On Sept. 13, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry gave its seal of approval to a local tax that was passed last year by Tokyo's Toshima Ward. Whenever a local government in Japan passes a local tax law, the ministry must check it out before it goes into effect in order to make sure it doesn't overlap with other taxes. Toshima's is to be levied against railway companies that operate in the ward, and the revenues will be used to promote measures to solve the bicycle-parking problem around the ward's train stations. Although the ministry allowed Toshima to impose the tax, it stressed that the ward should discuss the matter further with the railways.

Naturally, the railways are opposed to the tax, which will collect from them 740 yen for every 1,000 passengers who board trains within the ward. After the tax goes into effect next year, Toshima expects to collect about 211 million yen in annual revenues, which it will use to build new bicycle parking facilities as well as disposing of abandoned bicycles.

Illegally parked bicycles are an issue everywhere in Japan, but only Toshima has looked beyond the usual solutions, which target users. These have proven ineffective and as a result bicycle riders have earned a blanket reputation for being selfish and inconsiderate. Many stations in Toshima Ward do have facilities for bicycle parking, but because they charge fees or are far from the station, many cyclists don't use them. The Toshima law, in effect, tacitly acknowledges that commuters who ride bikes to stations are so irresponsible that they are impervious to civic-minded reason.