Tokyo

Winter is coming to Tokyo

Posted on by helenhmk

While the forecast for the next week in Tokyo highlights the cooler temps are beginning to set in… Our last Monday in Tokyo was a high of 20 degrees. It was pleasantly sunny and warm.

We finished packing (arugh… always painful because it takes a long time), went for a walk, and enjoyed a lovely lunch with our friends in Hibya Midtown. Oh.. the chocolate mousse!!

From there we thought about seeing a view of Mt Fuji from Bunkyo Council but it was closed for renovations for the 12-15 months. In the end we headed to our favourite local garden Koishikawa Korakuen. The autumn leaves were stunning.

We were able to enjoy one last coffee, before heading to the airport, with one of our long time Japanese friends.

Overall… was it a great trip… yes, loved it as always. We really value the friends we’ve made in Japan over the years (both Brompton and non cycling friends), and you’ve made our experiences in Japan richer – thank you… and hopefully we will see you next year 🙌

People often ask.. what’s the best time to come… autumn, it’s really the best season in Japan.

Spoto!

Posted on by helenhmk

Ah… Brompton cyclist spotted near Blue Lug last night. Lots of signage discouraging bicycle parking near train station and shopping area. 🚲🙈

Cycling Tokyo by night

Posted on by helenhmk

The above photos were taken during a night ride on Tuesday with Kanga, a Brompton cyclist who has lived in Japan for decades.

When cycling on holiday quite often you are on a high paying attention to everything around you, frequently stopping to check your phone, are you in the right place… and at the same time paying attention to everyone around so you don’t run into people walking or cycling. It can be exhausting.. but exciting at the same time.

On Tuesday night we organised to meet up with Ryan (Kanga) an Australian Brompton rider who has lived in Japan for a number of decades. We previously met at a Brompton in Palace meet years back, and he agreed to take us go for a night ride – and as you can tell by the photos – it was a fabulous ride through Tokyo.

The start was at Tokyo station… as we dodged the pedestrians, cyclists as we made our way through the maze of streets, buildings, and over bridges. I could try and explain the directions we took, but let’s face it I got no hope in remembering the names of places, but I did recognise a number of the buildings.

Our destination was Odaiba… and the foreshore which features an amazing view of the rainbow bridge lit up along with all the surrounding buildings. On the water there were a number of boats with colourful with lights We headed towards Toyosu to look at the view of the bridges and buildings which at night – and what a view!

Tokyo Biennale 2025 inspired ride

Posted on by kymdt

Wednesday’s ride was inspired by the Tokyo Biennale.

Held every two years, the Tokyo Biennale is an international art festival that sets the city of Tokyo as its main stage. The festival aims to dig deep into the city, as it is created together with the area’s local citizens, as well as a wide variety of artists and creators from around the world. The theme of the Tokyo Biennale 2025 is “Wander for wonder.”

It was a loop route of about 20km that started and finished at our hotel in Suidobashi. We took in the sights of Tokyo Dome, Hongo, Ueno, Akihabara, Bakurocho, Nihonbashi, Kanda and Ochanomizu.

The first part of the ride involved visiting Tokyo Dome and then travelling through some small streets with traditional scenes of Tokyo life ending at a Yayoiken a chain store that did provide a lovely breakfast.

We continued on through Tokyo University through some more back streets towards Ueno Park adjacent to Yanaka Cemetery. We stopped of for some matcha and wagashi before arriving at Toeizan Kan’ei-Ji Temple. One of the two main sites for the biennale. There is usually some obvious parking for bikes. But this time it wasn’t so obvious. We negotiated with the biennale staff, who negotiated with temple staff for us. We ended up parking our bikes out the front entrance!

We then headed through Ueno Park towards the second of the two main venues. Etoile Kaito Living Building. This involved 6 floors of art in an abandoned department store building. But my stomach was grumbling for lunch so en-route we stopped off for a quick bite from a food truck.

A bit of holiday fatigue was setting in towards the end of the day. So not so many photographs of us weaving through the busy entertainment district of Kanda. But, I can show the Comfort Stand in Ochanomizu where we had our first coffee of the day and some cheesecake.

Once again credits to the Social Media Manager for the most excellent photos.

If you’d like to do this ride you have until 14 December!