Bicycle Days is the debut novel by American author John Burnham Schwartz published in 1989 on his 24th birthday.

[1] It began as an undergraduate thesis for Harvard's East Asian Studies department and became a critically acclaimed bestseller.

[2] The book follows Alec Stern as he arrives in Tokyo, newly graduated from Yale.

He starts a new job, living with a Japanese family; the book portrays his life in Japan as he adapts to the culture, made far easier by his ability to speak Japanese ...

Reviews were generally positive : Official website