Hey quick question, I arrived in Japan last week and received a bicycle from a, now former, colleague as he left Japan. I got all the papers for the bike, but I when I went to the bike store to put it under my name they said I had to bring the former owner.
Any solutions to this problem? Or what is the punishment if the police stops me and I am using a bike belonging to someone else who is no longer in Japan.
Thank you.
5 comments
As long as you have the ownership paper with you, you should be fine when you’re stopped by the police. Just show them the paper and tell them your friend’s name. They might cross check it with their database, but as long as it is matched you should have no problem.
I rode a bike registered to my wife in another prefecture for a couple years when I first arrived. Was stopped on three occasions and they simply called in to check the name I gave was correct. Never an issue, but I could see the officer making it an issue if they wanted to.
Each prefecture has slightly different paperwork, but if you have the original papers, you shouldn’t need the original owner to be there to change it to your name. I’ve done exactly what you tried to do, without problem. Perhaps try a different bike shop.
As long as you have the ownership papers with you and it hasn’t been reported stolen I don’t expect you would have any trouble. When I first started living in Japan my first bicycle was one that had been abandoned in the 駐輪場 of a nearby dental office. I rode that thing for a couple of years before the brake cables snapped. I then replaced it with another abandoned bicycle from the same dental office 駐輪場.
Got mine from a used shop, haven’t registered it for years and been stopped half a dozen times. As long as it isnt reported as stolen it doesn’t matter