Link to an article I was sent from a mate in Tokyo on the popularity of fixies in Japan. It mentions Rene who posts here occasionally.
[trAVEL]
In the land of pimped push bikes
LEE BROWN
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fv20080608lb.html
I saw hardly any fixed gears when I was in Japan earlier this year. I saw a couple outside a fashion shop in Shinjuku (looked like they had never been ridden). One out side a book store in Shibuya. And a bike shop that was full of them (and impossible cool looking dudes with impossible cool looking outfits) in Kouenji.
I didn’t see any in Osaka or Kyoto or any of the other places I went besides Tokyo.
That was it. Hardly the fixed gear mecca the article makes it out to be.
What I did see was about 400million identical 3 speed townie bikes. Thats what I think of when I think Japan and cycling