Quote Originally Posted by BlogD
They usually assume you've stolen it. Bicycles are relatively ubiquitous in Japan (relative to the U.S., not to China, for example), and you can find zillions parked near stations. But the locks on them are usually trivial and next to useless. So some get stolen, and the police usually suspect gaijin first. I remember one time when--dressed in a business suit and well-groomed--I was stopped by no less than four cops and a patrol car. One looked inside the frame, and another went back to the car to radio in the serial number while the rest surrounded me and asked questions.

That really pissed me off because at the time, media stereotypes were still strong against foreigners, and I knew that all the Japanese passers-by saw the spectacle and thought, "so it's true!"

It may well be possible that you could be pulled over simply for ID checks, though the first I heard of this in years was on this board. It likely will depend on where you are and what the police are like in that area.

Anyone else been pulled over recently?
I haven't rode a bike in a couple years but imagine the bike being registered in my mother-in-law's name/address which I had borrowed to go to the grocery store when we stayed one weekend and then I got pulled over. You would not imagine the hassle I went through, also, they must have been bored because I got the full works except for the body search (insert rubber glove sound here). I spent the entire day dealing with all of this and I had left my cell phone at the house because I only expected to be gone a couple minutes and they wouldn't let me use the phone. Anyway, to make a long story short...everything worked out alright when my wife and her mother showed up and they apologized plus they even gave us some "I'm Sorry" money for it being such a big ordeal. After that I refused to ride a bike that belonged to anybody unless my name/address was registered to it. This happened about 3 years ago maybe 4.