---
title: "Japan’s Youngest Bike Friday Owner"
url: https://bikefriday.com/japans-youngest-bike-friday-owner/
type: post
date: 2017-08-30
modified: 2025-06-03
markdown_url: https://bikefriday.com/japans-youngest-bike-friday-owner.md
author: "mattc"
---

# Japan’s Youngest Bike Friday Owner

![](https://bikefriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/R0003882.jpeg)

*Naoki Kawashima saved New Year’s gift money and has a part-time job, on top of his busy academic schedule, in order to buy a Bike Friday.*



The following is an interview with Naoki Kawashima, who at only 18 years of age, bought himself a Pocket Rocket, making him the youngest Bike Friday owner in Japan! Naoki is a student of a technical college in Japan, which will provide him a five-year education and an associate degree upon graduation. He is studying architectural design.


This interview was conducted with Naoki at the time of his bike-fitting by Mutsuko Nagatsuma, co-owner of [ehicle](http://blog.livedoor.jp/ehicle/) bike shop in Tokyo.




**Q. What are your hobbies?**
**A.** Bike riding. I have a hybrid bicycle and ride it along the riverside bike path. Seeing that I got my bike, my father also bought himself a new bike, perhaps feeling that it is nice to have a bike. He is 49 years old. My father and I get up early in the morning and ride bikes together.
Before having had a hybrid bike, I had a comfort bike (granny's bike or everyday bike). When I was 11 years old, my father told me to try to ride up to the sea by bike. We pedaled tens of kilometers, and I first became aware of the power of a bike. It never crossed my mind that I would be able to do something like this with my bike.





**Q. Do you participate in extracurricular activities?**
**A.** I used to belong to the basketball club, because of Manga. I have to work very hard, but I found I like to run. I love to run at my own pace. I also pedal at my own pace.





**Q. How did you come to hear about BIKE FRIDAY?**
**A.** I started to ride a hybrid bicycle when I was 15 years old and made a lot of friends through bike riding. Around at 16 years old, I started to learn more things about bikes and I discovered BIKE FRIDAY on the internet. I don’t remember exactly how I found my way to BIKE FRIDAY. After one year of researching their bicycles, at 17 years old, I came here to *ehicle* and I decided to order it one year later.





**Q. Why did you like BIKE FRIDAY?**
**A.** It just so happened that, when I was using the internet, a picture of a BIKE FRIDAY caught my eye. I knew that that was it, I loved BIKE FRIDAY at first sight. Though my friends bought other road bikes, I thought, my bike must be a BIKE FRIDAY!





**Q. When buying a BIKE FRIDAY became part of your future cycling plans, what did you imagine yourself doing with it? Where do you want to go with your BIKE FRIDAY?**
**A.** I would like to try something like riding my bike as far as I can and then taking the train home with my bike. I don’t like racing, but I want to try to attend bike events in rural areas.
Anyway, I want to visit many places in Japan. During my life, I want to go to every unfamiliar place in Japan.





**Q. What do you think so far, after the bike-fitting?**
**A.** As I’ve never had a custom road bike … I don't quite know exactly what to expect, but I expect that my order and my frame size are checked in detail. I understand that BIKE FRIDAY will give me exactly what I like … I am still having a hard time selecting a color.





**Q. Final word.**
**A.** I’d like to ask BIKE FRIDAY's staff to continue to make great products for years to come.
I can only speak Japanese, but I want to go abroad. I also take interest in visiting the BIKE FRIDAY factory and want to meet Mr. Alan Scholz.





![](https://bikefriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/R0003455.jpg)
*The first test ride and fitting!*





![](https://bikefriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/R0003458.jpg)
*Looking over the design options*





![](https://bikefriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/R0003872.jpeg)
*New bike day! Naoki's bike arrives in Tokyo*





![](https://bikefriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/R0003878.jpeg)
*Going over the folding and unfolding*





![](https://bikefriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/R0003874.jpeg)

## And, finally, the first ride!





![](https://bikefriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/R0003870.jpeg)

![](https://bikefriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/R0003867.jpeg)

![](https://bikefriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/R0003868.jpeg)

![](https://bikefriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/R0003869.jpeg)




To learn more about the bike that inspired Naoki, check out the Pocket Rocket!