When I find myself in an unknown city but don't have the opportunity to ride, I do the next best thing: I live vicariously by snapping as many photos of scooters and motorcycles as possible.
Case in point: last summer, when my wife and I took the bullet train from Yokohama to Kyoto, eventually landing in Tokyo... piercing the rhythm of tidy taxis and microcars were otherworldly motorcycles and cartoonish scooters, a few of which I managed to capture on camera. For a few of my favorites, take a look at my photo gallery, Bike Gawking in Japan.
Related:
- How I Spent My Summer Vacation: European Musings
- A Slideshow of European Motorcycle and Scooter Culture
Photos © Basem Wasef
Click for Gallery, Bike Gawking in Japan
Great variety of scoot pics from Japan. Thanks for sharing Basem.
Cool pics Basem, nice to see some HD’s in Japan.
I guess I know I have been here for a while, because these pictures actually look to be normal.
And yes Joe there are HD’s here too.
There iis pretty much any manufacturer you can think of. A friend’s friend owns a shop that specializes in Moto Guzzi’s. We get ‘em all!!!
Anybody else noticing what I did? Shorts, short sleeve shirts, flip flops and not a single…and I had to go back thru and look to make sure…not ONE single full face helmet. One can only come to the conclusion that Japan is squid central. I’ll bet there must be an entire Road Rash/facial injury and jaw reconstruction ward in every major city hospital.
You would think so, especially considering lane split is very common here. But in actual fact it is not all that common to see an accident here.
I think car drivers are a lot more used to having bikes and scooters around them for one. But I really think the main reason is the no turning on a red light. If you think about where most accidents occur, it is at an intersection. If you do not allow any vehicle to turn on a red light it means only traffic moving in two directions (not 4) are in the intersection at any one time. I don’t know of any studies done but this is just my opinion.
Now I do agree that there are way too many people with way too little protection, but not everyone is like that. People who tend to use ther bikes (scooters too) only in the city, like the ones who you see in these photos, are the ones who without much protection. Maybe becauseof speeds, or maybe just posing. But as soon as you get out of the cities you see a lot more protection on riders.
Just my two Yen!!!
Not only H-D in Japan, but also Trek bicycle.
Appreciate the photos of motorbikes when you travel. It gives me ideas on how my bike doing compared with the other country.