By Stefan
Japan is the ideal place for riding a motorbike! For the city it's ideal, because you will be much faster in all those jammed streets as well as in those small one's where you sometimes need to be born in Japan to manoeuvre your car through! Also you probably won't have the big difficulties to park, as with the car! However be aware of parking regulations! I still don't really know where I can park and where not, but I follow the rule, in Japan, do as the Japanese do and so far I didn't have any problems.
On weekends you can easily escape the city hustle and bustle to the country-side, or enjoy a quick trip to the city centre to display your newly bought bike and stroll along the endless shopping-streets!
A site that has been very useful to me, concerning my driver-licence is the following one. It gives you valuable information on what you need to have to translate and to get a Japanese licence (mainly if you want to stay longer than a year), as well as gives you a short overview if you can use the one from your home-country:
www.jetsetjapan.com/infozone-trans-lice.shtml
Now another problem is getting a motorcycle! Most of the dealers here don't really speak English. So it's a bit of a gamble to buy a motorcycle at a dealer who doesn't speak English. A dealer I found most valuable to me was the following one in Tokyo. There must be more out-there but it's hard to find them... They are sometimes organising parties for foreigners, having a touring club, which will help you planning your trip and they also help you with joining the events of the motorbike producers. If you want to bring your bike back to your home-country they also can give you support on that (I don't need that yet though, I am still enjoying being here in Japan ). They are selling BMW, Guzzi, Ducati, Triumph and some other import bikes.
www.fukuda-motors.co.jp/
Hope it helps you guys out there! Enjoy riding in Japan!
