Velomobile in Japan

I came across the website of a guy in Japan who is really getting into his Velomobile. Lots of posts about other interesting bikes and human powered vehicles - all in Japanese too for those of you who prefer. There is also a piece about the Kuroneko Yamato delivery guys who now have vast fleets of e-bikes with whopping great trailers to deliver their stuff. I have not yet uploaded my pictures of them, so here is his:



Incidentally, speaking of Kuroneko Yamato delivery guys, there is a famous running race near Tokyo called the Ohyama Tozan race, a fabulous race for mountain goats young and old that takes you from the train station up through quaint shopping malls perched on the mountainside and up through shrines, further and further up until your lungs almost explode to finish and enjoy the view and a big bowl of tonjiru and a green tea under the eaves of a shrine. This year it seems there was a whole team of Kuroneko Yamato guys doing the race - in their uniforms, caps and all. Darn fast too by all accounts. One thing about these hill climbs - every ounce of extra fat is a major liability.

The Dawn of "Personal Rapid Transit"

...or perhaps re-birth. Anyhow, nice article here at Project for Public Spaces.

Deutsche Bank: Oil at $150 a barrel by 2010

Carfree USA and World Carfree Network are excited by WSJ article on DB's forecast of potentially severe constraints on supply in the very near term. What does it mean? Well, it is not good news for China and India, Russia and Eastern Europe. Much of the growth in the forecast oil demand is due to increasing motor vehicle use in these countries. They have invested a vast fortune in automobile infrastructure, equipment and tooling, and just as they are starting to enjoy this new "economy" they are discovering that it is one that is not sustainable in any way. These countries have a momentum to their automobile economies and will likely continue growing "on the automobile's back". This is bad news for anyone working for the environmental department in China or India, as the wave of international investment in their auto industries threatens just about everything they wish to protect. But perhaps oil at $150 will start to turn this around, and fortunately for them, they are not as far down the road to autopia as the West, so the transition to post-auto economy will not be as painful. Not quite so for the West.

What does $150 oil mean for the USA? Well, aside from the profits to the few US oil companies with reserves this isn't going to be pretty. Gasoline price rises will squeeze US drivers just as US consumers are being hit with inflation elsewhere and a falling dollar as it is hard to see how the Fed slashing rates to mitigate sub-prime fallout will not fuel inflation and a further falling dollar, and yet despite this banks, to shore up balance sheets, will pocket most of the gains from the rate cuts and borrowing costs will rise anyway. So drivers, consumers and borrowers in the US are probably going to be particularly hurt. There will surely be some collateral damage in the corporate sector also, particularly highly leveraged industries as the credit squeeze begins to hit overly geared businesses just as overly leveraged consumers are forced to cut back spending.

Will anyone in the USA gain from all this? Well, quite possibly, just maybe the US citizen will be better off in the long run. It is quite possible that this could be the tipping point for Americans - a decoupling of Americans from their automobiles, and automobiles from the American dream. As the average Joe begins to have trouble affording their car or the gasoline to power them, as it becomes fashionable to not drive, as average citizen begins to recognize the myriad of environmental hazards automobiles cause coming to a head world-wide as Chinese and Russians begin to drive cars en-mass and cause all the same environmental problems as Americans did for 50 years but on a scale that will have global ramifications (including the yellow sands that actually already blow over into the United States). As this happens, I actually think that average Joe American citizen just might "get it" by then and decide that the automobile lifestyle is just not the way to go about things in the 21st century. One or two American automobile companies might even go bankrupt, as several seem destined to do - and the American public might even just let them go this time, with niether the political stomach or the cash for any kind of public taxpayer bailout. For after all, that is the capitalist system is it not? Live and let die. If Americans no longer want as many cars, the automakers' resources should be put to better use doing something else. If they aren't, the companies will fail, and be forced to find a better use of their resources (or the resources themselves will have to find a better use of themselves...). In any case, while once the automobile was seen as the symbol of potency and all that is great about America, I have a feeling that in the 21st century Americans could become their biggest detractors.

By then will they be able to save China and India from choking themselves to death by asphyxiation on the ghost of an old American dream that no longer exists, and the rampant "growth" and the suburban sprawl and waste and corruption that inevitably come with it? I don't know. It might be a close call. It is certainly ironic that the very people who arguably started this whole crazy oil-fueled half-century of drive-by environmental disaster might be the ones who come to rescue us all from it at the 11-th hour, but Americans have an uncanny knack for timing. And Japan will go along, because instinctively, the Japanese knew all along that it wasn't a Good Idea in the first place.

50,000 heart deaths/yr caused by traffic noise

Close to half of all Europeans are regularly exposed to traffic noise levels that are potentially dangerous to health, a new study has found. See news report HERE.

I might add that the Japanese took noise pollution seriously back in the seventies with the development of the Shinkansen high speed "bullet train" lines, and now environmental quality standards for shinkansen railway noise are among the strictest in the world. Too bad the government counter this by spending some 5,000,000,000 yen each year building roads that have a constant stream of vehicles spewing noise and so much else besides.

No More Pork !

What does this graph represent? It represents the percentage of people, according to a survey by TV Asahi, who support the current Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda's cabinet plan to spend 59,000,000,000,000 Yen on roads over the next ten years. 17% support the plan vs 65% do NOT support the plan. Is this a mandate for change or WHAT?

So what DO people want? Well you can be pretty damn sure they don't just want cheaper gasoline either. What people want are bold solutions from government that will provide real lifestyle improvement, not just a shot in the arm to "growth" because people are driving cars more.

I saw a news piece recently about a local train line North of Tokyo. The line was on the verge of being closed permanently. The news report talked of the aging population and yes of people driving more these days. Well, if the government is spending 59,000,000,000,000 Yen every ten years on roads, then OF COURSE people are going to drive cars more. Is this a Good Thing? No, of course not - and 65% of people instinctively recognize this.

Recently the "yellow sands" (黄砂) have been very bad in Tokyo also. Last weekend it looked like a thunderstorm was approaching, but it was just a yellow dust, blown over from China. Chinese desertification is expanding by the rate of minutes per hectare. Tests show that the yellow sands blow over as far as North America, and collect all sorts of pollution along the way from Chinese coal power plants, Korean industry and Japanese automobiles. It is a disgusting haze that looks like a yellow fog, but leaves a foul dust on and through everything, and gets in your eyes and mouth.

I am surprised that Japan does not try to do more to help China deal with its environmental problems, because if we don't, these problems are most likely to spill over (they already are). But then I fear that Japan may have already sold out - we are largely a nation of auto makers. They used to be only for export to America where they raped the countryside there, but gradually thanks to budgets like 59,000,000,000,000 Yen on roads every 10 years, Japan is also in danger of becoming a gas-guzzing nation ruled by impatient, horn-blowing, self-centered, egotistical, serial dangerous-drivers also. Our biggest banks give huge loans to automakers to build auto factories in the very neighboring countries that we should be trying to help save from this fate - but all we are doing is help rape them just like this country was and continues to be raped in the name of "economic growth".


Wow. I am glad I got that off my chest...

Great Carbon Offset Spoof

These guys have already been mentioned in British Parliament, so maybe I am the only one who hasn't heard of them, but wow, what a fantastic spoof of carbon offset schemes. And it addresses an important and overlooked issue with carbon offsetting and trading - the human behaviour element. How is it likely to make people behave? Probably something like this:


Check out their website here. Check out the "Our Projects" page. It's a riot. And you can just see people doing these kinds of calculations with their driving and flying in a carbon offset context also.

