Motorcycle!

Friday afternoon I got the call from the bike shop letting me know that my bike was ready for pick up the next day. Unfortunately, I already had commitments at work for the next morning, so I couldn't go straight there as I would have liked. Instead, I went in the afternoon, arriving in the heat of the day, around 2:30. Bike looks as I remembered, it started right up, and the mechanic/salesman gives me the tour which was, 90%, unneeded. However, I did learn that what I thought was a lock for a side panel actually allows the seat to be taken off to find a (tiny) storage space...might be big enough for my rain gear... Anyway, I mounted up, illegally, since I've still not got that damn license here, and started the ride home.

My first comment, and the most important, is that I need to get used to riding a sports bike. The power band for these bikes is in much high revs than I'm used to. To give you some idea, the tachometer redlines at about 12,000 rpms, whereas most regular bikes, if they had a tach, would redline around 6 or 7000. So, when I was shifting by sound, it was too early for this bike, and it didn't have the kick I wanted to accelerate, but if I waited a bit longer, until the revs were around 3500 or 4000, damn, 400ccs felt fast. Those four cylinders are going to be a lot of fun to let out when I get to a nice empty country road.

Second comment: It's a different experience driving down these major roads than it is walking along them. There are so many more signs to pay attention to, many unfamiliar, and the roads themselves are unfamiliar. The signage along the buildings is colorful and plentiful, and I'd never realized that they are really meant to be seen from the road, as I suddenly felt assaulted by the plethora of signs. Crazy.

Third comment: It took me about an hour or more (not exactly sure) to drive about 15 miles because of traffic lights and such. Yet I made it nearly home before I got a little lost. Not bad for having only looked at a map of the area and been told which route numbers to take (which are not always so easily visible).

Fourth comment: It was hot.

Fifth (and final) comment: Damn, I love riding. I'm going to resist taking the bike out for long rides until I have my license, but that's all I'm thinking about now: going off into the countryside, maybe around Lake Biwa, finding the smaller, not so busy roads. I can hardly wait.

I was going to wait a while to post pictures of me with the bike, but in the middle of writing correspondence, I needed a break, so I decided to go take the following pictures. By the way, the jacket is new, bought just for riding this bike...I like it a lot, though: it's a warm-weather jacket with a liner that zips in...hopefully will take me through November...

A little more vacation

Tomorrow I go in for my third, yes THIRD, attempt at the motorcycle test. I failed again last week. Terrible. Hit a cone in the first 30 seconds. I'm hoping tomorrow will be that "third time's the charm" thing, but if not, well, I'll wait two weeks before going again.

Two weeks? you ask. Yes. Because, you see, I've bought a bike, which I'll get my hands on this weekend or next Monday or so. Then I can actually PRACTICE riding, on the same bike they give the test on as it happens.




It's a 400cc four cylinder engine: the Honda CB400 Super Four. I'm really, really, REALLY looking forward to getting it, taking it out for practice rides (not very far, I don't want any police problems), then getting my license...then going for some long rides.

The reason I don't have it yet is that in Japan after you buy the bike, it has to go through an involved inspection which takes a while to get done, apparently, so I put money down last Thursday, and I think I'll get it this Saturday or early next week.

This past weekend I went to an aikido training camp. We practiced for about four hours Saturday afternoon, then another two or three Sunday morning, then took our "tests" for rank (assuming I passed, which I think I did, I'm now third rank, two below the first degree black belt...not a big accomplishment, but then I'm not studying aikido for ranking either). After the tests, we practiced for another hour or so. This all took place on a short weekend trip to Fukui, which was where I visited back in January. It was considerably cooler there than in Osaka, which made practicing much more enjoyable, though I was still sweating profusely.

Picture of a student taking her test.


Now I'm back in Osaka, with another two weeks to go. I'm still climbing a lot..in fact, I think I'll head up there now...

Adios. Aloha. さようなら。

Motorcycle test

After getting back to Japan last week Monday, I went to the Japanese DMV (called something else), inconveniently located about an hour and a half by three different trains and a nice 20 minute walk. I signed up to get my motorcycle license, scheduling my riding test for today. Just for the record: I already have my license in the US, but they make you take an abbreviated test here in Japan anyway.

Well, I failed spectacularly. Ok, not spectacularly, but I failed, dammit. For those who don't know, in the US, the test is fairly simple: you demonstrate the ability to do things like weave between cones, get up to a certain speed and then brake within a certain distance, ride properly through a turn, etc. In Japan, the test is much harder. For one, it depends on what size bike you want: you can get licenses for 1) mopeds, 2) up to 125cc bikes, 3) up to 400cc bikes, and 4) unlimited. Not only do you ride different bikes for the test, but you do a different route (don't ask me why; seems to me like you should do the same course just on different size bikes). Well, I'm an ego-maniac, so I thought I'd just go for the unlimited license. The test is a bit harder than the others, but this way I can get any bike I want, though I plan to stay in the 400 cc range. The course includes a cone weave, a fifty-foot ride across a one-foot wide platform raised about two inches (and stay on for a certain amount of time), an S-curve and two-right angles, as well as a thirty-foot ride over these metal bumps about three inches high which I think are supposed to replicate rail-road tracks, though I've seen any tracks raised like that. The funny thing is I failed on what I thought would be the easiest part: the raised platform. Rode right off the damned thing about five feet into it.

Frustrating as all hell, because I now have to wait a week to take the test again. In the meantime, I have no way to practice, which is really the worst part. It's not just that I need to practice these skills, but I need to get used to doing them while also practicing road rules, like looking and signaling, because unlike the US motorcycle tests, Japan also tests those things as well.

Well, I don't feel too bad: out of about 12 guys, only one passed. And I was one of about five guys to go off the platform. Cest la vie. I think I'll do better next time, if only because I won't be so damned nervous.

Other than that, I've been rock climbing a bit, going in for a few hours a couple of times in the last week. I live about 10 minutes from the gym by bike now, which is so much better than the 45 minutes or so it used to take, walking and riding the train. I probably ride my bike a few miles a day right now, going to the station, market, etc. I need to make sure that I don't get lazy when I get a motorcycle.

Hope all is well...Aloha.