALT AND PAVEMENTS

In Osaka, Akashi, Kyoto and Kobe, four cities of Japan’s Kansai region, riders tend to wheel along on the sidewalks and use pedestrian crossings more frequently than they use the roads’ travel lanes. By comparison, riders in Tokyo and the Kanto Plain more frequently ride on the same travel lanes as motorized traffic does.

A “bicycle crossing” running parallel to a pedestrian crossing at an intersection in Odaiba. The hiragana characters read “jitensha” – the Japanese word for “bicycle.” Tokyo, Japan.

Plain to see, also, is that bicycle lanes and other infrastructure aren’t as widespread in these cities as the bicycle-centric culture would have you believe. Sure, there are bicycle lanes and crossings, but many of them share space with pedestrian traffic. In Tokyo’s Asakusa area, the sidewalks just off the Kaminarimon (“Thunder Gate”) are usually packed with pedestrians, but cyclists patiently crawl and tiptoe along at the same pace to get to where they have to go. Once the congestion opens up, they get back up to speed.

A segregated bicycle lane in the city. Notice that part of the sidewalk was used for this purpose. Tokyo, Japan.

A cyclist pedaling through a pedestrian lane in Asakusa, near the Kaminarimon (“Thunder Gate”). Tokyo, Japan.

All of this may seem like a recipe for danger, but the overwhelming majority of Japanese drivers are so courteous and polite that cyclists usually aren’t in any peril, even while they ride alongside large vehicles and sightseeing buses. For the Japanese, the concepts of discipline in transit, road safety and keeping traffic flowing are so deeply ingrained into their heads that it is almost second nature. Even while climbing and descending the tight, twisting mountain passes of Hakone, our tourist bus’ driver kept a measured pace — even decelerating almost to a complete stop at blind corners to make sure that any traffic on the opposite lane isn’t impeded by the huge size of the vehicle.

A bicycle commuter riding on the travel lane for motorized vehicles. There is real cooperation between drivers and cyclists here, neither party harassing the other and respecting each other’s journey. Tokyo, Japan.

One of the big reasons why the standard of driving is so high in Japan (and consequently, why cycling on travel lanes is very safe) is because it’s very tough to begin with, and also very expensive. An English-speaking person aiming to get a Japanese driver’s license would have to expect to pay around JPY400,000 for driving school and tests. Moreover, possessing a license in another country doesn’t necessarily mean that a certain driver can already pass the Japanese regulations with flying colors. Most applicants have to take the tests repeatedly in order to pass.

Lots of failure and expense needed to successfully obtain that Japanese driver’s license – so stringent are the requirements. And yet, Japanese drivers are some of the most courteous. Photo courtesy of Gakuran.com.

While bicycle commuting in Japanese cities is very safe even without helmets and hand signals, there are explicit limits. Drivers are served well by how steadily and smoothly bike commuters handle their machines – I never saw any cyclists wobbling and wavering. Japan is well-known for its extensive network of elevated high-speed highways; bicycles are expressly forbidden there and along certain main thoroughfares. Alternatively, for longer travels, cyclists can make use of dedicated cycle paths. Our own Byron Villegas once messaged me about a cycle path linking Osaka to Kyoto, which would take a total distance of 50 km to pedal. As far as ride distances go, that’s not bad for a reasonably fit cyclist.

A man on his bike resting at the deck by the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Akashi, Japan.

WHERE DO THEY BUY BICYCLES?

If you’re like most Japanese and all you need is a mamachari, you can easily get one in the mall – and you will be absolutely spoiled for choice. Bicqlo, a collaboration between apparel chain Uniqlo and electronics retailer Bic Camera, has five above-ground floors and three basement floors of space in busy Shinjuku. The very bottom of the basement has a quarter of its retail floor space for bicycles, tools and accessories.

Various bicycles for sale at the main entrance of the big discount store Don Quijote. Osaka, Japan.

Walking around Osaka, the large branch of the discount store franchise Don Quijote also carries various mamachari, flat-handlebar hybrid bikes and small-wheeled mini velos and folding bikes. In Kobe and Akashi, you can find Cycle Base Asahi, and the branches our tour bus passed mostly had stocks  upon stocks of mamachari as well.

The Y’s Road “custom” bike shop in Shinjuku. Tokyo, Japan.

The Japanese do have their respective local bike shops (LBS) dedicated to enthusiasts, such as Y’s Road in Shinjuku. There are actually two Y’s Road bike shops separated by a single street; you cross it to get to the other one. The one I visited was the “custom” bike shop, which carried stocks of road bike parts and components such as wheelsets, drivetrains, saddles, stems and handlebars.

Framesets and forks at Y’s Road Shinjuku. Tokyo, Japan.

A clear display shelf at Y’s Road full of Shimano groupset components. Note the top-end Dura-Ace groupset selling for JPY215,000. (I have a feeling I should not have taken this photo, but I didn’t take notice of the sign in yellow at the top at the time. Oops.) Tokyo, Japan.

Right next to it was the Campagnolo display shelf – full of groupset and drivetrain exotica from Vicenza, Italy. Tokyo, Japan.

A huge collection of wheelsets at Y’s Road, some of which were being sold at a discount. Tokyo, Japan.

JITENSHA WA SUBARASHII ~ BICYCLES ARE WONDERFUL

Thanks for reading and I hope you were able to live the Japanese bicycling life vicariously through my ramblings.

I will finish this post off with more photos of regular Japanese folk just enjoying their bicycles.

Some of the bicycles on sale at Bicqlo even had electric-assist drivetrains. Tokyo, Japan.

A man resting on a bench in the shade with his bicycle, at Odaiba Marine Park. Tokyo, Japan.

Two Lycra-clad dismounted road bike riders entering the main gate of Osaka Castle. Osaka, Japan.

An elderly man pedaling right under the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Akashi, Japan.

Bicycle parking at Odaiba at night. Odaiba has such wide parkways and non-vehicular thoroughfares that using a bicycle to get around makes so much sense. Tokyo, Japan.

An elderly lady and her “mamachari” on the seaside deck just under the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Akashi, Japan.

One of the few drop-bar road bikes I saw in Tokyo, ridden by a bike commuter in pants, button-down shirt and messenger bag. Tokyo, Japan.

A couple pedaling their bicycles along the coast of Odaiba Marine Park. Tokyo, Japan.