Trek child trailer on sale in Japan

I found this by chance on the website of Cycle Yoshida. The Trek Child trailer (トレック　チャイルドトレーラー 「デラックス ゴーバッグ」) was not available in Japan before as far as I know (or I might have bought one). We have never tried it, so don't ask me details but it looks quite nice, and being a Trek I have no doubt that it is very well designed and built. The price is reasonable for a quality trailer. It has great space and good weight capacity. It looks pretty cool too.

If I were looking at this for ourselves I would be asking whether there is a rain cover included or available, and perhaps whether the trailer itself can fold, as this can be handy if not always necessary.

Anyhow, well done Trek and to Cycle Yoshida for making high quality trailers available in Japan. It is high time Japanese families had some quality options available. I personally have a lot of respect for the good old "mama-chari" and "Jitsuyosha" but it is about time a few deluxe options to coax more families out of their automobiles.

Xtracycle+Big Dummy taking off in USA

Interesting little TV news clip here about the BIG DUMMY+Xtracycle taking off in the USA. Big Dummy is a bike developed by Surely specifically for the Xtracycle. Interesting also that the Surely guys did not mention anything about Xtracycle, who were the ones who actually designed the concept in the first place. Maybe that is because they don't want you to know that the big dummy is actually not really necessary. You can put the Xtracycle on just about any old bike you like. That's what I do and it works a treat, and a damn sight cheaper, and you can import/export more easily by buying the bike locally and attaching the Xtracycle to it. Anyhow, nice to see that it's becoming more popular. Xtracycle are out of stock again, so it must be selling like crazy.

The War on Traffic

Many people forget these days that in the 1960' and 70's, Japan had something of a civil war - the "War on Traffic" or 「交通戦争」. This was a topic taken seriously in the media to a backdrop of skyrocketing gasoline prices, the oil shocks and deep social unrest and anger at the government riding (driving?) roughshod over the people. Many efforts were made in traffic calming, including speed limits, restricting automobile access around schools and on back streets, major improvements to bus, rail, subway and other public transport. This is also the time when bicycle use exploded in Japan with efforts by local governments to promote bicycle use. People might have even believed the war on traffic could have been won.

But as we all know, the Japanese lost their War on Traffic, utterly and completely. There were many reasons for the failure of common sense. The Korean and Vietnam wars had contributed to the huge growth in Japan's automobile industry, which then brought huge political power to bear on the automobile side. Memory of the oil shock faded, and gasoline prices gradually subsided. Efforts by the IMF and World Bank to promote automobile use with massive loans for highway building (a.k.a. "infrastructure") were beginning to have traction among the public - automobile sales grew rapidly, and with it more political power. The massive highway building in the leadup to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics was a major coup for the roads lobby in this sense. And the American way of life (i.e. automobile + sprawl) still held an irresistible allure.

Traffic planning and traffic calming efforts on the other hand were piece meal, tended to play around the edges of the real issue, and by the 1980's were completely hijacked by the very people that they were intending to control - people who loved cars. Eventually all road works and traffic had one primary goal - the fast and efficient flow of automobile traffic.

Low gasoline prices in the 1990's, combined with growing power of the auto-makers as their share of the economy grew really consolidated the position of the 道路族 roads lobby. Most of all, the tsunami of Keynsian fiscal stimulus directed at road building through the 1990's completely cemented the automobile's position in Japanese Society - particularly in the countryside. Much of the road building in the 1990's was in country towns which had until then largely escaped from the disease of sprawl that was afflicting the major cities. Bypasses, high speed national roads combined with sprawling suburban construction were rampant. Pressure from China and elsewhere in agriculture, and low worldwide prices for primary produce pushed down the price of agricultural land, which was already depressed from the bursting of the real estate bubble in '89 - '90. These factors combined to push Japan headlong into rampant urban sprawl that continues today with the creation of local and foreign big box retailers on the suburban outskirts of town, still chasing an American dream that even the Americans have already begun to wake from. 15 years ago in Japan it would have been entirely feasible to get by with a bicycle and the train because everything you wanted was concentrated around the station in the centre of town. These days, things are not so simple, even in small country cities. The town centre may have everything you NEED, but if you want the cheapest or hippest items, you need to go to various big box shops scattered all over the city. Japan's consumption of oil, coal and other items continued to rise.

So Japan lost it's "War on Traffic", and the "rebels" are today few and far between and not well organized. I cannot help but hope that the increasing awareness of global warming, the fact that building roads as a fiscal stimulus is now regarded as having been a big mistake, the growing 車離れ and the amazing success of initiatives such as the Velib model will stimulate people to start a new fundamental debate again in Japan about the kind of lifestyle people want and whether the automobile is going to play a big part in that or not.

In China, by contrast - the War on Traffic is in full pitched battle right now. Stories like THIS ONE from NPR in the US highlight the real fight that is going on. I see a similar story to Japan's - auto money is starting to talk. An Olympics in Beijing has become a lever to push through the construction of massive highway systems. Trains that are built, go to the airport. Local governments in some cities have even banned electric bicycles for whatever reason they can get away with - knowing that more money will flow (for the time being) if they promote automobiles (and culture and lifestyle be damned). It is clear that the Chinese populace has not given up the fight. In another report, students at a University appear to have vented their collective anger at a driver, destroying the car completely and even flipping it over. Here is the story from the other camp. You would have to be blind not to see that this event shows the utter frustration and anger towards automobiles and the friction between the two camps. I hope the Chinese authorities take it as a sign, because if the Chinese continue to attack the issue by playing around the edges the way the Japanese did in their own War on Traffic, the Chinese will slowly move to the auto camp, and the Chinese will cease to be citizens and become another docile bunch of homogenous consumers just like the rest of us in the "developed" world.

Post-Car Society

Who would have thought Newsweek would run an article about "kuruma-banare", the growing trend among Japanese of forsaking their automobiles for good? I didn't think Newsweek capable of it myself. But HERE IT IS. It seems the trend has finally reached a stage it can no longer be ignored. If the decline in new car sales continues, "kuruma-banare" could well become 2008 buzzword of the year.

"Catchment Area"

Once again, I am convinced that the Japanese have nailed what is perhaps the best possible solution to a complex social issue. I found this brief article in the UK paper the Guardian:

http://education.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329742428-115019,00.html

The author describes how in the old days, school students had to go to the nearest school. It reduced choices, but dramatically strengthened communities and ensured healthy commuting lifestyles for children. However these days, the vast majority of parents in the English speaking world drive their kids to school for a variety of reasons - the sprawl means bigger distances and less friendly eyes to keep an eye on the kids, the lack of community means there are less friendly eyes at all, the lack of safe routes to school, the desire to go to a "better" school across town, the fact that everyone else also drives which makes it dangerous for the kids to walk... in a vicious cycle until we reach where we are today with crisis levels of childhood stress, obesity, lack of independence and dearth of social skills.

