The scooter has found a niche market in Japan's capital as an alternative means of transport in a city where commuters fight an exhausting daily battle in crowded trains and bustling streets to get to work - and back home again.

The two-wheelers, a sort of skateboard with handlebars, are reminiscent of the children's toy popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

Since their debut here last spring, they have been selling like hotcakes among young Japanese as a quick way to get around crowded Tokyo streets.

For some the scooter is a means of commuting, for others a fashion statement.

The scooter's charm is that aside from being fun, easy to use and trendy, it folds up and can be carried on Japan's notoriously crowded commuter trains, making it attractive not only to teenagers but also to office workers in their 20s and 30s.

"I first used it as a toy, but I realized it could be used for work too because it's easy to move around with," said 26-year-old computer engineer Kenji Sakai.

Retailers' surprise

The scooter craze, which has really taken off in recent months, has taken retailers by surprise.

"We doubted at first whether this item would really sell," said Gen Asanuma, assistant manager at sports shop ASR. "But once you try it, you find out it's fun to ride."

Would-be owners must now join a waiting list several months long to buy the coveted item - at a price of between 15,000 yen and 40,000 yen ($135-$360), depending on whether you chose a two-wheeler or a three-wheeler.

K2 Japan, local subsidiary of the Los Angeles-based sports equipment company K2 which unveiled the three-wheeled "K2" scooter in 1999, sold out of its first batch of 300 scooters last April in just three days.

Buoyed by the success in Tokyo, K2 plans to expand its business to seven other Asian nations and regions starting with Hong Kong this year.

A practical alternative

One element behind the fad is Tokyo's chronic shortage of parking space - not only for cars but for bicycles.

Using the bicycle to get from home to the nearest train station is a common choice among Tokyo commuters where expensive rents force people to live far away from public transport.

But a shortage of parking space near stations is becoming a problem for cyclists.

Pedestrians complain the lines of bicycles parked along the streets block their way, but commuters refuse to change even at the risk of having their bicycles taken away for illegal parking or being stolen.

"With the scooters, you don't have to worry about parking or theft," said K2's Kazuo Horie.

Good manners

Whether the scooters will be yet another short-lived craze or become an alternative means of transport may depend not on price, convenience or fashion - but on good manners.

Reckless riders weaving at speed through crowded streets have already raised the ire of authorities and pedestrians.

Police have warned against using the scooters - and have said they may even be banned - as some fanatics can reach speeds of up to 30 kph in one of the world's most densely populated cities.

One 17-year-old youth crashed into a woman on his scooter late last year, seriously injuring her. The rider, in the first legal case to involve a scooter, was charged with violating traffic laws.

Fans, worried the incident may eventually provoke a ban, are acting to protect the scooter by holding safety seminars.

"The November accident could have been avoided if the rider had the proper techniques," said Seigo Maruyama, an avid scooter user who organized the seminar after seeing friends injured by scooter riders.

"If you only think of yourself, then the scooter becomes a weapon," said Takayuki Ninomiya, one seminar participant who commutes to work on his new scooter.

Ninomiya defends the scooter as an eco-friendly vehicle that can be enjoyed by people of almost any age. "What's left is the problem of manners. If the adults who use it act sensibly, then the scooter will stay."

(Agencies via Xinhua)