Yes, I definitely think so too. And the article about cycling in tokyo he links to [1] hints at this more. I've cycled very extensively in tokyo over the years i lived there and the experience he describes sounds, ironically, totally foreign to me. Tokyo's a wonderful and extremely safe place to cycle, which is of course why millions of people do so. To see such an inexplicably and exaggeratedly negative rant about something I rarely had anything but positive experiences with makes me think there's more than a few personal issues colouring the author's viewpoint.
> "the vast majority of cyclists in Tokyo are criminally irresponsible"
I mean that is just a ludicrous assertion which basically makes me ignore whatever else the author has to say. No wonder he gets dismissed in arguments if that's the sort of thing he comes out with.
There are plenty of examples in the article which are equally foreign to me (repeated intimidation during gaijin card checks? Huh? I had one, ever, and they were unfailingly polite). Japan isn't perfect, not even close, but it's not this bad.
[1] http://blog.uchujin.co.uk/2012/07/cycling-in-tokyo-irrespons...
It's their blog, so they're welcome to bitch and moan as much as they want. But this strikes me as one of those people who are frequently told to lighten up.
Disclaimer: I've spent most of my life living in areas where bicycles outnumber cars, so my standards are likely different from yours.
And I indeed witnessed a total disregard for most safety measures, disregard for pedestrians etc.. While I wouldn't go around and make a documentary out of it, it was indeed a weird phenomena to witness.