My Scooter in Japan

I lived in Japan from 1989 to 1992 in Tsuru City in Yamanashi prefecture west of Tokyo. Mt. Fuji stood between my prefecture and Tokyo. 

It was not a scooter drive from my home to Tokyo. By train, it was around two hours as distance from Fuji to Tokyo was 100 kilometers. Neither of the two scooters I owned could really go over 45 kms an hour. And you never knew which weather conditions you might ride in. It could easily rain on any given day. And the early sunset by 7 every day could mean a colder ride later on.

I used to take the train for two hours on Chuo Line from Shinjuku to Otsuki, Yamanashi and transfer to the expensive Fuji-kyu Line. My home in Tsuru was about 30 minutes from Otsuki. All of 1989 I walked or took train or bus. But my 1990, I felt the walk to my closest train station which was 30 minutes from my apartment just didn't cut it. The above picture shows Shinjuku which is a major downtown for the city and the highway and railways extend west to Mt. Fuji and around the right of it to Yamanashi prefecture. 

The main school I taught at was 20 or so minutes away from my apartment. I taught at another school in another town which entailed walking 30 minutes away to Yamura train station, travelling for 30 minutes by train to Kitafuji at the base of Mt. Fuji and walking 20 minutes to work. Luckily, a teacher drove me home any day I worked out of town. However, that did not happen immediately. So a commute twice a week could be over 2 hours long.

I didn't mind walking as it is a good way to get to know your area but two hours commuting for work is tough. Part of the problem was that my apartment was on the mountain beside Tsuru University. Brand new and with amenities, I really did well with it. And location-wise beside the university and full furnished was great. But it was 30 minutes walking to either rail station. The university was halfway between them. In 2004, they actually built a station five minutes from my apartment. Would have loved that.

Above, in Kofu with fellow travellers from around the world. Me in the middle. Think this is an instant of where I drove to Otsuki with the scooter and then train on JR line.

For those of you who ask what I didn't have a bike. The answer is I did. I was donated a bike which was functional and had poor brakes that I had to fix. This was after I soared down a mountain and into a rice patty. Once the brakes were fixed, I gave it another try and a few days later, while I stopped on a sidewalk with no curbs, I was hit by a young driver who was not looking and tossed over the car and my my bike was wiped out. My fellow teachers were convinced I must have been in the wrong because "you don't know Japanese roads."

There was some mumbled apologies from staff when a huge gift basket of various coffees arrived at the school along with a confession that the driver was on the wrong side of the road, had been stopped at a shop and drove off without looking and hit me. One teacher said they are probably grateful that as scraped up as I was and with a damaged bike, I didn't file a police report. I didn't even think to do so. However, it was last time I ever road a bike in Japan. It could be that the bike was just jinxed as I never again had a road issue save for a speeding ticket on my scooter returning from Kofu. It was quashed from a faulty reading. My scooter was not able to do the speed they said I was doing. I was told most Japanese would pay the ticket but I went in and made my argument and it turned out the machine was wrong.

By 1990, despite discouragement from my school, I went and got my Japanese driver's licence and purchased a 1984 Honda scooter. I didn't get an International driver's licence. Always managed to go the hard way but I got a Japanese one. No one said I couldn't so I did it. I bought my used scooter from a Tsuru dealership. Lots of students would have a scooter for three or four years at the university and would sell them so there was always a supply. I bought a helmet as well. The helmet was blue, the scooter was red. I loved that scooter.

No longer did I take the train to work twice a week. I drove my scooter which took about 30 minutes from home. I still walked quite a bit as I went to Tokyo nearly every other weekend and going to Shinjuku or Rappongi and other places could amount to 20,000 steps and lots of stairs. What I did differently though was to take my scooter to Otsuki on the main Japan Rail line thereby avoiding the expensive private Fuji-Kyu line that took me home.

Least you think that theft doesn't happen in Japan, I returned home from a trip to Tokyo and got off the train in Otsuki and went to the bike and scooter parking area and my scooter was stolen. I had to take last train home. I reported the theft to the police and my staff said I would likely never see again. I waited a week and no report so I went shopping for a new scooter and got myself a Yamaha Champ, a 1989 scooter. It has storage inside the seat for helmet. My last scooter had a place to lock my helmet to but since the scooter was stolen, I lost both. I bought a new helmet.

I was pretty pleased because I was fairly dependent on the scooter for work and social life. I was teaching businessmen and tutoring university students as well as my regular job. It entailed at least travelling a half hour to work and then socializing as you see in the picture above. The business owner wished more of his staff was conservational in English for customers. My Champ was was was maybe only a few kilometers faster but I loved it.

Three weeks later I got a call from the police. They had found my scooter and helmet. I expected it to be trashed but when I arrived the thieves had only peeled back some plastic and hotwired it. So now I had two scooters. Luckily, I was able to sell me older scooter to a student at  the university for a shade lower than what I bought it for and she loved it.

So I was back in business and able to commute to work, tutor and save time and money by going to the main rail line when going to Kofu or Tokyo. There was maybe only a handful of days where snow fell that I could not ride the scooter. And I had raincoat for the rainy season and a heavier leather jacket for when it was colder.

One thing to point out is that Japanese drive on opposite side of the road like the British. They have steering wheels on cars and trucks on right. The acceleration for motorbikes is the opposite side handlebar as well. I got used to pretty quickly but when travelling home and tired, I had to get used to North American left hand drive.

A very few of my colleagues who were in multiple schools had to have cars and an international driver's licence. I was the only one who got a Japanese licence and a scooter. One of the teacher colleagues from Britain had this tiny four seat car and we took a road trip to Osaka and stayed in a capsule hotel and had a blast.

I drove to Kofu a few times which was about an hour away and maybe 50 kms. Tokyo at 100 kms was possible but it would be 2 or 3 hours one on windy roads and tunnels. Even to Kofu was through tunnels. And they are scary and loud. I once walked back from Kofu because the trains stopped running. It can take 9 hours walking and that didn't scare me. The tunnels scared me. I actually had police pick me up in the tunnel and take me to Otsuki where I caught a taxi the rest of the way home. I never did that again. In more recent years there is now an alternative and safer walking route that avoids those tunnel for both walking and scooters. Would have loved that when I was there.

I have thought about a scooter in Winnipeg. The prices for buying them are higher, insurance is not terrible but shorter season of use and it is dangerous sharing roads with cars. Still, I'd love to have one again.