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Bike messenger job in Tokyo

Tadashi

先輩
14 Jun 2007
19
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Hi,

I heard a lot about bike messengers in Tokyo, saw some of them in the streets. I think it could be good training for my skills. I want to work as a bike messenger as a part-time job. I ride single speed/fixed gear bike, I'm pretty fast. I live in Tokyo for more than a year, so I know the city. My Japanese is around the 2nd level of JLPT (I passed the 3rd level, planning to take the 2nd level this year). What do you think?
 
You would need a very good Japanese, a valid working visa, and maybe a better bike - you could get a road bike pretty cheap ;)

This is called jitensha-bin, not to be confused with bike-bin which is with motorbikes ;)

Some links:




 
Working visa. Ouch. I have a student visa. No way? There's no arubaito?

Very good Japanese? To what extent? Do you get orders via e-mail or do they radio them to you?

And a better bike? I always thought that a track bicycle is ideal for a bike messenger job. It's cheap and fast. I have a Schwinn Madison if that matters.

I plan to buy a road bike for training purposes and racing, but it's gonna be an expensive one, so I don't want to kill it while working. And there are no cheap road bicycles as I see. You can get something with Shimano Sora for around 70k yen, not less.
 
Working visa. Ouch. I have a student one. No way? There's no arubaito?

Doubt they would hire you - its a big risk. You can go to immigration and ask for "permission to engage in an activity other than that permitted by the status of residence previously granted."

資 格 外 活 動 許 可 申 請 書


Very good Japanese? To what extent? Do you get orders via e-mail or do they radio them to you?

Both I imagine - but good enough that you can receive orders, addresses, names, be able to greet the customer with the correct formality, understand their instructions, deliver the items as requested to the right people, with the right formality etc.

And better bike? I always thought that a track bicycle is ideal for a bike messenger job. It's cheap and fast. I have a Schwinn Madison if that matters.

Ah, I was thinking your run of the mill mama-chari style bike :p Something like what you have would be suitable I guess.

I would get permission from immigration, then see if you can find arubaito or part-time work in messenger work. It wouldn't be impossible, just means some effort on your part.
 
Doubt they would hire you - its a big risk. You can go to immigration and ask for "permission to engage in an activity other than that permitted by the status of residence previously granted."
資 格 外 活 動 許 可 申 請 書
Yeah, I have that. Else I won't talk about getting a job.
Both I imagine - but good enough that you can receive orders, addresses, names, be able to greet the customer with the correct formality, understand their instructions, deliver the items as requested to the right people, with the right formality etc.
Anyway, bike messenger is not really a talking type of job. I think it's more important to be strong and fast. And a bike messenger's vocabulary is not larger than a postman's, I guess. So it's OK.
Ah, I was thinking your run of the mill mama-chari style bike :p Something like what you have would be suitable I guess.
Since when mamacharis are fixed gear?:p
I would get permission from immigration, then see if you can find arubaito or part-time work in messenger work. It wouldn't be impossible, just means some effort on your part.
So, I have permission and a bike, so now I have to check those sites and stuff? Any other hints? Actually, I plan to apply for a job after the damn rain season ends, around the first part of July.

What about Hello Work? Do they have jobs for bike messengers?
 
They may do, but you'd do better checking out the websites of the companies that already do it - there isn't a huge demand nor a large market. Going direct will give you more chances.
 
And better bike? I always thought that a track bicycle is ideal for a bike messenger job. It's cheap and fast. I have a Schwinn Madison if that matters.

I plan to buy a road bike for training purposes and racing, but it's gonna be an expensive one, so I don't want to kill it while working. And there are no cheap road bicycles as I see. You can get something with Shimano Sora for around 70k yen, not less.
Most of the messengers I've seen in Tokyo have road bikes. Or at least a single speed with brakes and freewheel. They'd navigate both the roads and sidewalks to get where they wanted to go. Not sure you'd want to fix gear it like that.

I personally wouldn't ride Sora (much less Shimano - I'm a Campy man). You get what you pay for.
 
Most of the messengers I've seen in Tokyo have road bikes. Or at least a single speed with brakes and freewheel. They'd navigate both the roads and sidewalks to get where they wanted to go. Not sure you'd want to fix gear it like that.
I personally wouldn't ride Sora (much less Shimano - I'm a Campy man). You get what you pay for.
I ride my track bicycle mostly with a freewheel (flip-flop hub allows for fixed gear and freewheel choice) for now, it has both brakes as well. I'm fast. Today I went to Yokohama from my place. It was 80 km ride. My average speed was 30 km/h. On shorter distances I ride much faster, in the city I usually ride 37-40 km/h, just like cars. My track bicycle is much better than usual road bikes, 'cause it has a Chromoly frame, it's much more rigid than cheap aluminium frames that most road bikes have. Of course, carbon fibre frame would be better, but hell it's pricey. And I'm strong enough to push a large gear every time; I'm using 48*18 for now, I plan to change it for 48*16 in the future. Single-speed is really a way to go; it makes you SO much stronger because you can't gear down when you go uphill or when you're tired after a long ride. You have to push it no matter what. Real men ride single speed. :)

GaijinPunch said:
You will most likely have to talk to customers (Keigo) and definitely your dispatch.
Yeah, I know a bit of Keigo. Anyway, I'm just gonna stick to learning postman's vocabulary and stuff for now. I know that Keigo is the main thing about getting this job.
 
