Touristic ride through Tokyo

After the all-night ride yesterday, today after sleeping in, I decided on a short city tour to visit some touristic spots I hadn't visited before: 

• St. Mary Cathedral 
• Koishikawa Botanical Garden

Well, I didn't really make it to both, because while on the subway to my starting point at Myogadani station, I surfed through the internet to get more information on the garden and found Koishikawa Korakuen to be highly recommended. So I left the Koishikawa Botanical Garden for an other time. As I had started my day late, there was definitely not sufficient time for all three.

I took on of those children-size rental bicycles relatively close to Myogadani station (but not really close)...

... and cycled to the church, which is interesting from an architectonical point of view. I wasn't really able to take very good pictures of it, because outside it was kind of hard to get far enough from the building to put it all into one picture...

... and inside there were a lot of artificial light which would have disturbed the photo...

... so for better pictures check out here: https://www.archdaily.com/114435/ad-classics-st-mary-cathedral-kenzo-tange

It was a very quiet experience. Not a lot of tourists, definitely no other foreigners and some apparently deeply devoted worshippers sitting and praying in silence.

After a while I made it back on my small bicycle and onwards to the Koishikawa Korakuen. When buying the entrance ticket I heard from the garden strange songs, so initially thought that there was some traditional Japanese performance ongoing in the garden... I could not have been wronger... well, in a certain sense at least. The sound and songs came from the adjacent Tokyo Dome where a baseball match was ongoing vividly supported. Additionally the playful panic shrieks from the Korakuen amusement park also filled the air. So not really a tranquil Japanese garden experience, but still nice enough.

Garden in the front, Tokyo Dome on the right, roller coaster on the left

Complete with a red Japanese bridge and also not too many tourists.

What I noticed during this day however was that in odd places around the city large groups, 50 or more people, had "gathered" all standing either isolated or in very small groups of 2 or 3 people staring on their smartphones and catching Pokemon.

I resisted the temptation and cycled to my temporary home close to Hamamatsucho. Close to the apartment there was even a short stretch of bicycle lane:

One thing I really noticed with these rides through Tokyo, is HOW flat the Netherlands are. E.g. a 14 km ride through Leiden has a total ascent of 12 m..., while a 12 km ride through Tokyo gets 336 m ascent without really being a very hilly experience either. 

Tokyo all night with NPC

Tonight, once again 3rd Saturday of the month, Tokyo Night Pedal Cruising night. In August always with the all night ride through Tokyo departing at midnight until sunrise (and beyond). 

But the evening started many hours earlier in Enoshima on the beach with a sunset behind Mount Fuji:

... after a day we had spent in Kamakura (but without any bicycle), just normal feet.

Back in Tokyo I left from our temporary apartment in Daimon to pick up a rental bicycle from Docomo in Shibuya. Luckily in Shibuya there are quite many pick up locations not too far from the station. What I did not know how these bicycles are actually charged. I had assumed that they are being charged somehow automatically through the docking stations where one has to park them. But always wondered how this really works, as the bikes just kind of dock with their front wheel. I had just assumed that Japanese technology is so advanced that they manage to safely charge the battery through the rubber wheel. But during the ride I learnt that no, actually there are people coming through Tokyo every morning manually collecting the batteries and replacing them with full ones. Which also means that the later the day gets the emptier the batteries. But I was lucky, I got a bicycle with a full battery that brought me the full 40 km through the night of Tokyo. It obviously helps to conserve battery by switching on the オートエコ (auto-eco) mode. However at least at night it is not possible to switch of the electrical assistance completely, because otherwise the light doesn't work. And while I don't like the full electrical assistance, the light version of it is very nice up hill (where I easily surpassed many of the other riders) and when starting at a red light, because these docomo cycles, for tiny they are, they are heavy!

First we rode to Shinjuku and then in a big circle to Tokyo station: 

This time, probably thanks to the perfect weather (no unbearable heat, actually it got a bit chilly during the night that I needed to put on a light cardigan that I had brought) and to the fact that it was the 10 year anniversary ride, we were a big group. Initially probably around 30. A few dropped off relatively early (at Tokyo station) but when we arrived at the final destination (Shiba Park) we were still quite a big an very heterogenous group of riders. 3 docomo rental riders, 2 riders on very small foldable bikes, one rider on a mamachari, some more foldable bikes, some racing bikes, 2 carrier bikes, .... really all sorts of bicycles. And all sorts of people who enjoy being out there on the streets of Tokyo with friends riding through the night. 

For the 10 year anniversary the organizers even had prepared a specific towel for the occasion: 

Riding on through the night versus 2 am the city gets very quiet. No trains any more, much less people around. But already around 4 am the sun came up again. Between the time that someone said (in Ryokoku) that the sun seems to come up, to the point where it was already quite bright only a few minutes passed. Maybe less than 10. 

Riding on through the now early morning we passed through Asakusa: 

Everyone was getting more and more tired and as now the first trains started some of the "foldable people" started to drop of to get on a train back home. But for me (I could have left my rental bicycle at one of the many stations in central Tokyo), the final destination of the ride was so convenient. Shiba Koen, really just a few hundered meters away from our temporary apartment. So I stayed until the end, to the final bye-bye. 

Last time I participated in this ride was back in January. In April unfortunately the ride wasn't on the 3rd Saturday as normally but the 4th, and I was already back in the Netherlands by then. 

Tired I arrived at home shortly before 7 am and off to bed. Not before saying good-bye to my husband who went for a day hiking in Mitake. Not my pair of shoes.

Very short ride to Tokyo station and back by Yamanote line

Today I left work quite early (shortly before 18:00) with the idea to get to my hairdresser in Shimokitazawa... but when confirming their opening hours, I discovered that they are closed on Tuesdays. So plan B, a bit of a cycling ride in the centre of Tokyo. It got surprisingly cold since tonight, so cycling was definitely a good idea... but... also the rain was approaching. But I set off nevertheless.

I reserved a cycle (the only one) at a Docomo cycling station close to Hamamatsucho, and got on it. Well ON is probably not the right directional indication. Actually I more got DOWN to it, so small was it. More like a children bike. 

Right when I started the ride the first drops of water started to fall. But only a few and I decided that I wasn't made of sugar, so did set off, with the general idea to go to Tokyo station and then once around the imperial palace. Well, I got to Ginza...

But right when I was waiting at a traffic light at Tokyo station for it to turn green the rain became more insistent so I initially took shelter under the arcades of a building, checked the appropriate rain app and saw that more rain was coming.

Luckily enough I was right in front of a docomo bike share station (which I even knew from previous experience). So I left the bike there, run over the street to JR station, took a Yamanote line back to Hamamatsucho and went through the underground passage to the closest exit to our temporary home. Here the rain wasn't so bad, so I got home pretty dry.