Nothing however, could be further from the situation in Japan. As far as I can tell of the Japanese system, at least where I live right now, there is what seems to be an extremely good solution. Ostensibly, and as a general rule, children are required to go to their nearest school. However, there are options for parents who desire other choices. First there is of course the private school system. But parents can also apply to send their children to other public schools - if they are prepared to jump through the right hoops. The whole process is intentionally onerous and involves making your case to the ward office and then the application is subject to further review by the public school board, who are required to give priority to local children. Occassionally parents will try to game the system by renting an apartment nearby and registering this address on the application. The ward office is aware of this and do in fact perform spot checks to discourage this behaviour, and of course word gets around in tight knit communities.

This system sounds like a fantastic compromise between the public good of stronger communities, and the desire to allow a degree of choice to parents and students. It also appears to work quite smoothly.

Flowing from, and based upon this foundation system are a number of other excellent rules that can be and are applied at schools in Japan with excellent results, making commuting a generally wonderful experience all round. Firstly, children are required to walk to school, and to do so alone without their parents. Being without parents, elementary school children are not allowed to ride bicycles to school, and are required to walk. This encourages children to travel to school together in groups. Most children are within a kilometre or so of their school, and even this distance isn't all that far to walk once you get used to it, so not being able to ride a bike isn't such a big drag. It also encourages kids to hang together, and avoids the dangers that might come of having younger kids riding bikes to school when they are going by themselves, as parents to not generally walk their kids to school. Not riding bikes also reduces the potential range of the children, so they are less likely to go further afield where friendly community eyes may not be watching, or dangerous unfamiliar roads. In any case, disallowing bicycles is nothing compared to what happens if you decide to drive your kids to school, God forbid...

In the land of the Toyota, children are almost universally spared from being driven to school by car. Parents are not allowed to drive their children to school. Yes, you heard me - NOT ALLOWED. Fancy that. In fact, roads near school entrances are routinely blocked completely during the school commute hours, and drivers who are caught in such areas are fined and booked by the police. In other words, it is ILLEGAL to drop off your kid at the gate to many schools. And as a result - there is no rush hour at the school gate, there is none of the noise, the danger, the stress or ANY of that - just peace and quiet and the sound of kids laughing and talking as they walk to school together.

I had not really thought about it so much before, but in Japan you really do see children out walking about, playing and enjoying their route to school, feeling the changing seasons, seeing and smelling the flowers. In fact, I see a few on my way to work, and say good morning to them every day. It is wonderful seeing them grow, and there are a few precious serendipitous moments when the weather is special or something happens. I used to take my two children to kindergarten behind my bicycle on a small "Chariot" trailer. When the regular school kids I would see on my way to work first saw me do this up the hill, they of course swamped me immediately. They all wanted a look, and peppered me with questions for a few seconds, then goodbyes and off to school. A few mornings later, they all help push me up the hill, just for fun. Then Winter came, and they helped me up the hill in the snow when I was struggling. This all by a group of 8 to 12yr old boys. There is also a disabled gentleman who likes to sit on his front porch and chat with the kids as they go to school, and there are many others like him who do the same, just for the fun of seeing the kids grow, and for the real tangible sense of community it fosters. I imagine they are a good pair of eyes to discourage any funny business that Westerners are so afraid of when asked if they would let their children walk to school on their own. It is also nice when you know who's kids belong with which adults, and for example you might see a kid on your regular commute with a broken arm, and strike up a conversation in the supermarket with their parent the next time you see them. The parent tells you they have some medical condition that causes such and such, and armed with this knowledge you can watch out for them, or mention to the headmaster when you see them, so they can watch out for them etc etc. In a real example, some school kids knocked out a street lamp here after school one day. After the incident, a flyer was put up asking for witnesses. A few locals had seen them and were pretty sure they knew who it was and mentioned to the parents. Sure enough the kids fessed up and mystery solved. From the kids perspective, you have this vast boundless freedom when you are let loose on your own, but at the same time the kids are in fact wrapped the whole time in this loving, protecting, real (not virtual) community who will keep them on the right path just by way of being there, a community which the kids don't even really notice much until they grow old enough to appreciate it.

You miss all of that when kids are driven to school. You don't see anyone but your family and your teacher. No-one will see your broken arm. Nobody knows you in the neighborhood. Nobody helps you push your bike up the hill, or share a smile and the joy of a beautiful Spring morning. It is such a shame that several generations of kids in the English speaking world missed that whole formative experience, but one can only hope that they will find away for their own children to experience it. It will be a hard task, but undoubtedly will begin with the establishment and enforcement of (1) safe routes to school, and (2) the sense of community that such a system is so dependent on.

Yours in hope...

Rail Privatization

I found this article in the FT: Deutsche Bahn IPO to proceed

The Germans may perhaps look to Japan's experience with rail privatization. What seems to have happened here is vast improvements in efficiency in running existing lines but something of a stagnation in capital investment in new lines or services, and what gains have been made have had hidden costs.

One thing that Japan Rail (JR) has become heavily involved in since privatization is residential real estate construction and sales - i.e. promoting, advertising, supporting and profiting from suburban sprawl. They have a program of subdividing massive areas around outlying stations, and advertising these lots on their trains, sometimes in tandem with a new express line etc. The powerful synergies are undoubtable - a fantastic sales and advertising networks, insider knowledge on any new lines or service, the ability to add carparks to stations to facilitate these sprawling suburban lifestyles, and once they sell a house in these outlying suburbs, they have a lifetime of outer suburban commuting revenue from that owner, who would probably otherwise be an inner city renter. The profit potential is certainly fat. However, clearly the national rail network provider's focus has shifted away from providing a public good towards a stronger profit motive. On the whole, is it REALLY a good thing if rail services can be improved using profits garnered by raping society on another front? By creating vast new bed towns and feeding suburban sprawl, with all the well-known and documented social and environmental ills that this involves, the overall outcome is debatable.

Note to the Germans: Beware of unwitting externalizations such as this when considering, or when measuring the success of your new experiment. Many of these things rear their ugly heads many years on, although with proper oversight some may be avoided.

The Issue of Housing Affordability

Housing affordability has long been a major political issue. This is increasingly the case in Australia and New Zealand, where speculative local and international investment has driven prices extremely high. The latest Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey (PDF here) has just been released and includes UK, Ireland, Canada, USA, NZ, and Australia. Based on 2007 Q3 data the report unsurprisingly shows extremely low levels of affordability for NZ and Australia.

This is undeniable, but what should be questioned more is a fairly insideous argument - dangerous even, propounded by many, including none other than former Governor of the NZ Reserve Bank Dr. Donald Brash who, in his introduction to the study, states (Brashly, of course) that "Once again, the Demographia survey leads inevitably to one clear conclusion: the affordability of housing is overwhelmingly a function of just one thing, the extent to which governments place artificial restrictions on the supply of residential land.."

This is not surprising coming from an economist but it is a load of codswallop. Not because it isn't true, but because in life the easiest solution is not always the best. In fact it is often the worst. Let's think about this for a moment. What is the easiest way for the governments of a country like Australia and NZ to improve housing affordability? Well, the answer has to be by releasing more "vacant" land for development. Mr. Brash and many others are clamouring for this in Australia and NZ today. Why? Because it works - yea, it works all right. It works like getting a loan from a loan shark will help you pay of your gambling debt so that you can keep gaming without worrying about bothersome things like rehabilitation. No - banish the thought. I apologise for suggesting such a dreary boring do-goody thing. Much more fun to borrow from the loan shark and have a bit more fun. Much more fun to release a bit more land, keep the economy buzzing along with all the new residential housing and road building and beautifully mind-numbingly endless suburban sprawl it generates.

