Does Tokyo Have Bike Lanes?

[@svis6888]

Lots of people wonder how Japan can feel so "different", I think it's simply how neighborhoouds are at a human scale. Now they do have a special architecture and narrow street which make it feel very intimate, but simply removing on street parking makes a HUGE differece. For example, many streets in Paris are getting a pedestrian-only overhaul, and it makes them SO much better. If France does that everywhere, maybe one day we'll be able to experience that intimacy, here at home !

[@CasualCommuter_]

Yes! The human scale factor is huge, the best areas of Tokyo were the many narrow streets with small shops near random train stations or suburban areas. The progress in Paris is amazing to see with its cycling infrastructure - and we can thank mayor Anne Hidalgo for having a vision and a plan! Our cities streets should reflect the needs of its people, and if we can challenge the car-centric status quo, we can surely see positive change.

[@svis6888]

@@CasualCommuter_ I see many streets around me who aren't so different than what you can see in Tokyo, they just need to get rid of all the parked cars and they'll feel just as good !

[@hsngm33]

i really like the extremely narrow residential streets, shows how easy it is to give pedestrians priority, even when you have literally zero infrastructure indicating it, just narrow roads is enough

[@CasualCommuter_]

Exactly! It helped that buildings these small streets would build right up to the road, reducing the visual width as well. I don’t think they had arbitrary minimum setback laws 😆

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

​​​@@CasualCommuter_ If you are in Southeast Asia, a 1,5 meter wide road can be passed at a speed of 50km/hour By Honda motorbike 🤣

[@eda2000-r8h]

​@@carkawalakhatulistiwaand loud as f*ck haizz :(

[@pcongre]

03:50 I agree with 99% of your points, but arguably the real backbone of the protected cycling network is the fact that not only do they "heavily discourage through traffic and speeding" like you said, but also car commutes in general, especially through the ban of on street overnight parking + requiring parking certificates to buy a car at all

[@CasualCommuter_]

Good point - for a city of 14 million, the amount of vehicle use in general was much lower than you'd think. I saw a lot of cars parked in people's homes, much more than those driving through the local streets

[@mindstalk]

@@CasualCommuter_ I've read that Tokyo has around 250 cars per 1000 people, vs like 600 for the country as a whole. And yeah those cars probably get used less. OTOH, even those cars may explain part of why housing is cramped. 0.25 cars per person, say 2 parking spaces per car, 30 m2 per space = 15 m2 of parking per person. That's a lot compared to around 22 m2 of housing per person! Worse, a lot of the parking is small neighborhood surface lots, which are displacing at least two stories of building, so even the 15 m2 of parking is pushing out closer to 30 m2 of housing.

[@toguskyre]

When I last went to Japan in 2017 my partner and I hired bikes and rode them around Kyoto. Phenomenal experience

[@CasualCommuter_]

That’s awesome! The path along the Kamo River is beautiful, as well as the local streets with the canals as well.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Nice video! Japanese urbanism is fascinating, both the housing and transportation sides. Would love to visit sometime.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Thanks! I would recommend the book Emergent Tokyo to learn more about Tokyo urbanism - and even better to visit in person to see a lot of the things it mentioned!

[@ostkkfmhtsh012345678]

In terms of transportation, front licence plates are required for most classes of vehicles like in #BC and #Ontario but on a national level.

[@puregero]

I am always astonished by just how many people use bicycles in Japan even though there are practically no protected bikelanes like in the netherlands

[@oraclerex]

it's because there's no toxic car culture like in the US

[@svis6888]

I always saw people holding Tokyo as a paerfect urbanism city. While the abscence of on street parking makes everything looks ay cleaner, There is still lots of large roads and urban highways...

[@h4m74ro]

Yes, the stroads are a real pain. If you leave the big city centers, you'll notice.

[@Camiyuuu]

