One of the things we as foreigners notice here in Japan, is the huge number of people who use bicycles. For work, school and generally getting around quickly without wasting time and energy walking, I can personally say I have really taken to the idea of cycling around everywhere. It took me 2 years to get my first bicycle which I know, is quite a long time. I just couldn’t do it..when I say “it” I mean getting a “mama-chari” (old womans’s bicycle) with a basket and a measly 3 gears – it just wasn’t cool enough. I know, I could have bought a sleek road racer or 15 speed all-terrain mountain bike, but I wasn’t that serious about riding. I could see the benefits but money back then was for beer and courting. Plus, the idea of owning one of these very ‘uncool’ looking pavement hoggers wasn’t going to match my image which at time, I believed was “cool”. (What happens when you’re 22 and have discovered gel and wax).
Anyway, it took me while to get the ‘bike thing’ into my head and now I can’t do without one. In fact I have just ordered a very cool, brand new city cruiser that folds up and weighs under 13kgs.
During my transition from ‘city stroller’ to ‘wheeled wonder’ I have noticed and encountered the dangers of riding around on the pavements (sidewalks for the non-Brits). It’s made me think deeply about the issue “who really does have the right to rule the sidewalks?”.
Most would immediately say the pedestrian and I too would agree if put on the spot. You would have to, right? I mean, in American English the word is side-WALK. In Japanese they say 歩道（ほどう / Hodó) which uses the kanji for ‘walk’ and ‘way’. There’s no mistake about it, these narrow spaces of concrete next to the road are for people to walk, run, skip or crawl home on after a good night out. They are for people, not vehicles.
But then….what about the cyclists? The roads are used for cycling in most others countries, the sidewalk reserved really only for kids before they become stable enough to use the roads. But Japan lacks bicycle lanes and due to many of the roads being so narrow there really is no way of introducing them unless huge construction is carried out. For those on expensive road bicycles, this really isn’t much of an issue as they usually have the speed and stealth to weave in and out of traffic and accelerate fast enough away at lights to get in too much difficulty. The ‘mama-chari’ users are in so many words…screwed. As a driver(yes I also have a car in Japan so I speak from experience) I don’t want to encounter too many unstable 60year olds with baskets full of fruit and veg, wobbling in and out of traffic on busy roads. Considering drivers bear responsibility for any accidents involving cyclists whether in the wrong or not, they would much rather not have to deal with an added obstacle on the way to and from work. They would rather the ‘mama-chari-es’ stayed off the road.
This makes the argument one which can never really be concluded…or can it?
I believe pedestrians have the right of way on the sidewalks but some compromise is needed. There are ‘selfish’ walkers who don’t help the situation at all. These people walk selfishly, right down the middle of the sidewalk expecting everybody and everything to move out of his majesty’s way when he comes pounding down the street. If this guy sees a cyclist, he is likely to tense up the shoulders and angle himself in the most obstructive way hoping to nudge the cyclist into the side rail. Even if those coming towards him are people, he is likely to do the same.
But, there are also selfish cyclists, usually the younger generation or dare I say it, the older! Darth Vader in her black visor, long black gloves, dark glasses(under the visor) and a sun umbrella attached to the handlebars, in an attempt to cover every single possible square millimeter of exposed skin for fear of the deadly sun, comes speeding down the sidewalk like a runaway train. She has two brakes but rides as if she has neither. She uses her hands for steering…..STRAIGHT down the sidewalk, never turning or slowing down and her left thumb for rasping the bell continuously as if to say “if you don’t move I’m gonna ride right over you”. I got thumped in the back one day by one of these ‘grim reapers’, she must have hit me at over 20kms an hour – bloody hurt. I turned around in shock only to have the cloaked figure ‘tut’ at me with the loudest ‘tutting’ sound I’ve ever had the displeasure to hear, as if I had intentionally obstructed her causing her to lose momentum. I had an umbrella at the time and it took a lot will power not to use it as a javelin as she tried to speed away.
So in summary I think the issues we have with sharing the pavement or sidewalk, are because of ‘selfish cyclists’ and ‘selfish walkers’. As a pedestrian I encounter both and have issues with both. As a cyclist, the same (there are times other riders can be positively aggressive in there attitude towards other cyclists). The sidewalks maybe a little narrow but I believe there’s room for the mama-chari and the walker to live in harmony. All it takes is courtesy, consideration and manners on both sides and in the case there is a little bump or knock, an apology goes a long way.
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