I've always wanted to cycle around Tokyo, despite not owning a bike. After our impromptu bus tour last week, I decided to finally do the deed on Tuesday and rent a bike, cycling from Shinjuku to Ueno and taking in a new street-level view of the city along the way.
Renting a Bicycle in Tokyo
It may not look like much, but this little bike will take you places in Tokyo.
One quick-and-easy option for Tokyo bike rental is a one-day pass from NTT Docomo’s Bike Share service. They have over a thousand ports all around town, so you can pick up your red-and-black bike in one place and drop it off in another place, using Google Maps as a locator. After you purchase the ¥1,650 pass online (I did it on my phone on the train into the city), they’ll send you an email where you can get the four-digit code to unlock your bike of choice.
It may be cheating, but Docomo’s bikes are motor-assisted for slopes and such. You’ll see businessmen riding them, though the bikes have granny baskets, so I felt more like I was on a mama-chari (“mom’s bike”). My conscience is clean, though, because it was sweltering. Just days ago, the BBC reported that the world had recorded its hottest day ever, thrice in one week. So, that bike motor and lots of drinking water and sunscreen are probably the only things that kept me from dying of heatstroke.
Bike Forrest Bike
My bike tour on Tuesday started in the Nishi-Shinjuku skyscraper district. From Kabukicho, I made my way down the long avenue of Yasukuni-dori until I hit the outer moat of the former Edo Castle, around Ichigaya Station. Then, I rode parallel to the moat along Sotobori-dori, stopping off in Tokyo Dome City, where I ate lunch for the first time at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., of all places. Because dining at a restaurant inspired by Forrest Gump is the only way to go when you’re in the middle of what feels like a cross-country trek.
That really landed for me when the staff introduced me to their ordering system: how you flag down your server by changing the license plate on your table from “Run Forrest Run” to “Stop Forrest Stop.”
Forrest made another stop-off in Akihabara before he got to the Sumida River. From there, I hit up Tokyo Skytree (just the base of it), Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa, and Ueno Park (including Benten-do Temple, Shinobazu Pond, and Ueno Toshogu Shrine).
Cycling the Sky Bus Route
It’s rather freeing to breeze through the bike lane on the sidewalks of Tokyo if all you’ve ever done is walk or take the train or taxi here. It’s also interesting to see how all the different parts of the metropolis connect geographically. Despite revisiting several well-known city landmarks, however, what made this bike tour a singular experience was taking in the occasional new sight, like the one of that green bridge in the first photo, back up top.
Google tells me that bridge is Matsuzumi-cho Overpass. It was built in 1932, and though it looks like the kind of bridge you’d see spanning the Sumida River (or the Kanda River, which is just around the corner from it), it passes right over the road. Sobu Line trains chug across it on their way in and out of Akihabara Station.
As I rode past Kappabashi Kitchen Town on the way from Asakusa to Ueno, a Sky Bus of the “hop-on, hop-off” variety passed me by, following the same course. It wasn’t an open-top bus like the one we rode last week, but I leave you with a few additional photos of other landmarks from that day.
At this point, the only thing I haven’t done, transportation-wise, in Tokyo is rent a car. That will probably never happen, given that I haven’t driven at all since leaving the U.S. in 2010 and having my car sold off there.
At least Tokyo has good public transportation. And when all else fails, you can always rent a bike.
