Saturday's bold plans fell flat when I was sucked into a techie-touristy-porn vortex in Akihabara and couldn't find the river I needed to cross.
The goal was to cycle out to the Ichikawa Bridge that borders Chiba and Tokyo, one of the main bridges over the Edogawa River.
Ironically, people have been known to be arrested on that very bridge on suspicion of bicycle misappropriation. It was to be a ride back into my past on a bike I paid for myself.
It was also the night of the summer fireworks on the Edogawa River, the essence of Tokyo summer and a great photo opportunity. Couples in yukatas and geta sandals, the food stalls, the beer--and the sky lighting up above them. It sounded like a plan.
But as the fireworks were due to start flying at 7.15, I found myself sucked into the vortex of Akihabara, and swirling in hopeless circles through the geeks, the tourists, and the porn, a helmeted gombeen trying desperately to break free from the triple forces of the electric town and find the river I needed to cross. I knew I was going round in circles, but the combined triple forces of the dark side (geeks, tourists, and porn - can forces get any darker?) were just too strong.
When I say the river, I mean the Sumida. All roads in Tokyo eventually lead to the Sumida, so to get out to East Tokyo, at some point you have to cross it. On Saturday night, belly empty, stress well up from the freaky forcefield around the electrictown, the fireworks already half-over without me, I gave up and went home. You're never too long-term to get lost and disoriented in Tokyo.
On Sunday, I would try again, successfully. It was easy, really. You just follow Yasukuni Dori all the way until it brings you to the Ryogoku Bridge. No need to go near Akihabara at all. Crossing the Sumida will lead you toward Chiba. Turning right will put you on the lovely cycling course along the river. If only I'd looked at a map on Saturday night, or eaten before heading out.
To cycle in Tokyo is to get to know its rivers and its roads. The Arakawa, the Sumidagawa, the Edogawa, and the Kandagawa, to name just a few rivers. Yasukuni Dori, Gaien Higashi Dori, Meiji Dori, the Koshu Kaido, to name a few roads. There's something very special about putting the whole city together in your head as you roll around connecting the rivers and the roads.
It's also to learn to avoid the vortexes. I'd been sucked in once before at Ikebukuro, that time a vortex of vigorous Saitama shoppers in high-heels, eighties prostitute belts and fake tans, but Saturday night's one in Akihabara will take some beating.
Find the rivers, learn the roads and how to avoid the myriad vortexes--that's my advice on cycling in Tokyo.
And Akihabara Electric Town needs to be renamed: there's a lot more than electrical goods being sold there these days.
Posted by Setsunai at August 8, 2005 11:50 AMWhen I was in high school I used to cycle all over Tokyo. The smog was so bad then that the motocycle police used to carry oxygen masks. I'd cycle from the Tamagwawa area all the way to Ueno and Ginza for my part time jobs, and by the end of the day my throat would be raw from the exhaust. The air has gotten a lot cleaner since then, but there are a hell of lot more cars and more car-oriented roads; I simply don't enjoy bicycling in Tokyo any more.
That was the start of my bicycle touring mania. It was the perfect time in Japan for doing it because there were so many serious bicycle tourists at that time and it was the golden age of touring bicycle design (this was when Sun Tour first started making their wonderful bicycle parts, before an unscrupulous American company ordered thousands of their parts, dropped the order, and caused the company to go bankrupt). Wherever you went in Japan you'd pass other touring cyclists. We even had a special hand greeting, an oral greeting, and a manga dedicated specifically to us. I started bicycling all over Japan, and, at 17, had my first real adventure away from home and my parents up in Hokkaido when the roads were nearly all still dirt. A truly wild experience. Bicycle travel is still my favorite way to get around. I've had so many wonderful memories. I'm on my sixth touring bicycle now (have two at home, one a mountain bike outfitted for touring, the other a touring folder).
But I just don't like traveling by bicycle in Japan any more. You seem to spend half your time riding highway offramps and hugging the verge as trucks boom past you. Even the backroads are rife with SUV's and motocross motorcycles. Since the mountain roads that I loved so much as a kid have nearly all been regraded for cars, which don't need the points of rest that a bicyclist needs, riding up them by bicyle has become a lesson in pain. There is nothing fun about a smooth, paved road that slants upward so much that you can't comfortably stand on it, while at the same time you have to continue up and up and up and up endlessly, in deference to the modern combustion engine.
I'm thinking of starting to ride to work again, along the Koshu-Kaido and Yamate-dori (I've tried the backroads to get a more direct route, but it is a hopelessly tangled web). I miss being free of the train crowds and the freedom to go home when I like. Not to mention being in great shape.
I'm thinking Tochigi would be great for touring... haven't tried it yet, though I've been all around Ibaraki and Chiba.
Posted by: butuki at August 8, 2005 2:35 PM | Permalink to CommentI'll have to admitt that I only ride along the rivers. I think it's the open space and peace and quiet down by the Arakawa that keeps me sane in this crazy city.
Posted by: Roland at August 8, 2005 5:43 PM | Permalink to Comment