Sounds like it's a decent commuter-ish bike? You don't see many of those in the US compared to places like Europe or in your case Japan. Probably because ther

Sounds like it's a decent commuter-ish bike? You don't see many of those in the US compared to places like Europe or in your case Japan. Probably because there's less of a market for them in the US. What the OP is probably thinking of is the crappy bikes you get at supermarkets, where the quality is really not very good, and they're assembled by someone who is not paying attention. Sometimes they try and look like a more expensive bike: front shocks, lots of gears and so on. The commuter bikes in Europe were, on the other hand, built with that in mind - big fenders, more upright position, and fairly rugged if not lightweight construction. You wouldn't mistake them for a bike you'd want to go on a long ride with.