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.