Bicycles are also something to be aware of. On the first look it seems that there only one manufacturer. They look all the same. It is worse than in the Netherlands. Japan is also not famous for pictures with a lot of bicycles (that is China), but rather for crowded trains and platforms (Yamanote). Nevertheless, bicycles seems also to be something „typically Japanese.
The police has special bikes with an „glove compartment“ and one or two tubes for their glow sticks. The chain is fully covered and the stand is mounted at the rear axis.
This is also typical for Japan: An older Lady on a bike with an umbrella; used as protection against the midday sun. There are special mounts available. I don’t know if this is working well on a windy day. I rented a bike to drive to Soyamisaki (2010). The 62km were no fun. „My ride“ was without these fancy sun umbrella. The result was a nasty sunburn.
By the way, there practically are no bike paths in Japan. I saw one in Nagoya and took a The first parking space for bicycles I found in Ueno. Like one for cars. With whites stripes on the ground and numberes spaces. There was only space for 8 bikes. But is was well organized. One holiday later I saw a bike rack with a coin slot (picture from Higashi-Ikebukuro). You have to pay to park your bike! What is next? A parking disk?
picture. It was so exotic. I am not familar with the rules, but it seems, that you have to ride your bike on the sidewalk (which is sometimes on 20 inch wide). One trained people with high priced racing bikes use the street.