"I did not see any enforcement", Welcome to Japan! Jokes aside, thanks for the video and the thoughts! I cannot speak much for Japan, but as of Tokyo there are maybe a few points (there are probably more~) that can be good to add as to why biking is popular: 1. You are much less likely to get your bike stolen than in many other countries. 2. There is quite a high density of bike shops where you can get your bike serviced, if needed. That said, I tried biking in Tokyo in the past, and found it really hard to do so; I'm positively surprised to see videos praising how good Tokyo is for biking recently. The point for narrow wiggly streets is a good one, and is certainly a good factor for helping sharing street space. Maybe one realization I had by watching this is that a huge majority of bicycle trips in Tokyo are short trips: drop kids at school, go to the local grocery, or to the nearest train station. The rules for using a bike on sideways are difficult to understand (In fact, I think they are slightly different from what you state), most people do not understand them (or pretend not to understand them), and they are certainly not enforced. Biking on any sort of local stroads feels really dangerous (as you showed). Likewise, parking your bike somewhere you do not have to pay for is most likely meaning you are parking illegally (yet again, this is not really enforced). One thing I found quite frustrating whether you are on foot or on a bike, is that you quite often have to do sizeable detours to get somewhere just to be able to cross a high-traffic road. Another point is that work culture, in the center(s), would not incentivize the use of bikes for work commuting (In fact I often felt the contrary). Lastly, this is unrelated to the topic of the video, or what the city can provide for promoting the use of bikes, but some areas can get a bit hilly, and the weather (while perfectly fine for this in parts of spring/autumn) is not so bike-friendly most of the year. All that said, I have not tried the bike-sharing system yet, I should give it some more thought one day, thanks again for the motivation!

[@mindstalk]

I stayed 3 months in Osaka, which one source says has 25% bike mode share vs. 15% for Tokyo. Definitely tons of biking, and yeah, I estimated 90% of the bikes along big roads were on the wide sidewalks. As a pedestrian, I learned to look over my shoulder before stepping left or right. Same ubiquitous local streets too. Another thing is that bike theft rates are low and the basic mamachari comes with a built-in rear wheel lock and over-wheel kickstand. "Bike parking" at businesses often just meant an area to stand your bike up in, nothing to lock to. Like the Dutch, no one wore helmets. I literally saw 2 helmets in 3 months in Osaka; one on a toddler, one on the only road bike I saw too. I did see one or more in a week in Tokyo, whether because of more foreigners with their helmet customs, or narrowing sidewalks where I was, driving more people to the street.

[@agricola9171]

I brought my bike to Japan last year and rode it from Tokyo to Kyoto. The best experience of my life and 98% of the 550km felt safe. Japan has a different culture of driving to most English speaking countries in the west.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Wow I can't imagine doing such a long bike trip, it must have been awesome checking out all the small towns along the way! I did the Shimanami Kaido cycle route across the inland sea between Onomichi and Imabari and got to pass through a lot of the rural towns. Despite having to cycle on a rural highway route, it was still very safe and fun to do. Generally most of the passing vehicles generally left a lot of passing room.

[@yukaira]

great video! the local streets really show what simply slowing down cars to 30kmh or even 20kmh will do for pedestrians and cyclists. I hope you had a good time in Japan!

[@yukaira]

Re: intersections, boy am I Happy to live in ottawa where we have plenty of protected intersections.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Thank you, yeah it was great! Yeah, the speed itself + the narrow design enforcing the speed worked very well. Protected intersections are somewhat new even for North America, but we're quite well ahead of the rest, rare ottawa w 😅

[@kailahmann1823]

those blue lines look more like advisory lanes, like your example from Wageningen (4:50). The mentioned color markings help, but experience from Amsterdam or Hamburg shows, that especially tourists constantly ignore even the most obvious ones. That "always sharing with pedestrians" feels a bit like designed for very slow cyclists (children?) only and a lot reminds me of very old German bike lanes from the 1980s and older. Those also have just a white line in the middle.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Yeah, the sign at 5:39 explains the general principle - slow cyclists can use the sidewalk, and faster should use the road. The signs on the sidewalk-protected bike lanes sometimes mentioned “pedestrian priority” on the bike lanes 🙃

[@TY-bh3tu]

@5:12 Major intersections in Japan used to have dedicated bicycle crossings for decades but both the cyclists and drivers hated them and were removed nationwide. If you Streetview major intersections 10 years ago and today, you’ll notice most bicycle crossings have been eradicated. Cyclists travelling at higher speed on road did not want to weave in/out to go straight and wanted to travel with flow of car traffic, while cyclists riding on sidewalk can legally use pedestrian crosswalk to cross at an intersection.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Oh thank you for sharing that, yeah you're correct, I checked a few examples and indeed I saw cases where they were removed - but I also saw a lot of them in Tokyo still (as well as Osaka and Nagoya). It seems like they should only serve cyclists on the sidewalk protected lanes (or sidewalk in general), and not people riding on the road. In my opinion, their main issue is that they don't connect to the sidewalk-protected bike lanes, so there is little reason for a cyclist to use them, or for pedestrians to stay out of them. They can be improved with proper connection to the bike lane, and marked areas for cyclists to yield to pedestrians when necessary.

[@aproy5256]

Mamachari goes so fast in narrow small roads in big cities. Some times I feel scary when I walk around.