Hell, yea. Who wants to talk about cost? Who wants to think about those irksome things that responsible economists call "externalities".

Ok. Enough cynicism. What really happens when the government releases land? In a word, "sprawl". What happens when you have sprawl? Well, lots of things, and most of them are not good, except for the fact that the economy probably grows because prices come down, more people buy into the suburban dream, builders get busy and everyone is hunky dory... for a while... But the stark, inconvenient reality that everyone is trying so hard to pretend not to notice is that we are building growth at the expense of future generations. This is most strikingly shown by the US experience. The United States government is finding that it is having to spend an every greater proportion of the budget on the maintenance and upkeep of all the roads and sprawling infrastructure that it has build. Personal debt is at record levels because essentially that is what is funding the growth from individual consumption. In other words, once the benefits to growth from the stimulus have long withered away and been spent on flat screen TV's, all you have is the government liabilities of roads maintenance and upkeep, increased costs of maintaining the police forces to patrol these expanded urban areas, the electricity production to keep all those air conditioners pumping, the cost of all the extra sewage, drainage, road cleaning, ambulance services, not to mention the collateral damage from increased health burden from more injuries and environmental issues from low density cities. This whole argument reminds me very much of Dr. Robert Lustig's obesity interview I wrote of recently, in which he described the negative feedback loop effect that sugar and fructose has on the body. We have a similar negative feedback loop going on here.

Never let a financial economist convince you that growth is a good thing for its own sake. Look at what that the growth is comprised of and what that is going to cost you - now and into the future. A financial economist is more like a banker - they don't really give a damn who takes the money and what they do with it - only whether or not they can pay, and how much. And if the economy is growing, there is more chance that people will repay - so hell, ANY growth must be good, right...? (wrong!)

And don't think that China is doing it right either. They are going down exactly the same path - only it isn't a path any more -it is a 12 lane highway, and they are going down it at breakneck speed.

So let's think of a few advantages of keeping house prices UP. There are a few. You may be surprised. One is that it discourages Australians from buying McMansions. I find it fascinating that the same Australians who winge about the price of housing, are the ones who have made the average Australian new home THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD. No sympathy from me.

Another advantage is that foreign buyers are less likely to buy into Australian residential housing markets. This is an interesting one here. Australians tend to spend a little too much on consumption. In return they need to sell something to the foreigners. But Australians don't make much that foreigners want, so they sell shares in mining businesses and yes, residential real estate. Australia has one of the most liquid real estate markets in the world. Surely international speculation in these markets is something that keeps prices very high. I suspect, however, that more important is international investment in DEBT (RMBS). Investors buy the loans that banks make to homebuyers. Australians, addicted to their McMansions, buy ever bigger homes at inflated prices, promising to pay this borrowed money back. In other words, the real speculator here is the HOMEBUYER. For now, with China and the price of commodities booming, we have managed to pull this illusion off. But it cannot last - unless of course we force the government to release some more land so that we can party on a bit more!

But really. C'mon. We can do better than that. Are we citizens or consumers? What are you?

Project for Public Spaces

Project for Public Spaces, an organization of professionals in urban planning, environmental design, architecture and other fields has come out with their January bulletin, which covers some of the latest activities in New York and elsewhere. Once again we find praise for what is being done in Paris these last few years.

This is perhaps the most well organized and professional group I have seen working with communities, business and government to promote urban development for livable cities. Among other things, they have a fascinating section on Streets as Places.

The Bike Sharing Blog

I thought I would briefly introduce a nice blog I found called "The Bike Sharing Blog", which provides lots of information about successful bike sharing programs like Velib in Paris, and not so successful projects like that in Brussels, and examines the reasons why. They also had this neat little video clip about the Velib system in Paris.


Bikes Belong presents: Velib from Bikes Belong Coalition on Vimeo.


Enough said. Take a look for yourself. Add it to your feed reader.

The Dorozoku

Terrie's Take, an email periodical by Terrie Loyd, founder of the Japan Inc Magazine, widely read among the foreign community in Tokyo, has an interesting article HERE about the tussle between the LDP and DJP over gasoline taxes in Japan. Terrie notes that the DJP is attempting to ride on the ever growing public cry against pork-barrel road building "doro-zoku" in the LDP and other parties and force tokutei zaidan gasoline tax revenues (a special gasoline tax currently ear-marked primarily for road building) to be used for other needs of society.

The first push seems to have been thwarted, however and the politicians have decided, for whatever reason, that tokutei zaidan gasoline tax revenues, will continue to be used only for these purposes. [if someone has more detail on how this came about I would be interested to hear]

So instead, DJP is using its power to stop the tokutei zaidan gasoline tax law from being renewed. However, it seems likely that DJP stalling techniques may instead simply force the tax to be dropped completely, which would bring the price of gasoline down in short order
, effectively subsidising road users at the expense of road builders.


Hmmmm. Now, you tell me which is worse, subsidising gasoline consumers, or subsidising road builders? They sound pretty damn similar to me. And in fact it is worse than this, because a large portion of the special tax on gasoline (the "tokutei zaidan") is in fact going towards paying down debts on past road building, as opposed to funding new porkbarrel roadworks.

The result would be simply a loss of legitimate revenue for the public purse (that a portion continues to be mis-allocated to wasteful projects is another issue) and the net impact a shot in the arm for a dying and desperate auto industry and oil consumers. I am quite pleased to see that the media is generally opposed to such a rediculous outcome in this day and age.

The auto industry may be dying a slow and painful death, but it is nothing compared to what will happen if we let this disease continue unchecked and metastasize into China and India...

Cheap Oil all over again?

Before the USA slides into its economic funk and the price of oil slides all the way back again, I really do hope that the people of China and India realize that the problem with allowing cars to overrun cities goes well beyond problems of carbon dioxide pollution - and base their city infrastructures on other transportation modes. But then again, it is as much a problem with the first world investors in these industries in China and India - bringing the same problems to these countries.

The discussion should be more about:
Pollution
Huge cost in road deaths
Huge cost in road injuries
Loss of space for people
Noise and nuisance
Lack of human interaction and social fabric
All the other environmental costs other than CO2 (tyres, oil, plastics)
Environmental cost of producing these vehicles and the materials that go into them - not just running them

Anything else ? I am sure there are more reasons why cars just don't work as the primary transport system for cities ...

The Obesity Epidemic

There is a seriously interesting interview here all about the obesity epidemic, and what some researchers are convinced is causing it. Quite a bit of food for thought (pun intended). I thought I would posting here because the obesity epidemic in the Western world is so closely linked to our automobile dependency. The interview goes into some detail about exactly how and why exercise is the single most effective (perhaps only?) remedy for obesity, and perhaps even more interestingly, why fructose may be far more dangerous than we thought, and how the food industry may be literally poisoning us by putting fructose into everything.

It is well worth a read - or even better, have a listen to the interview -it is quite a gem. Norman Swan is a very accomplished radio interviewer and in this one he really meets his match. You can get audio archives of the Health Report online via iTunes etc.

