PP> So what brings you to Japan, and how's the cycling???
Dear Phil:
I changed the subject line here from "Gear Inch" since it really doesn't 
reflect the current thread.  Let's see...
Why am I here?  Basic economics.  When I graduated from university in 
1988, there were few jobs for politics grads with so-so marks.  I saw an 
ad at the career centre for jobs teaching English in Japan with no 
experience or teaching qualifications required so I took a chance and came 
over here on a one-year contract.  I work for a very good company and like 
it so much I've stayed nearly 8 years.  I teach conversational English to 
company workers at an auto-parts manufacturing company (In fact, if you 
own a Japanese car [except Honda], my students probably had a hand in 
designing the wiring or instrument panel.  They also do instrument panels 
for Saab and Volvo.)
As far as my own situation goes, I live in a small town (pop. 75k) in the 
centre of the country.  Starting from Tokyo, follow the coast down about 
180 km and look for a town called Shizuoka.  I'm about 30 km farther down 
the coast in a city called Shimada on the Oi river.  
How's cycling?  There are many problems such as:
- Japan is about 80% mountains.  This means most of the main, high-traffic 
roads are in the flatter bits and there is too much traffic for my liking 
on them.  The smaller roads have a lot of hills and turns.
- Roads do not have names for the most part.  The major roads and highways 
do but the small roads do not.  This makes navigation difficult.  I 
usually find my way by reading the map carefully and looking for landmarks 
such as train stations, major intersections and so on.  Houses do not have 
numbers either.
- Weather can be a problem.  I live next to a river and the wind in the 
winter is out of the west, strong and constant.  There's a park near the 
river where I ride sometimes and can get speeds of 40 km/h with wind at my 
back, turn around and head into the wind at 20 km/h.  Right now, we're 
into rainy season.  It's actually sunny as I write this but this is the 
first sunshine we've had all week.  The rain and overcast skies will 
continue until mid-July.  Then it gets hot.  No, make that *HOT*.  Temps 
in August usually get up to 35-37C and stay like that compounded by strong 
humidity.  I try to ride in the relative cool of the morning.
- Stuff is expensive.  This is Japan and that's true of everything.  
Mail-order is cheaper and that's what I do for much of my equipment.
- Stuff is smaller.  My bike shop had to special-order my '94 Trek cross 
bike to get my size.  The maximum size for shopping bikes is about 27" and 
I really need more like 29".  A lot of students ride bikes to school but 
they ride mostly black, heavy-framed models with baskets on the front.  
They are also popular for shopping - I have one for that purpose.  They 
are cheap and apparently indestructible.
Despite all these problems, I really do enjoy getting out and seeing the 
countryside.  The hills are a problem but I do get a nice sense of 
accomplishment when I manage to conquer them.  My longest ride is 120 km 
which included climbing a ridge that is 2.5 km on one side and 3.5 km on 
the other (50 km/h descent, though).  I got down the my absolute bottom 
gears but I did it without walking and, for me, that is impressive.
I suspect this message probably told you more than you really wanted to 
know.  If you have any more questions, please post something here.
 PP>  * SLMR 2.1a * Phil, the cyclist from Scarborough... 
Tailwinds to you,
Steve
... Steve, the cyclist from Shimada
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