I ducked into a mall to grab a bottle of iced coffee and came out to discover the bicycle Gestapo screwing with my ride. Apparently these guys get paid to hang around in front of the store, straightening the rows of parked bicycles, motorbikes, and scooters. I’d locked my aging Giant to a bike-rack in the designated area, assuming everything was kosher. Not so. They explained that my trusty steed (not pictured here) was facing the wrong direction, so they had no choice but to wrestle it around, chained as it was to the rack, lest the world implode. I unchained my bicycle for them, flipped it around to face the ‘right’ way, and they were happy. Only in Japan.
In all seriousness, there is a need for guys like this here. The average bicyclist/scooterist in this country has parking habits that can only be described as barbaric. You find bicycles and even motorcycles parked in the middle of sidewalks, in front of fire-exits, and on top of the elderly. Worse still, a lot of people seem fond of abandoning their unwanted velocipedes pretty much wherever suits their fancy. I wish the major train stations in this city would employ a couple of guys like this to keep the entrances a bit clearer. But those hats have got to go man.
