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Bringing Your Bike to Japan: Essential Tips

Posted by Close to Mount Fuji on

You’ve decided to bring your bike to Japan…

Now what?

Once you arrive at the airport, you’ll either ride your bike from there, fold it up and carry it in a bike bag before you use public transport, or send it by courier to your destination. If you choose the last option, to use a courier, you’ll soon learn that not all couriers will handle a full-sized bike box (140cm x 75cm x 25cm). Even if you remove the front tire and handlebars, your box might still exceed the size limit imposed by the courier. If one person cannot handle the box easily, you may not have much luck with local delivery services. Recently, the only courier at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport that would handle the size box listed above was Sagawa Express (about ¥10,000 to ship to my Airbnb). However, don’t assume you can use Sagawa Express to ship back to the Airport! My guest tried to send her bike back via the same company and was denied as soon as they looked at the bike box. The only option was to either pay ¥16,000 to a personal contact of mine to have another company ship the bike or rent a car to drive the bike to the airport herself. As it turned out, the rental was the least expensive option. All in with Toyota Rent a Car for rental (including leaving the vehicle at the airport), gasoline and expressway tolls was about ¥20,000. If you consider the cost of a train journey and the cost of shipping the bike, there really isn’t much difference.

Remember, you will need an international driver’s license that adheres to the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, proof of personal accident insurance while visiting Japan, your passport and a credit card if you want to rent a car. Speaking of renting cars! I know a local shop that will rent you a car for just ¥15,000 per week! Contact me for further details.

Once you get to our Airbnb, you will have all the tools you need to rebuild and maintain your bike. We have torque wrenches from Park Tool, a repair stand and a vast array of other bike tools to ensure that you can easily build and maintain your bike.

Feel free to use our torque wrenches and repair stand from Park Tool. You’ll also find most other tools you can think of in our Homak Pro Series tool box.
This tool has almost any tool you may need!
This is a recent guest who assembled and disassembled her bike in our workshop.

Finally, if you have gone through the trouble of bringing your bike to Japan, you are going to want advice on where to ride! Rest assured that I have got some excellent ideas regarding where to go. I have published some of these rides on my blog, but there are many others, my absolute favourites, that I reserve just for my Airbnb guests!

You’ll find roads like this without any vehicular traffic!
This is me, the creator of this website, cycling in the foothills of the Japanese South Alps.
Cycling the Fruits Line in Yamanashi, Japan
Cycling in the foothills of the Japanese South Alps
Lake Inagako in November (Photo: Tomiya Niitsu)
View of Mount Fuji while cycling in the foothills of the Japanese South Alps!
The enchanting stone path to Himuro Shrine, Fujikawa.

So come on! Get your bike ready and visit Japan!

Begin your adventures off the beaten path by booking a night in my Airbnb property.

Try my new property!

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