A report on bicycle use in Japan - not at the levels of Denmark or the Netherlands, but much greater than UK use, which is greater than US use. In the US the bike is mostly seen as a recreational toy. But the bike turns out to be an extremely efficient mode of short range transportation - assuming it can become culturally relevant and local infrastructure supports it.
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...The truth is that cycling in Japan’s cities is fairly idyllic when you compare with UK cities. It’s not as good as the Netherlands, nor is it apparently anywhere near as safe as the Netherlands. But Japan seems to have achieved a comparable cycling culture to the Netherlands albeit in a very Japanese way. It’s a culture where your mum, dad, kids, friends, boss and customers ALL get about by bike. The result is that Japan doesn’t have ‘cyclists’. It has people who use a bike when it makes sense. And for most urban trips, a bike makes a lot of sense to a lot of people.
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