[sarasi]

I can't imagine why people in the US say not to ride a bike in Japan- maybe if they were American the "wrong side of the road" thing made it harder for them? I am from a country which drives on the left, so don't have that issue, but it's true that there are a lot of people with really poor road sense about. I came very close to colliding a few weeks ago with an older lady who came flying around the corner on the wrong side of the road out of a blind intersection (in the suburbs of Tokyo there are often no sidewalks, the roads are very narrow, and the walls of houses/properties often block the view of what is around the corner). We managed to scream to a stop with our wheels about 2cm from each other- she even had a small kid on the back of her bike, but was that careless, and this kind of thing happens all the time.

The number of people who ride while sending emails from their cellphone or talking on them, weaving all over the place as they do, has to be seen to believed.

Still though, as long as you are careful it is a great way to get around. Ride defensively.

Do not under any circumstances ride your bicycle if you have been drinking- I know several foreigners who were seriously injured while riding their bikes on the way back from the bars- among the injuries were fractured eye sockets, broken noses, all front teeth smashed, and one guy with a serious brain injury who needed extensive rehabilitation.