Old bicycle

Hi there,

We live in Japan and received a hand-me-down bicycle from someone who left the country for our kid. Is there any way to know if the bicycle has been registered?

Kind regards

did you receive any papers with it?

Nope, no papers

in order to register a bicycle is a form of identification and the bicycle registration forms.
If you do not have you can download and fill in this form.
http://www.bouhan-net.com/dl/joutoshoumei.pdf

Go to any bicycle shop for the process.
Cost is maybe 500 or 1000 yen, I do not know how much precise.

All bicycles have to be registered to prove you are owner.

Check the bicycle and look for any register sticker either yellow or orange with number.
Got sticker, it is registered. No sticker, not registered.

Best is go to your local friendly koban or bicycle shop and ask around how to 're-register' the bike.

Here's a good read on it.
https://blog.gaijinpot.com/registering-used-bicycle-japan/
https://ajet.net/resources/daily-jet-life/bicycle-registration/

Thank you,

There are no yellow or orange stickers, so hopefully it's not registered! We shall give it a go at Cainz, as they are fairly close.

Thanks again!

Actually, apart from the sticker registration which is a registration linked to the owner's name and address, all bicycles have a number engraved on them. Unless you register the bike as the owner, the bike will be considered as a stolen one. So it's natural to assume that whoever was the owner had had it registered.

In any case, have your bike registered, and if there is any problem, show evidence proving that the bike was given/sold to you or simply contact the original owner so that it could be proved.