Why don't the Japanese differentiate more between foreigners ?

[Kara_Nari]

The whole bicycle thing is interesting.
Arriving her on Saturday I was soooo worried about riding my friends bicycle because of everything I had read here about being stopped. Anyway I asked my Japanese friend about it, and she had no idea what I was talking about.
So... if I buy my own bicycle next time, is it a difficult procedure to go about getting it registered etc, even if I dont have a gaijin card?
Or would I just be better hoping that I dont get pulled over?

[Maciamo]

So... if I buy my own bicycle next time, is it a difficult procedure to go about getting it registered etc, even if I dont have a gaijin card?
Or would I just be better hoping that I dont get pulled over?

No, it's very easy to have a new bike registered. You just have to fill your name and address on a piece of paper at the bicycle shop, and they put a sticker on the bike, and send the registration for you.

The problem is that the police cannot see that it is your bike until they have checked the registration number on the sticker. What bothers me is the shame of being stopped by the police in front of everybody. You know if feels almost the same as if sometime suddenly shouted "stop the thief !" pointing at you in the middle of a shop, when you are completely innocent. It's utterly embarassing and you could wonder why they (the police in this case) do such things. I talked to a lawyer about it, and the Japanese police has no right to check bicycle registration if you don't want to. But go and tell them that and you will end up at the Koban for questioning. When you know that the police in Japan has the right to arrest anyone for any reason, without proof/evidence, for up to 21 days, without being allowed to contact even a relative, lawyer or your embassy, and that they might not let you sleep and question you until you confess to some crime you never committed, it is enough to be scare when you see a police car chasing you in the middle of the day for no reason. You start wondering "do I look like some murderer they are looking for ?", "Are they going to arrest me and question me for 21 days for this person's crime ?". This is something I worry about ever since I have been stopped at noon in the middle of a business district in Tokyo with hundreds of people watching. It makes me very nervous to ride a bike (but I have little choice considering where I live and work).

As Thomas said, the solution is maybe to buy an expensive mountain bike (even better, an imported one not sold in Japan ), so that the police will suppose only a gaijin actually buy such a bike, and leave us alone. Another solution could be to paint the bike in very original colours, so as to be sure that nobody else as a similar one (and the police will not be looking for one like that). I haven't tried because it's not my type (I already stand out enough as a foreigner). But if we still get stopped with that, then it's clear it is discrimination.

I still recommend not to ride a friend's bike, because if the police check the registration and you don't have a phone to call immediately your friend (or your mobile's battery are empty), you are in serious trouble. I never understood why the Japanese police made so much fuss about 10,000-yen bikes, but mostly let the yakuza carry out their illegal activities in front of their nose. In fact, I am more scared by the police than the yakuza, given the legal power they have to harrass honest people to amuse themselves when they are bored (and believe me they are often bored, not like the yakuza).