As uncommon as this photo may seem to most Americans, it is rather typical, not just in Tokyo, but in most major urban centers throughout the world.
Businessmen on Bikes in Minato, Tokyo (2010, P. Lydon)
My friend Raymond Yeung once remarked how California has nearly year-round biking weather. It’s an ideal place for people to embrace zero pollution transportation mechanisms, yet our communities are designed for driving, period. Not just driving to the grocery store either, but driving to the office supply store afterward, because it is on the other side of a ridiculously long 1/2 mile strip mall.
Even so, bikes are getting more and more popular in San Jose, California, where friend Josh Hires recently had an exhibition on bikes (albeit, on bikes in Europe), and where thousands of bike riders gather every month for the San Jose Bike Party. But those are more statements than actual every day use, and in the case of the latter they often make the general public less supportive of bicycles, viewing them as more of a nuisance than a proper alternative mode of transportation.
Typical bicycle parking in San Jose, California (2008, P. Lydon)
Unfortunately even San Jose mayor Chuck Reed — who is an avid cyclist — has a bicycle plan that seems just as hum-ho as any other wanna-be-green city. It’s nice to have new street-side bike lanes and all, but that’s hardly groundbreaking or innovative.
Some of the more mature cities throughout the world think about integrated plans for transportation, so that bicycles work in concert with other parts of community design. It’s not just the way we build bicycle lanes, trains, and roads, it is a matter of building housing, business, and retail developments that work with those infrastructure developments. I noticed that Barcelona does it nicely, and they make it a statement, and a priority, rather than an afterthought.
Integrated Transportation in Barcelona, Spain (2009, P. Lydon)
So far, Tokyo-proper isn’t spectacular at the bicycle part, but it’s probably at least in part because they hardly need bicycles in the urban core. The mass transit provides such excellent coverage and is so well-planned along with the density, that bicycles are far less frequent in the center of the city — save for the package-delivery-boy-on-a-fixie type.
Most of the lanes that are here, however, run along with the widespread park system, which usually makes for a beautiful and peaceful ride away from traffic.
A Bicyclist in Asakusa's Sumida Park, Tokyo (2010, P. Lydon)
In the areas just outside of Tokyo, where density begins to fall off and transportation is appropriately further spaced, you’ll see about one hundred times more bicycles… possibly an exaggeration, but the following scene is pretty typical of the lower-density urban areas surrounding Tokyo.
Bicycle Parking Lot in Ichikawa, Japan (2010, P. Lydon)
In these areas, bicycle commuting is simply a way of life. Homes, apartments, and restaurants, all have bicycle parking. Even the local shopping mall has an underground bicycle parking lot instead of a car parking lot.
Underground bicycle parking at a shopping mall in Ichikawa, Japan (2010, P. Lydon)
People tend to think that Japanese are more fit, more thin, and more healthy than Americans because of their diet, and yes, the diet definitely has much to do with it. But their entire lifestyle is different, and that includes the way they get around…
A mother carries her baby in a "bicycle baby seat" in Ichikawa, Japan (2010, P. Lydon)
