Ride On in Osaka

I love Osaka since it's the bike capital of Japan. I was in Osaka in 2008 for my youngest brother's wedding, and I really enjoyed seeing that cycling was just part of daily life. Me being a daily rider here in Vancouver, it was nice to see my Asian brothers and sisters were also my Asian cycling brothers and sisters......I have awesome bike pictures from Tokyo as well, but I'll post those some other day.......

Even cool guys ride bikes in Osaka.....
Although it's illegal, many double.... in fact, my brother and his wife and their friends even go drinking on bike, everyone doubling each other while they hop from restaurant to bar to bar.... it gets funny at the end of the night when everyone's had a few........
As I just mentioned, late night food and drink establishments are often filled with cyclists.... see, no cars in sight..... these are usually local watering holes that most either walk to or bike to....
It's nothing out of the ordinary to see police on bikes in Japan...... over here, bike cops look less cop-like, since they dress more like cyclists than police...... look, no shorts or helmets for Japanese bike police.....
This is early morning in the central Umeda area of Osaka, where there's a lot of bars and restaurants. As you can see, most places are still closed...... this guy is either coming home from late drinking, going to work early, or going straight from the bar directly to work..... no kidding....
This is also not an unusual sight........they do everything but eat while riding in Japan, as you'll soon see........
I think these guys were just riding around town as moving billboards, although I don't know what they were advertising.... it says children 110Yen, so maybe daycare? I feel for these guys though.... look at those hats!!
In North America, it's soccer moms in mini-vans. In Japan, it's mom's on two wheels towing a single child in the back, or sometimes 2 children, both front and rear...... for real!!
When you say you have a Hummer in Japan, it means something totally different than over here....
Phoning while riding is very common in Japan..........
Texting is also very popular.... funny, I've never seen a bike accident though........the Japanese are very skilled........
Japanese girls love to wear stockings.......I wonder why she doesn't use her basket in the front, instead of leaving flyers inside it.....who transports junk flyers?
I love this picture, and I left it for last. Notice that everyone bikes to 7-11.... only a single car to the far left.......