I’ve talked with a lot of Japanese friends about how many bicycles there are in Japan. Osaka is littered with bicycles parked (illegally) here and there.  Considering that bicycles are used by the vast majority of Japanese residents, it is not surprising to find that Japan is #3 in the number of bicycles in the world (behind China and the United States).

And so it came to pass that, today, my bicycle was towed by the city whilst I was stopped at a cafe on the way to school.  Even though I was sitting where my bicycle was in sight, I was studying intently enough that I didn’t see that it had gone missing until I went out to head to class.

This is the second time in as many months that I’ve had a bicycle towed.  Ouch!  The fine for retrieving a bicycle is often 50% or more of the bicycle’s value, so many people do not even bother collecting the bicycle from the impound lot.  Bicycles are frequently towed from around the city’s 155 train and subway stations.  [Hint: usually it happens on weekday mornings.] When you see a notice like the one shown here, you can be assured that your bicycle has been confiscated.

According to a December 2002 article in the Japan Times, the present impoundment release fee of JPY 2,500 (roughly US$23.00) was put in place by Osaka officials in October 2002.  With around 300,000 impounded every year, only a fraction are ever returned to their rightful owners.  Many are left beyond the one-month holding period, after which they are sold off to secondhand bicycle dealers.

Alas, my bicycle is worth quite a bit more than the impoundment fee, so I needed to first get myself to class (a fast walk did the trick) and then figure out how to get to the impoundment site.  I was lucky this time, as my bicycle was at an impoundment station directly in front of the Bentencho train station, so I rode the train from school directly to Bentencho station.

Unfortunately, it’s a long way (about an hour’s ride by bicycle) from Bentencho back to my house.  Since I collected my bicycle uncomfortably close to the closing hour, it was already dark out by the time I got home.  Still, I did get it back the same day, so I was not inconvenienced the following day.  Just 2,500 yen poorer.