There’s various bike auctions throughout the city. A quick google search will show you what’s in your area.
They get taken by the authorities and either disposed of or resold depending on the quality. Usually silver jinsai recycling centers take care of that, I recommend you find the one that’s closest to you.
The [Suginami Clean Cycle](https://webc.sjc.ne.jp/suginami/activity_5) program at the Suginami Silver Jinzai Center / Green Cycle reconditions and sells impounded bicycles for a reasonable price (JPY8,000). They are ending the program this year, so 12/18 and 19 are probably the very last days of this program.
Best picks are on the first day, which is only open via lottery. 2nd day is open to the public.
Story time: in about my fourth year in Japan, I noticed a fairly nice bike that was abandoned on my route home that had been there for over two months. I finally decided to wheel the bike to the nearest police box. I explained the situation to the police and asked them if they could contact the owner of the bike (it had a registration sticker) and ask if they were looking for it, or if it were indeed abandoned, if I could keep it. The police then began to grill me for well over an hour insinuating that I had stolen bike. When I finally convinced them that I hadn’t actually stolen bike, I was made to fill out an incident form in which they insisted I write in Japanese (with kanji). I could barely write anything beyond hiragana/katakana at the time and the officers insisted that I write it by myself. They would write kanji characters on a note pad and insisted that I copy them in my own handwriting.
4 comments
There’s various bike auctions throughout the city. A quick google search will show you what’s in your area.
They get taken by the authorities and either disposed of or resold depending on the quality. Usually silver jinsai recycling centers take care of that, I recommend you find the one that’s closest to you.
The [Suginami Clean Cycle](https://webc.sjc.ne.jp/suginami/activity_5) program at the Suginami Silver Jinzai Center / Green Cycle reconditions and sells impounded bicycles for a reasonable price (JPY8,000). They are ending the program this year, so 12/18 and 19 are probably the very last days of this program.
Best picks are on the first day, which is only open via lottery. 2nd day is open to the public.
Story time: in about my fourth year in Japan, I noticed a fairly nice bike that was abandoned on my route home that had been there for over two months. I finally decided to wheel the bike to the nearest police box. I explained the situation to the police and asked them if they could contact the owner of the bike (it had a registration sticker) and ask if they were looking for it, or if it were indeed abandoned, if I could keep it. The police then began to grill me for well over an hour insinuating that I had stolen bike. When I finally convinced them that I hadn’t actually stolen bike, I was made to fill out an incident form in which they insisted I write in Japanese (with kanji). I could barely write anything beyond hiragana/katakana at the time and the officers insisted that I write it by myself. They would write kanji characters on a note pad and insisted that I copy them in my own handwriting.
So yeah, don’t do that.