Have you ever stolen a bike in Japan?

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Police officer in hot water for taking abandoned bicycle from police station

A 36-year-old senior police officer who initially escaped charges after taking an abandoned bicycle home from a police station faces a fresh investigation on suspicion of theft, it has been learned. The Kanagawa Prefectural Police officer, whose name has been withheld, reportedly took home an abandoned bicycle that was being stored at a police station in Yokohama...The senior officer reportedly explained his actions, saying, "(The bicycle) was going to be disposed of and I thought it was a waste. I took it home on about Oct. 19"...more...

See also: Another day, another stolen bike

[Pachipro]

I stole a bike one night at a train station out in the far suburbs after missing my last train and the train stopping about 10km from my own train station. Since the last stop was near Atsugi Navy base no cab would stop for me. After more than an hour of all cabs refusing to stop for me I stole an unlocked bicycle with no name on it and rode it home.

I was stopped a while later while riding it one night without the light on. They checked the registration number and luckily it was not reported stolen nor was it registered. Man was I relieved as I would've been arrested. I ended up registering it myself later on and keeping it. I preferred walking while in Japan, but I soon came to know just how convenient a bicycle really is although it is quite difficult to ride one in the rain while holding an umbrella!

If interested you can read the full story here.

[sonofsam]

I accidently stole a bike the other day. It was unlocked and looked exactly like mine. I only noticed on the ride home that it didn't have a light on top of the handle bars so I tried the lock, and sure enough I couldn't unlock it! I left the bike several blocks from the station. I felt pretty sheepish.

[Mr Doricar]

I stole on from Kawazaki docks after breaking my rental car and needing food so i stole one from outside a factory looking place and rode to the Daily Y for some sustenance. I left it there though so I hope it was found again1

[omae mona]

Question for the unwilling bike thieves who posted above: is there a reason you didn't put the bicycle back where you got it?

[Mr Doricar]

Of course! You should never return to the scene of the crime! Rule 1 for Gaijin Bicycle Thiefs

[Taro Toporific]

[omae mona]

[SIZE="5"]Guilty of 'Bicyling While Gaijin'[/SIZE]

Via Debito.org


GOOD COP, BORED COP?
[url=http://www.fukuoka-now.com/features/article_display.php?fn_code=482112]Fukuoka Now Magazine, Feb 2007, Dodesho Column,
by Max
...Apparently, either the bike or the gaijin was suspicious,

Almost certainly, the bike was registered in the original owners name, so to the cops, it sure looks like it was stolen. These 30-minute detentions can be avoided by registering the bicycle with your friendly local koban (or bike shop) when you purchase it. If there's confusion about who owns the bike, you can sort it out at registration time, rather than in the middle of the night when the cops pull you over. If his bike were registered, this guy would have been let go instantly (probably with an apology) after they radioed his info into the station.

That said, I'm not making excuses about them pulling him over in the first place.

[Greji]

That said, I'm not making excuses about them pulling him over in the first place.

Whatta ya mean excuses OM? He was a FG wasn't he? No excuses needed. Aren't you aware that wearing a gaijin mug in public is now a major offense! Give Blinky a call, he'll straighten you right out!

[omae mona]

Whatta ya mean excuses OM? He was a FG wasn't he? No excuses needed. Aren't you aware that wearing a gaijin mug in public is now a major offense! Give Blinky a call, he'll straighten you right out!

All you gotta do is purchase a locally produced bicycle helmet and you can avoid this problem. Especially if you keep a few handy and rotate them to avoid detection. Here's my collection:

[Oradea]

My friend left me a bike, how do i re-register it, now shes off back home?

[GomiGirl]

My friend left me a bike, how do i re-register it, now shes off back home?

Well how we have done it in the past is to get a photocopy of her Gaijin card and get her to write a note on the paper to say that she sold it/gave it to you and sign it.

You need to go to the local koban and they take all the details including the letter from your friend. They will give you a form (not sure of the name) but it is a special form that all bike shops will need for re-registration. They put on a new number. It will cost you about 1,000 if memory serves.

it is a bit of mucking around but worth it as there are some nasty issues if you get accused of stealing a bike.

[dimwit]

My guess is that the entire point of making bicycle transfers as difficult and bureaucratic as possible is to try to convince people to buy new ones or at least go through a bike shop. Can you say shakken?

[omae mona]

My guess is that the entire point of making bicycle transfers as difficult and bureaucratic as possible is to try to convince people to buy new ones or at least go through a bike shop. Can you say shakken?

