Japan | Bromptoneering or bust

Brompton in Palace… Tokyo

Posted on September 14, 2017 by helenhmk

One of our goals while on holiday was attending the “Brompton in Palace” meet and ride, which falls on the second Sunday every two months. While booking our flights we were careful to ensure we were in Tokyo the right day. Thankfully we were as over 100 Brompton owners & their bikes turned up for the event.

It was very impressive, seeing all the modifications and adjustments individuals had made to their bike. From customised parts to personal creative designs for different fittings. Impressive passionate owners!

Once everyone had turned up after the appointed time, the number was counted – in Japanese of course, which I understood. The bikes were then placed in order of colour.

…and they certainly looked impressive

Every Sunday between 10-3 the road in front of the Imperial Palace is closed for cycling. A cycling group provides lessons for younger kids to have a go. You also see a wide range of cyclists – roadies, families, tandem, and tourists. Not everyone wears helmets either- it’s up to the individual.

Afterwards a large number of people had a pasta meal, which was enjoyable.

Sadly, it was the last meet. A permit has to be obtained prior to each meeting, and the organiser has been told they group are not able to meet there anymore. It will be interesting to see what they continue to do as there are a number of passionate owners in Japan who meet and talk bikes.

The person is this photo is Mayumi, leader of Brompton in Palace, and she initiated the meets starting. Full credit to her, as it’s not easy to arrange something voluntarily for people to attend. The numbers on Sunday certainly demonstrate support for the event. We had a really great time and grateful and appreciative of the kindness showed by everyone we’ve met associated with Brompton bikes in Japan. We look forward to seeing what develops with the group- but hopeful we will cycle with them again!

Cycling Tokyo…!

Posted on September 13, 2017 by helenhmk

Cycling is a great way to see a city and understand how al the different parts connect to one another. You begin to realise how close places are when you are cycling instead of using the underground/metro systems. Many years ago on one of our first trips in Tokyo we spent 30 minutes by train to get to a block around the corner from where we were! At the time our friend laughed when explaining we just had to walk! Still it makes for a good story.

This time round, on Saturday we spent time cycling with our Brompton bicycle friends.

I will acknowledge it was great to just follow someone else and not read a map.

We stopped off at a shop which sold pickled goods (sorry if I’m explaining it correctly). The owner enables you to try the product before you buy – so enjoyable & tasty!

Great looking public toilets!

Underground bike parking..

We were also taken to a monja restaurant – well truthfully a whole street full of them! Amazing! The best part is we didn’t have to worry about attempting to order as our friends did this for us – so wonderful, thank you!

Let’s not mention the notice on the bikes after when we went to unlock them!

Yes… everyone taking photos!

It truely was a great day on the bike – we loved it!

Hedgehogs…

Posted on September 12, 2017 by helenhmk

On holiday when travelling with others it’s important to do a mix of what each other wants. Today it was my choice to go to the Harry the hedgehog cafe! I booked it online (very simple).

It was pretty easy to find… as we had parked our bikes near-by by chance.

Naturally, Kym mastered the art of picking them up and then placing them in the ball position.

The cafe also sells them as pets, as it is allowed in Japan.

We must have caught the off peak time (between 1-2), as not many people were present.

This one is a year old. He eats a lot, and should do more exercise on his wheel… but he doesn’t!

Staff were friendly and had good English, and answered questions about the hedgehogs. It was pretty good fun!

Without a map…

Posted on September 10, 2017 by helenhmk

Being in a city on holiday without needing a map gives you freedom. You either have no idea where you are and happy to experience what ever comes you way – or you actually know where you are going. I can confidently say there is a small part of Tokyo I can navigate (providing it’s light) without a map. I can get my self to at least two coffee shops, a patisserie from our regular hotel in Tokyo – which is the basics in life!

Ah… Japan

Posted on September 8, 2017 by helenhmk

Gotta love cute

“I can help with your shoes”

I can keep your tray up…

…. and the city have Characters!

Things you can buy….

Personal fridge just for my lunch at work. It would fit under my desk! Don’t worry, I didn’t buy it…

Then there are things you don’t understand why –

Imagine if local government used these instead of orange cones!

Love Japan

Yesterday & today…

Posted on September 8, 2017 by helenhmk

Here in Kanazawa, it rained

Not just a little – a lot!

So it was a inside gallery, and bus day.

But, today will be sunny so we will ride!

For the cyclists…

Posted on September 6, 2017 by helenhmk

On Sunday we cycled The Shimanami Kaido. It is known as a “must do” route for cyclists. We had heard about it from our Japanese Brompton friends who have done the route and provided us information. While we aren’t in Japan for long we thought – yeah we can do 74km+ in a day on our Brompton’s!

I acknowledge to actually enjoy the area and ride and the number of side options it would be best to stay in the area a number of days. Saying that we planned just a day – and the weather was going to be a perfect 30 degrees.

As we were in Kyoto we caught the train (not the cheapest option I know!) to the beginning at Onomichi… and caught the ferry over to the beginning. We were surprised by the number of people who were hiring bikes – here is a photo of a couple!

https://flic.kr/p/XMsna

Here’s he route – we did the red line, which is considered ‘recommended’. There are other options if you have more time or need a challenge!

