Registered a bicycle on a tourist visa

I'm planning on doing multiple bicycle tours in Japan over the next few years with my bicycle that I bring with me each time from abroad while on a tourist visa, and I am starting one now. I registered the bicycle because I thought it would help deter theft and help with recovery, but how would that actually work and are there any disadvantages in registering?

The man in the bike store who registered my bicycle said I'm supposed to update my address each time it changes so that in the event of a recovery, a postcard can be sent to me. But as a tourist, I'd be changing addresses between 1 day to a couple of weeks while on a tour, and only be in Japan for a few months each year. And the form says that moving to another prefecture requires deregistering and reregistering in the other prefecture.

The only thing that stays constant is my name and telephone number, although I don't speak or understand Japanese.

Did registering without residency, and with a foreign receipt, put me into any legal limbo and disadvantages?

Hmm… first if all congrats that you managed to register your bike. I live here and tried a few times to register my foreign bought bike and didn’t succeed. I gave up since.
Frankly bike theft isn’t that much of a thing. I mean, yes, it totally exists , but not like in the Netherlands where your bike feels never safe.
So maybe remeber your registration number and if your bike gets stolen you can contact the police.
Just lock it to something and if you are not in Japan for a long time but leave your bike here (?) find a guarded place. (I was lucky that I could leave it below my office desk in the past).

I was also wondering where I can store the bike for 3 months while I go away for the winter and come back for the spring. Somewhere between himeji, Osaka, nagoya. I won't accept offers to leave it with someone if they can use it, because it's self built and one of a kind.

Maybe a public bicycle parking lot? But you’d need to pay upfront the rent for the entire time.

Short Answer: Ask all your question to the police. A koban would be fine enough, if there is no language barrier. Perhaps there will be English speakers if you go to the police station.

LikeBike wrote:

Frankly bike theft isn’t that much of a thing. I mean, yes, it totally exists , but not like in the Netherlands where your bike feels never safe.

No offence, but although I've never lived in the Netherlands, I had my bicycle stolen 5 times within the 3 years I lived in Kichijoji. One of them was stolen from our apartment's parking lot. Two of them came back. Why? Because I had registered.

Here in Yokohama, I've contacted the police multiple times, because unknown bicycles were often abandoned at the apartment premises we used to live in. The police were able to track some of the owners, and one bothered to bring me a bag of cookies to thank me. Why were they tracked? Because they were registered.

A neighbor in that apartment once had their good-looking bike stolen. A couple of parts of it came back, not the whole bike.

Here in Yokohama, I once used a bulletin board to give away our old bike to a stranger. I asked the police what I should do, and the policeman told me to write a note stating that I'm giving it to the person. Otherwise, it can be seen as a stolen bike when the new owner is stopped by the police. Yes, people riding bikes do get stopped and have the bike's registration number checked. That's how one of my bike was returned to me. They stopped a foreign student.

A lot of people seem to think that Japan is safe, but bicycles and umbrellas are the two things locals don't pay attention to the ownership of. I once realized a (white-collar company employee) friend suddenly using a really fancy bike. He told me that he was coming home from a bar one night, and a stranger told him he can have it because the stranger stole it from somewhere anyway.

So, yes, get it registered if you can, and keep the proof. And whatever the police says is okay is okay. But the point is that, usually you can only register with a permanent address. In case your bike is stolen, you can be contacted at that address. That's probably why the store clerk told you to be sure you keep informing the place you stay.

But I'm wondering. Why not practice some basic Japanese phrases, just enough to answer phone calls in case your bike is stolen? Or perhaps you can try to rely on a Japanese speaker only after your bike is stolen.

As for places to leave your bike, another option I can think of is to rent a storage (kashi-souko). You can leave a lot of things inside a space as big as a large closet. But similar to bike registration, I'm not sure if you can rent parking lots and/or storage without a permanent address. Like I said, people abandon things, and no landlord wants that.

Can't rent storage as a tourist. I've tried at several places and they require a residence card.