Tokyo's flat (mostly anyway) so a single speed is the way to go - technically more sound and efficient. You would only require gears if riding in difficult terrain.

As to getting a job as a bike messenger, why not approach a company and see what they say? The employees/management might give you pointers (e.g. suggest higher knowledge of the language etc.) or hire you and love you to death. You never know unless you try.
 
Tokyo's flat (mostly anyway), so a single speed is the way to go - technically more sound and efficient. You would only require gears if riding in difficult terrain.
Yeah, single-speed is a miracle. Much faster than all that fancy road bikes. I'm going faster than them easily. I'm stronger; I don't gear down on every small hill as they do, I don't have multiple gears at all.

As to getting a job as a bike messenger, why not approach a company and see what they say? The employees/management might give you pointers (e.g. suggest higher knowledge of the language etc.) or hire you and love you to death. You never know unless you try.
The thing is, I want to be sure that I will get this job. If I get rejected, I may have no chance of getting a job in the same company. So I'm training now. My goals are:
1. Maps. Most bike messenger companies usually use only the central part of Tokyo - Minato-ku, Shibuya-ku, Chuo-ku, Chiyoda-ku, sometimes Shinjuku-ku too. I plan to study all these districts to death, so I would know where everything is and how do you read the names of streets (some are a bit tricky). But this may be not so important if a dispatch tells you everything in details. But it still wouldn't hurt to study all the main chores and stuff.
2. Keigo. Again I don't know how essential it is, but I still want to learn the basics of postman's vocabulary (I think it would do) and so on.
3. Physical training. 9 hours in a saddle maybe quite tough. But I think it's not so hard as it seems to be. I'm cycling almost every day, so I should have no problems with my body.
 
There is no way of being sure you will get a job. And your qualifications (or lack thereof) for it have nothing to do with it. You'd better be prepared to deal with rejection if you're going to step outside the "normal" type of work done by foreigners.

And you are vastly lowballing the importance of language ability for this job.
 
A little off-topic but single speed are interesting. After considering it for a while, I still find it hard to believe that single speed bikes are actually faster. And Tokyo is not that flat, there are hills everywhere. When I am going behind a single-speed bike at the same speed, I pass that bike as soon as the first little hill comes up. Accelerating is slower, too, but that doesn't make that big of a difference.
 
There is no way of being sure you will get a job. And your qualifications (or lack thereof) for it have nothing to do with it. You'd better be prepared to deal with rejection if you're going to step outside the "normal" type of work done by foreigners.

And you are vastly lowballing the importance of language ability for this job.
What would you recommend then? Apply now or train language skills?

A little off-topic but single speed are interesting. After considering it for a while, I still find it hard to believe that single speed bikes are actually faster. And Tokyo is not that flat, there are hills everywhere. When I am going behind a single-speed bike at the same speed, I pass that bike as soon as the first little hill comes up. Accelerating is slower, too, but that doesn't make that big of a difference.
SS bikes ARE faster, for the reason that the rider (if he rides it regularly) is much stronger than an average cyclist. And I have no problems with hills, I can't gear down, so I have to go uphill with good speed (25+ km/h). There's no really long uphill paths within Tokyo, so I don't get tired.
 
What would you recommend then? Apply now or train language skills?

I have no idea what your actual abilities are. I merely pointed out that you're lowballing the importance of Japanese ability to that job.

If you really think you want to do this, then put together a 履歴書 hunt up contact info for prospective employers, and start calling around for job interviews.

I have no idea if you personally can or can not get the job. But I would like to say that if I had posted something similar back when I first contemplated driving trucks in Japan (the internet wasn't around yet), I am sure I would have met with nothing but naysayers. If you have the balls to step outside the box, go for it. I could use the company.
 
I have never met a foreign bike messenger on Tokyo's streets, but I have to agree with Mike. Why not trying it?


And better bike? I always thought that a track bicycle is ideal for bike messenger job. It's cheap and fast.

The majority of messengers in Tokyo uses cheap road bikes or MTBs. Track bikes are useful, as they don't require a lot of maintenance. I have seen messengers using fixies without brakes. That looks cool, but is actually sheer lunacy in city traffic.


Yeah, single speed is a miracle. Much faster than all that fancy road bikes. I'm going faster than them, easily.

I seriously doubt that. I have never seen a FG biker outrunning a road bike. I'd love to see a fixie guy climbing up Yasukuni-dori or Sakurada-dori near Gotanda, not to mention serious hills like in the very west of Tokyo.
:)


I personally wouldn't ride Sora (much less Shimano - I'm a Campy man). You get what you pay for.

Sora IS Shimano. Shimano is a logical choice in Japan, as Campy is not only unreasonably expensive, but Ultegra or Dura-Ace can easily keep up with Italian grupos in terms of quality and durability.


