"Elbow" <elbowcutthispartoutplease...@gol.com> wrote in message news:<2nil5eF1dk4oU1@uni-berlin.de>...
> I went to buy a bike the other day and got told that there will be 70,000
> yen added to the bike price for shaken registration and some other bollocks.
> And it will take 2 weeks to process!
> A guy at work just bought a bike and it took him one day. WTF!!
> This is all starting to sound too complicated.

It's only just started. The motor vehicle industry is designed to
empty your pockets to the very extent possible. Y200/L for gasoline,
Y4000/yr for ward registration, medical insurance (you ARE covered for
medical emergencies aren't you???), the mandatory liability insurance,
biannual shaken inspections (which you can do yourself, provided you
possess intermediate Japanese skills (don't we all?) and if your free
time has no value).

fun fun fun. A bicycle has the signal advantage of keeping you in
shape, the main hassle being cops on bikes telling you to turn on your
light at night. Heheh, if I ever come back I'm bringing my rechargable
NiMH halogen light -- this sucker is *BRIGHT*.