Transcript of the interview:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2007/2104024.htm

Again and again, visitors to stay with me in Japan remark at how much exercise they get in Tokyo - all completely inadvertently just by walking, catching trains, and going up and down stairs. By the end of the day, my sedentary visitors are usually quite worn out. It is no surprise, they remark, that Japanese people tend to be trimmer than Westerners. Well, that is half the story. My Japanese friends also remark when they go overseas at how sweet the food is in the West. Sugar, according to our Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology, University of California San Francisco, is almost half fructose, and therein lies the other half of the answer. The Japanese people may eat a lot of white rice, but they tend to avoid sweet foods, and the sweets they do create tend to be far less sweet than Western tastes would demand.

NEW CAR SALES AT 35-YEAR LOW !

The Nikkei Shinbun reports today that new car sales for 2007 were at a 25 year low. The International Herald Tribune reports that it is at a 35 year low. The discrepancy is because the IHT includes only vehicles over 660cc (Kei-jidosha). In other words, not only are car sales at a 25-year low, the only type of vehicle that is actually selling is the functional mini-van, and according to the Japan Times, even sales of mini cars are shrinking. This is a clear message that cars are definitely not cool these days in Japan.

The Nikkei report goes on to state a number of other interesting statistics and anecdotes. One very telling statistic is that 32.1% of all males under 29 yrs in Japan now do not own a car. This is a significant increase on the 24.1% figure for the period 1993-2005. In other words, the percentage of young men in Japan who choose to NOT own a car has risen from a quarter to a third and young men - these former stalwarts of the car buying and car-loving demographic are deserting automobiles in droves. All that automobile advertising on television (and everywhere else you turn) is washing over them like so much expensive water off a ducks back.

The report, by Nikkei editor Hitomi Ishinabe, also mentions that automobile related magazines are not moving off shelves like they used to. In fact, it seems these magazines are actually having trouble finding editors and writers for what used to be regarded by former generations of young men as one of the coolest jobs on the planet. The magazines find they have to employ older men to write articles targeted at other old men just to keep selling.

I haven't heard such good news in a long time. Now if this isn't a sign to the younger generation I don't know what is - let's start making your voices heard in public transport policy!! Enough road building and road widening! Wider footpaths! More bicycle parking! A Velib system for our cities! More car free streets!

The Scourge of Nationalism

Why do people talk of the rise of "Nationalism"? It intrigues me. I suspect that sometimes nationalist sentiments grow when people in one country instinctively are a bit disgusted by things being done in another country, but don't want to name the beast because similar problems are happening in their own back yard.

I sincerely hope that either Western civilization can provide a better example for developing countries to emulate (i.e. the hospitals and schools without the over-consumption, wastefulness, automobile culture and obesity), or that developing countries and the BRICs can be a bit more discerning about what segments of Western economies they choose import.

Thwarting bad elements in a society, whether it is organized crime, drugs, police corruption or "just" commercial interests wishing to exploit an economic externality at the cost of society as a whole, is I suspect a lot like fighting dental plaque: you can brush, and floss and gargle mouthwash, but as sure as the sun will rise, you will have a whole ecosystem of bacteria right back there on your teeth by next morning, all doing their bit to bring down your teeth all over again. I suspect you thwart it in the same way also - by keeping up the fight. And just like you can't get nice teeth back after plaque has had its way, once the culture of the automobile has wreaked its havoc on a country, you will never get your rolling countryside and farmland back from the sprawl either.

Inspirational Call to Arms by Sydney Lord Mayor

If only Japan had leaders with this kind of vision and courage. THIS ARTICLE in the Sydney Morning Herald (one of Australia's major Newspapers) by Clover Moore, the Lord Mayor of Sydney and State member for Sydney, is really quite impressive coming from someone so high up in government.

Many people talk highly of Tokyo's Mayor. To his credit, he has supported a Tokyo bid for the 2016 Olympics as a "Green Olympics" and Tokyo is probably one of the few cities that could hold true to a moniker like that. If he does, it will be quite a reversal from the previous Tokyo Olympics, which was used as an excuse for busting through the network of cancerous motorways that dissect the city to this day - including a disgusting bypass through Nihonbashi in the cultural heart of Tokyo. As I have said before, it would be wonderful if this Olympics could be the impetus for these disgusting eyesores to be removed and the original canals restored to their former glory as was done in Seoul not long ago.

If Tokyo had a mayor like Clover Moore I imagine we could REALLY achieve something. We already have decent public transport, lots of bicycles, good density. In many ways, Tokyo is already quite environmentally friendly. The average household has several bicycles and a quick look outside shows that they tend to use them. All we need is decent policy at the top to keep it that way, rather than slide towards the US model as has happened since the 1980's. It is high time we said "Enough!" to all the wasteful road building, road widening, tunnel and bridge building, and most of all to the sprawl - something that even Japan Rail, since its privatization, has gained a taste for after discovering how lucrative it can be.

There was debate in parliament late last year in Japan on whether or not gasoline tax should be used exclusively for road building - "Bah! Humbug" was the general response, thank goodness, but it does show the lengths that the auto/roads/oil lobby will go to in order to promote their cause (more cars on the road). What we should be debating instead is how to spend this money on better transit, and how to implement tougher rules to kerb sprawl, which is really becoming a major environmental and social disaster throughout Japan these days.

Let's bring the international Towards Carfree Cities IX conference to Asia

This out from the Carfree Network:

CALL TO HOST CONFERENCE IN 2009

If you are interested in hosting Towards Carfree Cities IX, the
procedure for applying to host the conference is simple. We are
requesting that a 2-4 page hosting proposal be sent to the
carfree_network discussion list by December 31, 2007, containing:
a. who you are; what organisation(s) are you with
b. what resources, skills and time are being offered (fundraising,
programme work, outreach, office space, etc.)
c. what groups would be partners; what other useful contacts you have
d. why the conference should be held in your city
e. what you would like to occur at the conference (overall concept and
any programme details)

Before applying, please consult our Conference Organising Manual
( www.worldcarfree.net/members/manual.php), and contact Randall Ghent,
World Carfree Network's conference coordinator, at rghent - at -
worldcarfree.net.


To all those with good connections in govt and academic circles - let's see if we can't host this conference here in Japan.

Latest Making Places Bulletin

The Latest Making Places Bulletin is out now HERE . As usual it is a fascinating read.

If you care about this kind of thing and want to do your bit, then support these guys at PPS (Project for Public Spaces). They are really doing some inspiring work. This bulletin is entitled "Back to Basics in Transportation Planning" and provides a brief but fascinating look back over the past 80 years of transportation planning in the USA - where it has taken us, and suggestions for "how we can get out of this jam". This should be compulsory reading for all public officials.

Bicycle parking in residential units

We live in a consumer society, and how you consume is your choice, right? Or is it? More and more we are finding examples of how your environment dictates your choices. As more and more people in Western cities begin to realize that proper urban planning can make the difference between a city that is 1% cycling and 40% cycling, they look to examples overseas and "quaintly antiquated" customs practiced in Japan and Europe are suddenly cutting edge vogue. Some of these I have introduced before, but over the next few weeks, I am going to try to look at specific examples of how things are done here in Japan.

