MadMyk’s Firefighter’s Motorcycle Blog

Did you know only until a few years ago it was illegal to ride ‘two up’ on any motorcycle in Japan?  Apparently after the law was tossed out motorcycle sales skyrocketed. Including Harley sales.  I’ve never been to Japan but I was close once. We were on Borneo, dehydrating and frying like kippers. We wanted off the God forsaken place so bad we went to the airport only find the next flight out of hell was our flight 3 days later.  We were heading home to Canada but still had time to drop in on a couple more south Asian countries. We ended up in Bangkok and then Taipei, Taiwan, both pretty interesting places and more importantly - cheap. The reason we never got to the land of Mothra was because the only hotel we could find was at Norita airport, an hour away from Tokyo. Which wasn’t a big deal but the hotel wasn’t really a hotel, it was a place were they rented honeycombs. You climb into a space no bigger than a pup tent. It has a bed, sink, stereo, TV and I’m not sure if it had a head. Total cost per night in 1995? $300 us.  I wonder how much they want for an FLHR?

Here’s an interesting clip from the New York Times on Japanese Harley Riders.

Check it out http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/automobiles/20070708_HARLEY_FEATURE/blocker.html

DOMO ARIGATO   that’s Japanese for ‘thanks’, not an Italian motorcycle.