I think I could cover bicycle registration costs for every single member of FG for the same amount of cash I paid for shaken on my 4-year old car last month.

[dimwit]

I think I could cover bicycle registration costs for every single member of FG for the same amount of cash I paid for shaken on my 4-year old car last month.

Agreed. I'm not thinking about the money, but rather the sheer annoyance.

[Taro Toporific]

I think I could cover bicycle registration costs for every single member of FG for the same amount of cash I paid for shaken on my 4-year old car last month.

Oh, I feel the pain. At the 4 or 5 year range, getting a shaken at the dealer can cost 400,000yen. My dealer, Yanase, at shaken time tried to make me pay for new motor mounts on my then 5 year old car with less than 20,000 km. However, shaken has become a hell of a lot cheaper at independent garages---less than 90,000yen on average---and of course there is always the DIY shaken which wasted at least one full day. Self-done shaken on motorcycles are within reason but in Tokyo the auto shaken center is hell-bent to make the DYI shaken painfull.

[TFG]

I was stopped 24 years ago in Shinjuku & I hadn't got my gaijin card on me as I had only jumped on the bike to go to the shops nearby.
The cops stopped me and took me to Akebono Bashi police box.
While getting bored with these clowns as they had asked my landlady to get my gaijin card and bring it down, I mentioned to them the following.

Eh, Hihon No Omawari San no Kogan wa hontou ni chisai ne.

The Cops waving their hands in the air: Ie, Koban desho?

Me: Ie, KOGAN wa Beedama mitai.

I had to write a letter of apology to some jerk either the minister of justice or the emperor. I wrote an article about the testicular size of Japanese men based on my visits to the sento and pondered if this is why they sit on the trains with their legs wide open taking up to seats so they could hide the fact that their balls are really like marbles.

LoL:D

[Korrito]

I haven't stolen a bike, but I did steal a car.

There was a SAAB identical to mine parked a few spaces away at a local Mom n Pop store.

I went shopping, returned to the parking lot, hopped in my car and felt utterly stupid at having left my keys in the ignition, Hey! Someone could have stolen my car!

So I was driving down the road towards the post office, and I reached in my coat pocket for my keys and pulled out...my car keys, heh.

Ooops!

I got back to the store before anyone had noticed.

[Charles]

I haven't stolen a bike, but I did steal a car.

There was a SAAB identical to mine parked a few spaces away at a local Mom n Pop store.

I went shopping, returned to the parking lot, hopped in my car and felt utterly stupid at having left my keys in the ignition, Hey! Someone could have stolen my car!

So I was driving down the road towards the post office, and I reached in my coat pocket for my keys and pulled out...my car keys, heh.

Ooops!

I got back to the store before anyone had noticed.

ha! I'll tell you a vaguely related story.

A few years back, my old beater car totally died, the front end suspension caved in and it was totally undrivable. So I rented a cheap Ford Escort and drove around to a few car lots to look at something to buy. I went to the local Honda dealership, parked right in front, and looked at some cars for about an hour.
Ok, I walk out of the dealership and the rental car is gone. I looked around and it is nowhere in sight, and a cheapo Escort would have stuck out in a parking lot mostly full of new Hondas. The salesman who was helping me saw that I was in some distress, so he asked what was going on, and he seemed to be a little upset too, that someone apparently ripped off a customer's car right in front of the main entrance. Surely there was some explanation for the missing car, but we couldn't think of one. I had the keys in my pocket, it's not like it could drive off on its own.
So we're standing around trying to figure out what to do, when someone drives the missing Escort right back into the parking spot where I left it, hops out, and starts to walk away. Hey hold it a minute guy, WTF is going on here? It's the shop's mechanic, he says "sorry it took so long, we're behind schedule, but the wheel alignment is all done." Um, excuse me, I didn't come in for a wheel alignment. "No, it says right here on my clipboard, white Ford Escort, license plate number, um.. what the hell?"
So.. it seems that there were TWO white Ford Escorts on the lot that day, and by some strange coincidence, both of them could be operated with the same keys. The mechanic grabbed the wrong one and spent an hour working on it. And now he's pissed off at ME, because now he's behind schedule for wasting time fixing the wrong car, he can't figure out any way to charge me for the work he already did, and now he's got to go find the OTHER car and do the same damn job all over again. At that point, I just cracked up with laughter. As I drove away, I noticed the car handled a lot better. That just made me laugh even harder.

[Korrito]

Both of my SAABs could be started with just about any key.

Swedish carbage.

[Oradea]

Thanks for the advice GG