My first example is from the local newspaper. Tower apartments are all the rage here in Japan as elsewhere, and I came across a typical advertisement at the office today for a nice looking apartment near the bay. There were 200 apartments in this development, and only 10 car parking spaces. Moreover, there were over 400 secure bicycle parking berths. While the apartments themselves were for sale, all parking berths were leased with the going rate for car spaces at 30,000yen per month and bicycle spaces under 300yen per month. Now while the ratio of car to bicycle spaces was in this case perhaps slightly more extreme than usual, it is a general phenomenon. In fact, 2 bicycle spaces per apartment is considered the absolute minimum, as the average household in Tokyo has three bicycles - and generally tend to use them. This kind of favouring of non-car transport modes by design is not unusual in Tokyo. There is a "tower mansion" very near my house which not only has several floors of secure indoor bicycle parking for residents, it even has three separate secure entrances to the building - one for people, one for people with bicycles and a separate elevator directly to the bicycle parking floors on B1 and B2, and the third and least convenient and completely separate entrance right around the back for the cars - which is basically just a hole down into the bowels of the building on B3 and below. That is two floors of secure bicycle parking. A far cry from your Western tower, which would have a sweeping entrance so that drivers could zoom up to the front door in their fancy [whateveritis] for maximum [auto]convenience without a thought even to safety of your kids running down to the shops, and would include at least two car parking spaces within the price of the apartment. In fact in many Western cities it is so bad that developers have become required by law to provide this car parking space.

Mind you - good as it is to have developers in Japan cater for different modal choices, if we had a system like the Parisien "Velib" here in Tokyo there would be much less need for all this bicycle parking space at all. The vast majority are simple commuter "shopping" bicycles anyway so a professionally maintained Velib bike would probably be a step up for most people. Nevertheless, considering that 10 bicycles can fit in the space of one car, it is a better solution than our Western model.

Finding Liberté on Two Wheels

Yet another very upbeat piece about Velib, this time by the New York Times Travel section.

Shigeoh: A Clean, Green Hot Company

If there is one company that exemplifies the Japanese no-fuss, can-do attitude to solving problems with a bit of lateral thinking, it is this one: Shigeoh. Some time last year these bicycles began appearing all over downtown Tokyo.


My interest piqued, I looked further. These bicycles all had a decal saying "Shigeoh". It turns out that Shigeoh, the company that decked these bikes out into such great work-horses is a small company which prepares and services bicycle and scooter fleets for Japan Post and other very large companies. I had been wanting to visit them and learn more, but recently they renewed their website with more information and even a video clip from a news program about the system. This particular fleet of bikes was a contract from a copy machine servicing company (Ricoh?) last year, when the rules changed in Japan making parking more difficult. The company decided to try an experiment that would both be "green" and deal with the parking issue. For something so radical the investment was very large - costing somewhere near a million dollars to replacing it's fleet of mini-cars, motorcycles and scooters with this fleet of fully equiped electric bicycles.

The news report notes that management at this copier servicing company were initially concerned about travel times - thinking naturally enough that bicycles would be slower than their former scooter & car fleet. But it turns out that they were in fact been able to drastically reduce their travel times since switching to the bicycle fleet. The other concern was over physical effort. But it turns out that there was no need for concern on that point either. Apparently staff were a little tired at first, but after a few weeks they quickly became accustomed to the cycling and now many actually enjoy their work more. No doubt the heavy duty electric assist helps. So on the whole, it sounds like a pretty darn good move. What's most amazing however is that the copy company expects to recoup its near million dollar investment in the fleet within just 24 months.

Unlike some overseas e-assist systems, Japanese electric assist models cut out at relatively modest speeds while conserving extra power for hills, so these systems are very safe and convenient. The model used for these Shigeo bikes looks like a Panasonic "Vivi Toughness", one of their most heavy-duty, high-tech models, which has a Lithium Ion battery with an incredible range of 84-130km, and is sold standard with lock, racks, mudguards, an integrated LED front light and a solar powered tail light. Full recharge time is just 4.5hrs.


The battery pack has an integrated locking system to avoid theft, and the rear end of the frame is specifically made longer to accommodate the large battery. This also gives a longer and more stable area on which to perch the larger solid rack fitted by Shigeo, as well as the secure lock box. Note also the umbrella perched below the nice soft suspension seat.


Front basket seems to have been swapped out by Shigeo for a stronger, larger version with a faux leather waterproof box inside. Notice the front fork lock, to keep the front end straight when parked even with a heavy load on the front - no front-end flopping around.


Stanrdard comes with hub gears and roller brakes, but Shigeo have swapped out the stand for a heavy duty spring-loaded, locking stand. The fleet always looks spotlessly clean - no doubt serviced regularly by Shigeo employees. If I worked for a eco investment fund, this might be one little outfit worth sizing up very closely. I can imagine many companies around the world who could make very good use of a bicycle fleet system like this.

New York to Outlaw Standing on the Sidewalk?

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Get this - New York police are on the verge of convincing the State that it should be illegal to stand on the pavement. Rediculous as it may sound, a case has actually gone to court there which will consider this question. See this from the New York Times blogroom. This, in a country that calls itself democratic. Are people so unreasonable in this country that they need laws and police to tell them when they are standing in the way? And what about the other people who had to go around them? Are they not able to say "excuse me, you are in the way"? Do you really need police involvement in a situation like this?


Earlier this year there was a story in the BBC of police in another US city (Atlanta) tackling a man for crossing the street. Now I begin to understand why it is that Americans often get so excited about how well they are treated when they go overseas - not only is it safe and convenient to walk on the street, but you are also treated as an adult. What a revelation! In Australia, Americans are amazed at buttons pedestrians can press which make the lights change and stop the cars so they can cross the street. I found this humourous because Japanese people visiting Australia often get very frustrated with the fact that the pedestrian lights will be red until you press the button so you generally have to wait one and a half cycles of the auto lights anyway, whereas in Japan pedestrian lights will generally change regularly and in sync with slower traffic so you get a comparatively clear run (or I should say walk) - and that is only on the main roads. Back streets generally don't have lights at all.

The very word "sidewalk" shows how Americans now treat pedestrian traffic as auxiliary to the motor vehicle. In the UK, telling a person that they could not stand on the pavement would be akin to violating the constitution - the commons are for all to be shared. Lose that and you no longer live in a democracy. In Japan also, shops and restaurants flow directly onto the streets, where pedestrians, joggers, cyclists and motorists share the road quite happily.

I begin to understand also why Japanese people are often so shocked about "violence" in North American, Australia and other Western nations. It is not so much a fear of being mugged or raped, but a general impression of how (un)safe it is to walk down the street in these cities.

Will Bucharest survive rapacious developers?

Interesting piece here in the NYT about Bucharest. Although the piece talks about how attractive the city is because of its very compactness and walkability, there is now a shortage of housing which is in turn attracting developers. Will the city succeed in creating a different model or will it succumb to sprawl and become another L.A. or Houston?

US Fed bails out more than just mortgage lenders

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119125337620144994.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular
I wonder if other people also get the feeling that the Automotive industry is in massive denial about its future prospects. I have a sneaking suspicion that the more Asian car manufacturers gain the upper hand in US sales, the more Americans will turn away from the postwar "autopia" suburban model in search of greener lifestyles. Ironically, they will probably look to Japan and other Asian nations, as well as Europe for examples of how large populations can live more sustainably together without giving up the sophistication of urban living, just as Japan, Korea and China hope to consolidate their position at the top of the Auto heap.

London's congestion plan in peril?