Anyhow, for more technical bicycle talk, I invite you to visit our sister site at tokyocycle.com.
🙂
 
SS bikes ARE faster, for the reason that the rider (if he rides it regularly) is much stronger than an average cyclist. And I have no problems with hills, I can't gear down, so I have to go uphill with good speed (25+ km/h). There's no really long uphill paths within Tokyo, so I don't get tired.
Come on now. That's not true in the slightest. Riding a fixie doesn't inherently make you stronger than other riders. That simply comes with proper training. Now given the same power at the crank and same aerodynamics, a fixie will give you a higher speed - you don't have the inefficiency of the rear derailleur (fixed gear is more efficient mechanically). That extra 1-2% gained has me thinking of sometime riding fixed gear in one of my 40k time trials.

BTW, yes I know Sora is Shimano. And you can find Campy quite easily in Japan (easier than here in Houston). I've seen it in the half dozen or so shops I've been to in Japan.
 
For all the fixation on and contentiousness over the arcane niceties of various types of equipment and their manufacturers.....it will matter not one iota when it comes time to put the figurative rubber to the road (actually make a concrete move towards becoming employed, rather than talking about it on the internet).

Over the years I've fielded quite a few questions from westerners who seek to move outside traditional employment in Japan. To date, I have yet to hear back from one who actually got off his duff and did something about it.

They remind me of the tale of an old married couple sitting on their front porch. The man had a constant grimace and every few minutes would let out a painful and plaintive moan. After a while, his wife asked what was wrong.

"I'm sitting on a nail."

"Then get up and move!"

"Oh...I'll get used to it eventually."

An allegory for the "I-hate-Eikaiwa-but-what-else-can-I-do?" long(ish)-term Eikaiwa teachers if I ever heard one. I'd love to hear back from the OP in the near future that he has actually taken steps to seek this sort of employment, whether he actually gets hired or not. No offense meant to the OP, but based on past experience I really don't expect to. Do me a favor and surprise the hell out of me.
 
LOL !! I like that picture drawn up there Mike Cash san !! I can just see a slow moving elderly-like couple sitting in that front porch swing at some way out in the country house.

I also, hope you can do it Tadashi san !! Make it happen !!

Now...all this talk about bikes, and I start to get the itches to get one myself. I did so much riding back in highschool, and some in Arizona too. Oh how I do miss being in the saddle!! MM
 
Consider this - most jobs you won't be going more than 2km, if that. What bike you ride and how fast you are is not going to matter so much, how well you do in an interview and how well you understand Japanese is going to be vastly more important, and there is no special vocab to understand, its "take this to Mr A in Building B".
 
Consider this - most jobs you won't be going more than 2km, if that. What bike you ride and how fast you are is not going to matter so much, how well you do in an interview and how well you understand Japanese is going to be vastly more important, and there is no special vocab to understand, its "take this to Mr A in Building B".

You underestimate the importance of language skills even more than the OP did.

When I decided to try to get a job driving trucks, I was extremely anxious worrying if my Japanese was going to be good enough. A couple of years later, things were going well enough with me that my company decided to take a chance on another foreigner, a Tunisian. Unfortunately, his take was exactly the opposite of mine. His idea was, "My Japanese isn't very good, so something like this is all I can do." Nothing could have been more profoundly mistaken.

My job even today requires very little verbal interaction...probably not more than two minutes a day, on average. But just because there is little of it doesn't mean that I can get by with a half-assed grasp of the language. You have to keep in mind that what I do, and what the bike messengers do, is unique in that we take very valuable items entrusted to us by the customers and then move them around unsupervised. That means anything that comes up, you'd damned well better have the language/cultural skills to straighten it out and do it on your own. He'll have to deal with the company environment at work, talking probably quite extensively over the phone each day, both to dispatch and to customers, and he'll have to have good reading skills as well. He's going to have to do a good job of selling himself, largely based on personality and language skills, or he's never going to make it past the interview stage anyway. Being able to comprehend just simple "Take this from Point A to Point B" sentences is not going to cut it.

The largest potential problem, I suspect, will be that employers will not want him based on being a foreigner....and that will be because they will assume, rightly or wrongly, that some or all of their clients would balk at turning over valuable packages to him. And when I say "valuable packages", that is precisely what I mean. Japanese securities laws require that stocks/bonds traded actually physically change hands at the end of the trading day. They can't do like in some other countries and just keep an updated log of who actually owns what. Bicycles haul securities back and forth between brokerage houses, which tend to be geographically concentrated (making bicycles practical).
 
Ah, sorry Mike, I meant the same as you did but just did not put it eloquently enough.

The OP seems less worried about his general Japanese skill and more about "specialised vocabulary", which would be the last thing I would worry about - it would be just as you said, his general Japanese level and ability to cope with fairly normal circumstances that counts. He isn't going to have customers speaking to him in some sort of bizarre slang that only bicycle messengers use, but in everyday Japanese, and that's where the make/break is going to happen.
 
I know only one thing. I'll try my best getting this job!! Whatever it takes to.

I'm dying to hear about further developments in your quest.

Have you taken concrete steps? Or was talking about it on the internet enough to get it out of your system?
 
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