Hiroo station, our subway stop, is like a bicycle breeding ground. People ride their bikes to the station to go to work, shop or go to the Arisugawa park.
The problem is, bikes aren’t officially allowed near the station. There are plenty of scary signs, which I, and the Japanese, routinely ignore.
But, you can’t park your bike illegally without consequences. Every so often, the bike police come along with very stern, pre-printed notes, which they staple to the handlebars of all the illegally parked bikes. As far as I can tell, people return to their bikes and rip off the tickets, feel momentarily guilty and then go on their merry way. The next day, the same bikes are parked there again.
In some way, it’s an ideal situation. The bike police have done their job and the offenders have felt (momentarily) guilty. Nothing changes, but everyone is mostly happy. If that’s not a metaphor for modern Japan, I don’t know what is.
back at my place it wasn’t even the bike police. just a gang of very old men with walking canes.
Posted by: patrick at February 14, 2005 11:21 AM