Bikes are all over the place here in Japan.

It’s very convenient to have one and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a job teaching at a school close to your home so you can just bike there in ten minutes or so.

The kind of bikes you’re looking at are standard in Japan but I have a cool mountain bike and you can too if you live here because bike shops are everywhere so buying a nice bike to suit your taste will be an easy task.

When I first bought a bike in Japan the shop keeper asked me if I want to pay an extra five dollars (500 yen) for insurance. I asked my wife, what for? She said that if someone steals your bike the police will go out and look for it but if you don’t have the insurance, they won’t look. Thought that was pretty bizarre.

Bizarre or not, Japan is still my little paradise.