Wonderful things about Japan - Episode 6 - Bicycle friendliness

Brisbane is supposedly a bicycle friendly city. They've put in a few bicycle lanes, which are mostly frequented mostly by lycra wearers? Japanese cities like Takatsuki are genuinely bicycle friendly. Firstly, nobody wears lycra. People wear whatever clothes they are planning on wearing at their destination. This makes cycling practical.

Then there is the infrastructure. There is dedicated bicycle parking near the station/shopping centres, free for the first 3 hours.

There is undercover parking dedicated to bicycles. I love parking my bike there. It is staffed exclusively by men almost at retirement age, and they are unfailingly friendly. A few of them know my bike, and frequently, at the end of a day, before I've handed over my ticket, one of them is already jogging off to fetch it. It costs $2 a day, and if you go outside of peak (park after 9:30, collect before 4:30), they give you a $1 refund. If I come by myself, they always ask where my husband is.

However, if you just need to duck into a shop, it's normal to park in front of the shop, ignoring any no bikes signs.

If you need to walk your bike up a steep slope, for example, out of the underground bike parking, or to pass over or under the railway line, there is a mini bike escalator, so you can put on your brakes, and just walk alongside the bike.

There are bikes everywhere. This means that motorists are on the lookout for bikes, and are used to sharing the road. Need I say more?