Tatami

This is a tatami store.  It's a small shop and it doubles as the front part of this person's house. He makes mats that make up the flooring, and in turn the measurement system for rooms in Japan. It's more a Japanese thing than Sumo.

But a lot of folks don't run across tatami shops , because they're not the sort of store that'd be near the train station.   And a great deal of people here live their lives through the station.  Life in the big city means standing in line on the platform, waiting for the train to rumble up.  The same recorded voice announces all the matters of the train.  Fight well and a seat is a possibility.  Remember not to get in a women's only car.  People pack into the train tight, but you'll be lucky to hear an 'excuse me,' a 'sorry,' or even a groan of discomfort.  Get out, file through the station, keep your head down and stay close behind the person in front of you.  Farther and farther from the clatter of the platform there's a pitter patter of feet and it carries outside where there's a voice recording saying shoes are on sale.  And still another recording saying something too fast.  You look up and it's actually a person, and she's got tissues, and thanks you for taking them. 

If you ride a bike, you'll get far enough away from the station that you may take some turns, just to take them, then happen on a store like this, Jinbei Tatami Ten.  And you'll say hello, and Mr Jinbei, he'll say it back.  Then you'll talk something about something.  And it might not mean much of anything, but it will be a thing between a couple people.     

local bike shops in Japan

There are all sorts of local shops, for sure.  But what pops into the average persons head when you say 'bike shop,' is a place like in the picture.   The guy who operates it lives in the same place, and the shop is just the front room of his house.   Often times they are Bridgestone dealers, but this one is Miyata, (on the signs as ミヤタ, and on the window) which is less common to see.  Of course Bridgestone to the average person is like Bianchi or Schwinn, just a company that makes bike, not necessarily a maker of good ones.

 There are two interesting ideas about Japanese culture that can be gleaned from this picture.   One is that you can start a business nearly anywhere in Japan.  There are not the same rules as in the other parts of the world that separate where business is done and where people reside.  But there are cultural rules, but there are lots and lots of stores that are essentially the lower level, or the front of people's houses.

Two is that as this represents somewhat of the norm for a local bicycle shop, you can see the bikes are for utility, not sport.  This represents perfectly the general bike culture of Japan, which is that they see the bike as a machine to make their lives easier.  Where in say the U.S. the bike has become sports equipment more than anything else.  Of course there are variations, and tons of subcultures, commuters etc. on both sides of this comparison.  But to say it simply, this is the main difference.  

An event in Kariya

This will be in Kariya, which is outside Nagoya.  I'll go, take pictures, tell some things about it.  

Since we ride bikes

I'd say one way or another, anyone who rides a bicycle and likes it, ends up paying attention to gas prices in a slightly different way than folks who drive a car more often.  Not everyone is political about it, and some of us ride our bikes so much so that we're distanced from the savings. We still end up riding on roads, passing a station and feeling some kind of niceness about things and our bikes.

 In Japan, lots of folks already ride their bikes and / or use public transportation.  But there's still a lot of talk about the rising price of gasoline.  At this gas station - modeled on the Astrodome - it's 180yen for a liter.  Turns out that's 6.66 a gallon.