There is a lovely article here by someone at the London city authorities describing a visit by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to view the wildly successful and popular congestion charge in that city. The article describes all the success that this project had reducing inner city car trips, which far from simply reducing pollution has dramatically reducing deaths and injuries to pedestrians and dramatically improved public transport efficiency and pedestrian access. Obviously a resounding success that has the attention of city planners the world over. However there was one very ominous small note at the end which should be cause for serious concern to anyone who really cares about the improvements London has achieved. The City notes that:

"Transport for London is currently consulting on proposed changes to the congestion charge that would include drivers of the most polluting cars being charged £25 to drive in the congestion charge zone. Drivers of the cleanest cars would be given a 100 per cent discount, a policy that has widespread support among Londoners."

Whatever is meant by "the cleanest cars" this is a serious dilution of the whole concept which has brought so much improvement to the lives of Londoners. This proposal, if adopted, would essentially roll back most of the benefits of the congestion charge. If I remember rightly it was called a congestion charge, not a pollution charge. Yet this rule would welcome cars free of charge if they have less or no tailpipe emissions. This would be a dramatic step backwards. It would bring congestion right back to the city centre; the city would lose the efficiency gains to the bus and public transport networks; the number of deaths and injuries to pedestrians would come right back up where they were before. If you care about the success of the congestion charge, and what it means for London and as an example for other cities around the world - including the many cities of China and India currently being overrun by cars, then you should contact the London authorities and voice your opposition to these suggestions.

Remember, the problem with congested cities is more than just pollution:
Road Rage
Drive-by Shooting
Random Deaths
Pedestrian Deaths
Automobile is #1 cause of death among world's young
More Random Deaths


At what point do you stop calling these deaths "random accidents"? The point is, there is a lot more benefits to a congestion plan than just reducing tail-pipe emissions, and if these proposals were to be accepted you would have very little left in the way of tangible benefits to the community.

Contact Matt Brown on 0207 983 4716 or at matt.brown at london dot gov dot uk
or the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100 to let them know what you think.

ROADBLOCK! - we are having fun here

One of the (many) great things about Japan is the festival experience. The festival season generally runs from Spring through Autumn, with each local event running to its own traditional schedule. Some, like the Nebuta Matsuri in Aomori, draw crowds in the hundreds of thousands, while others are extremely local. However they all have one thing in common - for the duration of the festival the streets are cleared of cars and once again returned to the people. That in itself seems to bring people out in their thousands just to enjoy the atmosphere of walking down a street free of cars. Perhaps this is why the Japanese tend to naturally understand that automobile traffic should not be no#1 priority.

Green Weddings in China

It is good to see that some in China are not buying into "autopia". Xinhua follows this bicycle wedding entourage in China on worldwide "Carfree Day":

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/23/content_6777287.htm

Activating Armchair Activism

Show you care:

https://www.getup.org.au/campaign/ClimateCleverer&id=126

Amazing example of how concerned individuals (even the armchair variety) can really make a difference in the right situations!

Car-Free USA

If you like my blog, you will probably like this one even more. All about car-free events in the USA.

Put up a PARK(ing) lot

CNet had a top page news article about the PARK(ing) Day movement that has inspired people around the world.

http://www.news.com/2300-11395_3-6209471-3.html?tag=ne.gall.pg

A beautiful, gentle, effective way of showing people just how much better our towns and cities will be when we have a little LESS parking space, and a bit more PARK space. San Francisco is really one city in the USA that has been taking a lead on these kinds of initiatives for quite a few years now. Still nowhere near the scale of initiatives in cities and towns of Japan and much of Europe, but they are moving in the right direction.

More on Velib

Yet another article about the amazing Velib programme in Paris:
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/9/local/a-future-on-two-wheels

I am beginning to feel that this particular project will be seen as a turning point in our attitudes to urban lifestyle in the West. The implications of this will be big - very, very big.

More pictures: HERE

Crude: The Incredible Journey of Oil

The ABC deserves to be commended for releasing this television documentary for free internet viewing. It is an entertaining look at the global lifecycle of oil as geologists now understand it - and the picture that it paints is not pretty. My four year old son enjoyed the CG dinosaurs but said that the documentary "made him sad". Well folks, that may be excuse enough for a four year old to stop watching, but it won't cut it for adults like you and I. We need to face this issue, individually and collectively.

"Individualized Public Transport"

I have mentioned the Paris Velib plan before, but reading about the program a little more I am really impressed. 20,000 bikes at thousands of "stations" around the city. For a nominal membership fee you can take one of the bikes and ride anywhere for free up to 30 minutes and return the bicycle to any of the ubiquitous stations. Over 30min there is a sliding scale of charges, encouraging users to park the bicycles at one of the provided stations rather than locking it directly in front of your destination where others cannot use it. This really is a smart system. It truly is "individual public transport" - public transport but with the freedom to go where you like. It is incredible to think that these bicycles get used 7 to 15 times a day on average. Not only are they an environmentally friendly method of transport - they are shared and well used! How fantastic is that? A really, really smart system.



And the idea of first 30min free then sliding scale after that is also really smart. When you have your own bike you tend to want to take it everywhere you go - because if you park it somewhere you are going to have to go back and get it at some stage. This system - with its extensive network of stations, eliminates that altogether - so not only does it encourage cycling, but it encourages walking also, as you won't want to go over the 30min limit so will take first opportunity to park at a station near your destination and walk the rest of the way - and even better, you don't have to come back that way, you can just continue on and pick up another velib somewhere else if you want to. Amazing system. A real boost to the civic good. I am not at all surprised to discover that a few of the big global financial institutions are buying into Paris CBD real estate in a big way. If this project does reduce auto traffic even a little, it will make Paris cleaner, quieter, safer, healthier and more pleasant. This will reduce pressure on the environment and allow Paris to grow its "sustainable economy" - rather than the unsustainable components of growth. Economists often forget that not all GDP growth is "good" - particularly those at the World Bank who have tended to sponsor the creation of extensive highway networks in the Third World. Sure it creates "economic growth" but in the final analysis, this form of GDP growth is more ikin to a cancerous growth than anything else. It grows to be sure, but to the detriment of the host - potentially leading to death unless "cut out".

Paris auto club representatives have said that this project does not impact the need for cars because cars are used for long distance travel. Well, sure cars are indespensible for freight, delivery and long distance trips particularly where there is no rail network, but the fact of the matter is the overwhelming majority of miles driven are local city trips of less than a few miles - and a portion of that is just cruising to find a car park! If people have a good alternative like this Velib system then it will reduce road congestion and then existing roads should be more than adequate for the remaining cars. This means less public money is required for expensive tunnels and bypass roadworks. In the meantime it will make Parisiens fitter, healthier and happier, reducing the public health burden. You cannot get a much better public outcome than this.

I really hope Ishihara siezes on this as a theme for his new bid for a Tokyo Olympics. This would surely win the hearts of Olympic officials and Tokyo residents alike, and perhaps begin to make amends for the endless raised motorways that were blasted through this city in the 1960's in the name of GDP growth and the previous Tokyo Olympics. This will go some little way towards restoring the almost forgotten reputation of this city as "Venice of the East".