Along the road is a blue line you follow, so it’s hard to get lost.

As there area number of bridges, these twoo are well marked for cyclists & pedestrians.

The route takes you through working parts of the island, and areas which specialises in citrus fruit (oranges, lemons etc), so the view is mixed along with mountains and water.

Along the route, there are a number of stops you can make, which have nice views of the area – and occasionally vending machines.

Along the route you are on the same road as cars – although there is opportunity to go on a path along side the road. The condition of the road is better than many of the cycle lanes in Adelaide (unless of course they have just laid the road). The drivers were very courteous and gave plenty of space – although there is always one which goes too close!

Along the route we stopped at a little cafe for lunch – hot dog and a hamburger (not as any Australian knows it). They were kind as they filled up our water bottles too.

Riding on the bridges was fabulous. Majority of the time there was a separate line from the cars – or underneath.

There was one stop in particular (halfway point) which has a lot of spaces for cyclists and sells the local produce along with sweats etc. we enjoyed a fabulous ice cream which was orange flavoured. Funnily enough Kym went off to buy it (had to use a vending machine to get a ticket).. and had some assistance from a Japanese person, and came back and said “I should of let you do that…” haha :)

The ride itself was perfect – we really enjoyed it. Along the recommended route there are a few small challenges to get up hills to the bridge height, but nothing we couldn’t handle on the Brompton – yeah for low gears!

We made it to the last train connection back to Kyoto… weph! Given the temperature was suppose to be 30 that day we were pretty tired… and pleased to see the train station (oh those last 4kms!), and buy ekiben! It was certainly great day on the bike!

Jet lag…

Posted on September 2, 2017 by helenhmk

It’s 2:30 here in Tokyo, and I’m wide awake. I put off looking at any device for over an hour…. tried putting the tv on sleep (worked the first time!), but no luck.

Yesterday (after sleeping in until 9:30), we cycled to one of our favourite coffee shops in Tokyo – Glitch. Had a cappuccino and a cake each. It was delightful. Kym still had his frequent coffee card from last visit – we should be able to get a free one before we return home.

Over coffee we decided to go to the National Museum of Modern Art. It was in the local area, and we’ve always had it on our list but never been. After finding a convenient bike park…

…we went in. The current exhibition was on the Japanese house – architecture and life after 1945 and covered to the current time. It was a look at the different styles of houses and how & why they were built in Japan – a really fascinating exhibition, including short videos, drawings, models.

https://flic.kr/p/Y6z9ov

After looking around the rest of the exhibition we enjoyed lunch from a food truck (with beer) which was quite cheap – $15. The ticket was joint with their craft gallery. It was their 40th anniversary, and as part of the exhibition there were stamps to collect as you went round… and you got a free gift at the end – which is useful – A5 paper holder.

Well… I should try to sleep- hopefully this worked!

Yes, we went to the Socceroos match…

Posted on September 1, 2017 by helenhmk

I will acknowledge we were tired. Managed to get some sleep on the plane between Frankfurt and Tokyo (food was pretty good).

Above photo is somewhere over Japan… we did manage to see Mt Fuji in the distance above the clouds before the plane descended, and landed in rain.

The match was not the best… especially according to a few people around us. I think I could tell by the swearing, throwing bits of cardboard. I recognise we weren’t doing well (always a sign) but with the behaviour it certainly does not make Australia look good. At least there were a number of people who just wanted to sit and watch the match – we were one of those! Japan certainly had the better of the Australian team. It was great going to the match and being part of it – especially when the Japanese scored. Wow – an amazing sound.

On the train back we started to fall asleep (yeah jet lag). We managed to get back to the hotel around 11:30.

Optimism Bias

Posted on April 27, 2016 by kymdt

Japan seems to be built for optimism bias.

Optimism bias causes a person to believe that they are less at risk of experiencing a negative event compared to others.

It explains why humans sometimes don’t follow what would appear to be the objective rational path.

Helen and I have been known to exhibit optimism bias on holidays.

The most famous occasion, perhaps, was visiting the World Financial Centre building in Shanghai during a short international layover in 2009. Yes, the Maglev did travel at more than 500km/h but it didn’t mean that everything else around it wasn’t going to be slow. As we we were being shepparded into the experience room, we had this feeling we were going to miss our plan. Helen is her best ‘you can’t do that in a library’ voice demanded that we get the priority route with no experiences. Thankfully, although we were the last to enter through the international gates, we just made it.

You’d think we’d learn. But I can think some examples already from this trip where we were, perhaps, subject to optimism bias. I’ll post some of these stories on the blog with the tag “optimism bias”.

On the very first night we were booked into a Geisha Evening show. We must turn up by 5:50pm or risk losing our spot. No worries we though, we’d ride our bikes and use Google Maps. We didn’t actually know the place we were going to. I can tell you, Google Maps directed us to a back entrance we arrived at 5:49pm. A little to close for comfort – but hey we made it.

	Christmas and new ye… on December 2025 Social Ride…
	Keen Bromptoneer on December 2025 Update
	December 2025 Update… on December 2025 Social Ride…
	November 2025 Update… on November 2025 Social Ride…
	danieljgrilli on Croissants