Gunning our engines in front of our apartment block, we are on the verge of riding our bicycles to our local shopping centre for a very ordinary Sunday afternoon of shopping here. I thought perhaps I would like to browse for a new pair of gloves now that the weather has taken a turn for the cooler. The jackets shown in the photographs were not really essential when we set out as it was a warmish 15 degrees Celsius. The days are shortening however and when the sky begins to darken, which is around 4:45pm these days, a coat becomes much appreciated.
I try not to talk about our bikes when I am speaking English because then I slip up and use the same word when I am speaking with Japanese speakers and a "bike" in Japanese is a motorbike, and from there the conversation spirals into chaos and confusion. Of course, I could just use the Japanese word, "jitensha" but that somehow does not slide off the tongue as easily.
Despite the slippery semantics, we do love our bicycles because they help us make trips to the shops without too much fuss. In fact, we discovered the existence of an impressively large shopping complex close to us (and our destination on Sunday) during one of our early reconnaissance missions. Without our bicycles, by foot it would take thirty minutes to walk there, or we would have to catch a not-so regular bus and as this would require advance planning, it would probably never happen.
We have even ridden to the local golf driving range on them as we have a golf bag with shoulder straps. Only ever side-swiped an electricity pole once, thankfully managed to miss all living obstacles met along our path (so far). After living in places where moving around is difficult due to high levels of traffic, it has been a joy to regain our mobility independence. Tokyo is also a city of layers and viewing it from the street reveals much of its character.
We are not alone in being crazy about our machines as when I returned to Tokyo this year, I noticed many more bicycles on the footpaths compared to past periods when I have lived in Japan. After the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011, many people were scared and they switched to using bicycles for their personal transportation because these are a reliable form of transportion during emergencies. Due to the increase in the number and age of cyclists, there are even special bicycle accident insurance policies for elderly people available. Although in my opinion the more dangerous cyclists tend to be the younger women who ride against traffic i.e. in my way. I was advised that visualising them splattered with a paint-ball was one way to reduce any feelings of frustration, and I can report it is an effective ploy.
Leaving my bicycle unchained anywhere in public is also risky as theft is rife. There is something about the cycling world that lets loose an avalanche of unlawful acts by its inhabitants. This occurs in sharp contrast to most other spheres of society where rules are upheld as golden. The registration system for bicycles does not seem to deter certain elements. The police do sometimes check for proof of possession and when I gave away my older bicycle through freecycle earlier in the year, I had to draw up papers to transfer ownership to ensure the new owner would not encounter any problems.
Our shopping centre (mall) was packed with masses of people who all had the same idea to escape inside from the gloomy overcast sky outdoors. The bustling crowds reminded us of the Glorietta mall in Makati city in the Philippines. Engineer husband's last project in Northern Luzon was to build a weather radar tower which was funded with a low interest yen-loan.
It is gratifying to think his work had contributed in a small way to the Philippines receiving some advance warning of the arrival of the super typhoon Yolanda / Haiyan. The devastation seen through media such as YouTube is reminiscent of the 2011 tsunami in Japan however and the scale of the typhoon means that merely receiving advance warning was never going to be enough to save everyone. It is truly sad. As a friend who is living in Manila commented, "there seems to be one universal truth whenever something like this happens, it's the poor who suffer the most."
I never found the gloves I wanted. But I am thankful for a stable and safe life. Life goes on as usual for the time being. And that is wonderful!
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