I lived in Japan six years ago and it opened my eyes up to motorcycles in a big way. Now that I've been back for three weeks on a vacation (I fly back DC-wards on Tuesday) here are some things I've noticed:
Motorcycles are treated like real vehicles here, even the little ones. Scooters also outnumber shifter-type bikes (except maybe Cubs [which count as a real bike IMO and not a scooter]) by a fair amount, at least in dense urban zones.
Speaking of the little bikes, when I say little I do mean 125ccs and below - in the city here dailying a Cub, Ape, Grom, or other bantamweight is totally viable as speed limits are low, corners are tight, and gas is pricey
Asphalt is wildly variable in quality and there definitely are gravel roads aplenty when you get a bit further out (especially in rural zones), so 250cc dual sports are really popular both as off roaders and also city commuters. This does a lot to explain the road biased nature of these bikes that USA and AUS based dualie nerds love to gripe about
Fat tire bikes like the TW and VanVan are really popular and actually the most customized I've yet seen as a model, no joke every single one has something done to it
I have indeed seen bosozoku bikes before here and they're really funny until you've been forced to listen to them bouncing off their rev limiters for a few minutes
There are 4 hundred cc versions of many bikes that might be 5 or 6 hundred abroad, due to the tiered learning license system - the most notably recent I've seen was a CB400X
Cruisers are popular here, albeit not the bike-defining category they are in the states. I've seen plenty of both metric and Harley, and saw one vintage Indian six years ago. Harleys tend to be Sportsters or the big twin roadsters (of any vintage, too - have definitely seen shovelheads and panheads), but especially near highways you will see the occasional tourer as well.
The closer to the highways you get, the bigger the bikes you will see - huge bikes are rare in the cities unless people are showing off (saw a Ducati Diavel in Shibuya, for example), but at a truck stop in the major artery between Tokyo and Osaka you may see everything between a Ninja 250 and a VMax. Have even seen a R1100RT and R1200GS around.
The bike I want the most that I've seen here but is unavailable in the states? Probably the Honda VTR250 with the Ducati style trellis frame. There are plenty other bikes here I'd also gun for, mind you, but those are almost all rare and/or fiddly while the VTR is simple and looks like really good fun.
That little Motocompo moped that folds into a brief case? When I lived here before there was someone in my town who dailied one
Sadly I am traveling with my brother who has little to no interest in bikes, so I have not gotten to ride any this trip, but I do hope to tour around the country on a rental in the future! I think I'd gun for a DRZ400 or really any good dual sport under 400cc, as those are all viable on the highways here (65 mph, woo!) while also being a good bike for small, poorly maintained roads.
If anyone has any other odd questions I'll see what I can find for answers but tbh these are all my musings as a tourist or memories from when I was 18, so I'm not an expert on the local scene nor culture!
Motorcycles are treated like real vehicles here, even the little ones. Scooters also outnumber shifter-type bikes (except maybe Cubs [which count as a real bike IMO and not a scooter]) by a fair amount, at least in dense urban zones.
Speaking of the little bikes, when I say little I do mean 125ccs and below - in the city here dailying a Cub, Ape, Grom, or other bantamweight is totally viable as speed limits are low, corners are tight, and gas is pricey
Asphalt is wildly variable in quality and there definitely are gravel roads aplenty when you get a bit further out (especially in rural zones), so 250cc dual sports are really popular both as off roaders and also city commuters. This does a lot to explain the road biased nature of these bikes that USA and AUS based dualie nerds love to gripe about
Fat tire bikes like the TW and VanVan are really popular and actually the most customized I've yet seen as a model, no joke every single one has something done to it
I have indeed seen bosozoku bikes before here and they're really funny until you've been forced to listen to them bouncing off their rev limiters for a few minutes
There are 4 hundred cc versions of many bikes that might be 5 or 6 hundred abroad, due to the tiered learning license system - the most notably recent I've seen was a CB400X
Cruisers are popular here, albeit not the bike-defining category they are in the states. I've seen plenty of both metric and Harley, and saw one vintage Indian six years ago. Harleys tend to be Sportsters or the big twin roadsters (of any vintage, too - have definitely seen shovelheads and panheads), but especially near highways you will see the occasional tourer as well.
The closer to the highways you get, the bigger the bikes you will see - huge bikes are rare in the cities unless people are showing off (saw a Ducati Diavel in Shibuya, for example), but at a truck stop in the major artery between Tokyo and Osaka you may see everything between a Ninja 250 and a VMax. Have even seen a R1100RT and R1200GS around.
The bike I want the most that I've seen here but is unavailable in the states? Probably the Honda VTR250 with the Ducati style trellis frame. There are plenty other bikes here I'd also gun for, mind you, but those are almost all rare and/or fiddly while the VTR is simple and looks like really good fun.
That little Motocompo moped that folds into a brief case? When I lived here before there was someone in my town who dailied one
Sadly I am traveling with my brother who has little to no interest in bikes, so I have not gotten to ride any this trip, but I do hope to tour around the country on a rental in the future! I think I'd gun for a DRZ400 or really any good dual sport under 400cc, as those are all viable on the highways here (65 mph, woo!) while also being a good bike for small, poorly maintained roads.
If anyone has any other odd questions I'll see what I can find for answers but tbh these are all my musings as a tourist or memories from when I was 18, so I'm not an expert on the local scene nor culture!
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