Japanese Culture: Mamachari

Since the blog topic was free choice among Japanese culture, it was hard for me to decide what to write about. Also, I wanted write about something that is not really known by foreigners who have not came to Japan. However, I decided to introduce Mamachari (ママチャリ) since it is really popular in Japan.

Basically, Mamachari is a bycicle for wifes' who have small children. As you can see from the photo, Mamachari is electronic and have baskets to carrier children. The maximum to put baskets is two and the child should be less than 2 or 3 years old. This type of bicycles are helpful for wifes' because of the usefulness. I guess the number of people who don't have drivers license led to an invention of this kind of bicycle Mamachari. It is easy taking children to kindergartens and shopping groceries.
Moreover, because of the increase of Mamachari users, now there are many fashionable and creative Mamachari's sold in the markets. The seats for children have changed compared to the one's from the past which were usually just a hard square basket but now there are seats made comfortably to sit in.

However, even though the Mamachari's are useful, there are demerits that can be risky for your child. Placing the child seat in the back can be harmful for your child since it is invisible. Also, placing two seats can be hard to balance the bicycle so it can cause accidents.


When I googled the word "Mamachari", I found a interesting competition called "Mamachari race" . As it is, the race is to compete by riding Mamachari. The website tells us that your やる気(motivation) is important to win this competition. If you have やる気 and you wish to join this race check here(Retrieved from http://www.japan-racing.jp/fsw/12/12mama.htm).