Tokyo

I haven't blogged in over a week because the day after my last post my back went out. So,
I spent the week resting, icing, and reading a book and article by the Dog Whisperer. I'm happy to say that it was quite possibly the best week I have ever had with my dog. Three cheers for experts like Cesar Millan.

On Wednesday Peter and I flew to Tokyo for a 10-day vacation. It made me very happy to see that bicycles are everywhere in Tokyo. They are mostly city cruiser bikes with step-through frames and baskets on the front and the back. Most of them have these great skirt guards that hook to the back fender and seat stays. The picture above is my favorite one so far. I'm going to see if I can find one for my red bike.

The bike lanes in Tokyo are on the sidewalk although a lot of people ride on the street anyway and just take up a lane. Amazingly, no one locks their bikes to anything. They just lock the rear wheel and leave it. It is not the first time during my travels that I've wondered what is wrong with America. I've seen women here out jogging at night and children walking through the city by themselves. It's a city of 30 million people...the largest in the world...and they don't lock their bicycles to anything. A bicycle left like that wouldn't last 10 seconds in New York City and who knows how long it would last in Portland.

People in Tokyo are very well-dressed. There are lots of suits, mostly black and lots of skirts, dresses and high heels. And, that is what they ride their bicycles in. I bet the Japanese could really get into road bikes because they like things fast (fast trains, fast eating), but so far I haven't seen any.