Links: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/may/19/saturday.green1/print

Bridges and Cycling

Speaking of bridges - here is one place where bicycles were not forgotten. Must remember to try this route one day. Shimanami Kaido is a network of bridges connecting the main island of Honshu to Shikoku Island. Details here:

http://www.kancycling.com/Destinations/Shimanami/Shimanami.html

Bicycles Barred from Rainbow Bridge

A colleague yesterday alerted me to the fact that the Tokyo Port authority has barred people cycling across Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo's biggest bridge which connects the Odaiba area to Tokyo. This was surprising to me as I have ridden over the bridge in the past. In fact I remember it distinctly, because I was so disappointed by the pathetic slapped on afterthought of a footbridge on this magnificent bridge. What's more, it is placed right next to the car lanes - stink and noise for the entire 1km walk across.

There are two levels on the bridge, one is a highway, and the lower level is shared by a monorail, another four or six lanes for cars, and some piddley little space for pedestrians and cyclists along the edge - so we have to put up with the stink and noise of traffic the whole way across - that is unless you want to drive, in which case you are treated like royalty.

It could have been so much better - so simple for the bridge architects to design a wider, straighter, separate lane for bicycles and pedestrians somewhere where they could be protected from the elements as well as being spared from the noise and stink of traffic.

But not satisfied with subjecting non-drivers to this humiliation, the authority has now decided to go a further step and ban bicycles altogether. This is the notice on their website: http://www.kouwan.metro.tokyo.jp/english/odaiba/eng/access/walk.html

This comes at a time when other cities around the world are spending millions refurbishing their major bridges to fill this forgotten gap and cater to bicycles and pedestrians.

So if you are in Japan and reading this blog, now is your chance to contact the ports authority and give them a piece of your mind. Contact details here:

http://www.kouwan.metro.tokyo.jp/english/index.html

And just remember - a folding bike and cover will get you past the gate no problem ;-)

USA Driving LESS !

I know this has nothing to do with Japan, but it is so interesting I will add a note.
The Car Free Network sent a link to an article in USA today, polling American citizens on their driving habits and attitudes.

Amazingly, Americans are driving less for the first time in 26 years, and 70% responded as having actively taken steps to reduce their driving. Another interesting result - a whopping 64% said they would not use public transport no matter the price of gasoline. How screwed up is that. I wonder if it is possible to place a financial bet on public transport in the USA - train manufacturers or something perhaps? There must be a hell of a lot of room for improvement if everyone hates it that much. In Tokyo something like 91% of the population commutes by public transport (the remaining 9% who drive though still make such a racket you would think there were more of them).

And another one - more people took public transport last year in the USA than any time in the last 49 years. This makes you wonder... there must have been a pretty good public transport system 49 years ago in the US to have that many people using it ... what the hell happened to it?

This article is well worth a read. It really does seem clear that the aircraft carrier sized juggernaut that is US public sentiment appears to be turning - away from cars. And that is damn good news.

Tokyo politicians ride bikes for support

In Japan local politicians almost invariably dust off their bicycles during election season - it is good image. This is a photo of one of our local politicians. Notice how she is not dressed in spandex. Bicycles are not just a "sport" here - they are a way of getting about. There is plenty of overlap of course, but sports cyclists are another breed altogether. The only place in Japan where bicycles are lumped into the "sports" category is online auction sites, where the Japan seems to have borrowed the American way of doing things (so of course there is a separate auto section).




It is very sad that while politicians such as this recognise how important it is to connect with the people, at the higher levels of government and politics people tend to drive, or more often are driven, around. I have thought about this. Perhaps famous people do this to avoid having to deal with people while walking or cycling. I expect many famous politicians must also feel at great danger riding or walking around at the complete mercy of strangers driving along at high speeds beside them - strangers who recognize them and may not necessarily like them...

But the answer is not for the politicians to be driving as well. Any truly civic minded politician should be working to make life safe for pedestrians and cyclists, so that they can also safely be one themselves. As long as high level officials, politicians and famous personalities shun public transport, walking or bicycles in favour of autos, we all have a problem because they will favour policies which promote these interests.

The Bicycle Repair Man

Here is the next installment. I see this little van around the place a bit. As bicycle usage has decreased in Japan over the years (although it may be increasing again lately), local bike shops have been closing down, and your local bike shop may not be so local any more. Still one every 2km or so, so not such an issue really, but these kinds of mobile bicycle repair services are still quite popular. I guess it is just the convenience of them coming to you. Particularly handy if your bike is so busted you can't easily get it to the shop.



Just program the emergency number into your mobile phone and if you ever find yourself in a pickle with a broken chain or puncture you don't want to fix yourself for fear of breaking a finger nail - never fear - just call the man and he will come and sort you out ASAP. The bicycle equivalent of your motor associations emergency vehicle. These guys are fantastic. I imagine these guys could lower overheads even more if they used a trailer like our Chariot to carry their gear.

Convenient Free Bicycle Parking and Rental

Here is the first installment of the series I have been promising on local initiatives to make life easier for non-drivers in Tokyo.



This first one is just a bicycle parking spot. I ride near it every morning, but did not notice until my wife pointed it out. This is exactly the kind of thing I had been saying that we need more of. This is a secure bicycle parking facility, connected to the subway station, protected from the weather, free, and they also rent out bicycles by the hour and by the day, including electric assist bicycles. Fantastic. Interestingly, not far from here is the valet bicycle parking area at the shopping centre that I have mentioned before. Between the hours of about 9am and 9pm, the bicycle parking area -free, and right in front of the entrance to the shopping centre, is guarded by a friendly assistant who will help you park and retrieve your bicycle - all for free. What a country!!

All the meanwhile my friends in their fancy BMW have to go back upstairs, pay their hefty fee, go down elevator into basement, find their car in the bowels of the building, and drive back up to ground level, where there is another attendant who makes them wait for the pedestrians to go past before they can get out, onto the road, and promptly get stuck in a traffic jam...

New Double Trailer

Finally had a chance to upload a photo of our new Chariot trailer for the boys. This is a Chariot Cougar 2. Chariot Carriers are based in Canada, and are arguably the best child trailer makers in the world. From Japan, they can be bought from REI, and sent via Fedex. The shipping is fairly expensive however, so a very kind friend very kindly brought one back from the US for us.



The kids absolutely love it (and our friend for bringing it...). It is slightly wider and heavier than our old Burley Solo. When we unfolded it in our living room, our first reaction was "no way -it is too big". But it is surprisingly easy to manouver, as you can see in the photo of mum here, and the trailer really is only barely wider than the handlebars, so you really don't need any more clearance than you would otherwise anyhow. Her battery powered assist bike helps her on the uphills of course, but otherwise she switches it off and goes fully "human powered". I can pull both kids up the hills on a regular bike no problem, so we also bought an extra hitch so that I can attach it to my regular town bike.

Some of the great features of this trailer:
> a solid hitch that is strong and safe, but very easy to detatch trailer from bike

> fantastic suspension - incredibly, the battery on the assist bike lasts longer, probably because of the suspension. It also makes pulling easier, and of course bumps are less jolting for the boys.

> plenty of storage space in the back

> great air ventilation for summer, but proper rain cover for wet weather - keeps the boys completely dry in a downpour, but the cabin does not steam up like other models can when the cover is down

> fantastic fold, that enable it to be folded down flat, quickly and easily - you could take this sucker on the train (as long as you had someone else to look after the kids while you lug it).