Cycling Sapporo Japan

冬の札幌を自転車で楽しむ

Ah, winter in Sapporo!

Cold does not begin to describe it.

However, with central heating (unlike Honshu) and an outdoor culture, people on the big north island keep on keeping on, no matter what the weather.

On packed snow, many were out cycling in Sapporo.

On one patch of sidewalk on which the snow had melted was a nearly illegible bike symbol reads that pedestrians have the right of way.

This is quaint.

Pedestrians do not have the right of way on any sidewalk in any part of Japan.

Old people and young, the handicapped and athletes, are terrorized by cyclists, who often have no choice but to ride on sidewalks - legally - since the nation's bicycle infrastructure is minimal.

Japan has a great bicycle culture; its cycling culture however lags.

Another reason for a frozen beer.



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Tags Japan Touring Kyoto Cycle Japanese

Cycle Sapporo

札幌を自転車でブルブラ

The northern island of Japan, Hokkaido, is a good time.

The food is great, the people are more easy-going, space is there for the taking - but it is cold. No two ways about it: the climate is like Minnesota.

For those of us from the mid-Atlantic region of the USA, this is another level of winter.

On a late December 2012 visit to Hokkaido for skiing, eating and drinking, and bathing, we tried to gauge the cycling scene on a short visit to Sapporo.

In mid-winter, it is alive.

In spite of several inches of hardened snow on most sidewalks, spotty plowing on the streets - the sound of taxi wheels spinning was the sound track of our visit - many young guys were out on mountain bikes.

The city is large, flat, and laid out on a grid. It is perfect for cycling.

However, with the temperatures in the teens (for non-Americans: about -10), we were surprised at the number of cyclists.

We doff our pampered caps to our northern brothers on two wheels.


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