Well, it hasn't been yet. But it has been threatened. This is at a Govt 
funded (quasi-independent, the management structure is somewhat obscure) 
scientific research lab in Japan (http://www.jamstec.go.jp/frsgc/eng/). 
The main goal of the lab is the understanding and prediction of climate 
change, and it issues plenty of warm fuzzy statemente about "Protecting 
our Mother Earth", but when the bureaucratic chips are down, it seems 
that it is more important to issue diktats and invent rules to outlaw 
one of the most environmentally-friendly behaviours possible.

The real reason behind this is that my wife and I are recidivist 
criminals. Yes, we ride a tandem (we both work at the same lab). It 
seems that way back in the mists of time, some careless bureaucrat 
drafted a law that was intended to prevent more than one person riding 
on a standard bicycle, but which accidentally included tandems in the 
prohibition. (Despite the law, carrying a passenger is very common, and 
of course no-one enforces such a petty nonsense anyway.) Some 
prefectures have actually changed the law to allow tandems, but 
unfortunately not the one where we live and work.

Anyway, we rode a tandem before we came to Japan, and continued after 
our arrival a few years ago. Some bureaucrat noticed this immediately, 
and made disapproving noises, but we ignored him - he refused to give us 
an official FRSGC badge for the bike, but we found this apparent 
reprimand surprisingly easy to cope with. Three years later, and he (or 
perhaps some replacement) is back with a vengeance. He has insisted that 
we cannot continue to ride the tandem to work. If we continue, he will 
ban all cycling for all members of staff. The justification for this 
escalation (and whether is it in principle legally possible) is not 
clear, and we haven't told any other cyclists yet. We don't want to stop 
riding the tandem, as it is faster, safer and easier than riding single 
bikes, and more fun too. People recognise us on our regular route, and 
are friendly towards us, plus we've got a good tandem (um...3 tandems) 
and no suitable single bikes. Every day we pass the same police boxes, 
we have even met some policemen and of course they are not bothered 
about us "flouting" such a petty, trivial and obviously accidental law.

In Japan (in a clear contrast with the UK), the commute to work is 
partly the responsibility of the employer. For instance, an injury 
during the commute counts as a industrial accident, and the employer 
must pay for subsequent medical bills and sick pay (the latter which for 
non-work-related injury and illness does not appear to be a statutory 
requirement, or even part of our generally reasonable working 
conditions). It is not clear to me why this responsibility should give 
them the right to dictate methods of travel to work, but I have heard of 
another company where driving to work was banned, and someone was fired 
after having a crash and getting caught.

In the UK, I would happily tell the bureaucrat to fuck off, but 
unfortunately workers' rights are still a rather foreign concept here 
and it is clear that any foreigner who kicks up too much of a fuss gets 
sent home in short order (I have already caused more than my share of 
trouble, and now is definitely not a good time to start any more). 
Bureaucrats aside, I like it here, and am not in a rush to leave. But I 
don't take kindly to small-minded petty jobsworths trying to push me 
around. Any hints and tips for a sensible strategy will be gratefully 
received.

James