[@IWouldLikeToRemainAnonymous]

Kind of crazy to see still so much space taken up by cars or otherwise dedicated towards cars! So many more functions and modes of transport can fit in on a road/street when unnecessary car trips are eliminated and replaced by trips on other modes of transport or through other solutions.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Yeah, like most of the world, there is a bias towards the status quo, and change requires political leadership and push from the public. Even cities like NYC struggle to reallocate space despite the overwhelming majority not driving. As good as Tokyo's subway system is, not all trips have to be done by that method. More options for people is better for it's citizens, and the balance of space on roads should reflect that.

[@nicthedoor]

Oh man! I can't wait to watch. Currently working on a video about Japan so I better hold off. ;)

[@CasualCommuter_]

Will wait for your view haha, and good luck on the video! Will be waiting for it as well 😃

[@nicthedoor]

@@CasualCommuter_ Great video! I had similar thoughts, especially about the local streets. They are excellent. Did you need a phone number to use bike share in Tokyo? I tried tot sign up to the bike share system in Osaka but it needed SMS activation.

[@CasualCommuter_]

@@nicthedoor Thanks! I was able to use Hello Cycling (which seems to aggregate multiple services) for all the cities I went to. I did have to get a Japanese SIM from Mobal in order to get the SMS code to authenticate though.

[@Tristano1]

The variety of what streets look like in Tokyo is really interesting to me. I like how while some are grey and maybe a little more on the functional side, plenty had tons of greenery and shade. It's always funny when I hear suburbanites say it's impossible to have nature in a city and everything is concrete and dreary. There's seems to be tons of very narrow quiet streets that are completely shared which is great to see and an underrated way of making our cities more bike-able. "The invisible network" is an excellent way to put it.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Yeah, I feel the term “concrete jungle” gets thrown around a lot, and satellite images do a poor job at showing the greenery of the surface. Lots of plants and greenery infront of people’s homes and in small gardens, even on streets without tall trees. I really miss those suburbs, and prefer them a lot more to ours haha

[@mindstalk]

A lot of the small-street greenery is people just putting pots out in front of their house. Which may help slow down the cars...

[@BeHappyByBike]

When I was in Japan a couple months ago I was trying to figure all this out. To me it seemed so strange to see so many bikes in bike parking near businesses, but hardly any people on the road with "bike lanes". But now it makes a lot of sense. I think Japan could easily become the biking capital of the world but there doesn't seem to be much drive to change things because it kind of works as it is. Maybe that's okay considering it's miles ahead of north america in terms of walkability, and people don't drive personal vehicles around unless it's really their only option. I would rather bike in Japan without a protected bike lane than on a dedicated path along a stroad in the US because in Japan cars are so much quieter, the air is not filled with as much exhaust and brake dust, and people drive safely.

[@grinningidiot]

Another thing that's a bit odd about cycling in Japan is that you are considered a light vehicle. This means that you can now actually be fined for using your bell to alert pedestrians or cars to your presence in a non-emergency scenario the same way using your car horn in a non-emergency scenario will get you a ticket.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Yeah it’s a bit weird to consider the improper use of a bike bell and a car horn as equivalent 😅

[@BVEtrain]

Great video! love from what looks to be a fellow Ottawa-ite? and im also japanese this was very informative

[@manu.yt25]

Nice video! For me it's crazy how Japan is filled with cars and bike unfriendly, I think Korea does a better job at it and Beijing is just mindblowing by the number of bike paths and how wide it is....

[@jaywye]

docomo Bike Share (ebikes) is 1650 yen a day

[@CasualCommuter_]

Interesting! I was not able to try Docomo as the app requires your App Store to switch countries - Hello Cycling worked without issue for me, and was translated (mostly) into English. The rate was 1800 yen / 12 hours

[@trainsandmore2319]

Maybe you can retitle the video to “Does Tokyo (Japan) Have Bike Lanes?” to reflect the parts where your footage also cuts to Osaka and Nagoya.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Oh yes I considered making this a general Japan cycling themed video, but I didn't feel as confident commenting on other cities as most of my experience was in Tokyo. There are a lot of similarities though between Tokyo/Osaka/Nagoya (but I did prefer Tokyo's local streets more)

[@trainsandmore2319]

@@CasualCommuter_ Still, Nagoya (despite being near the headquarters of auto giant Toyota) ironically has better bike lanes, despite noticeably having less rail transit than those two cities.

[@CasualCommuter_]

@@trainsandmore2319 Interesting point, I checked my footage again and found that the protected cycle tracks in Nagoya from 2:43 not only has full separation from pedestrians, but actual protected intersection design with designated crossings. Now I regret not including that in the video 🤦

[@davidsixtwo]

I love all the disdain other urbanists have for people who like "cycling for sports" -- the false choice between enjoying going fast on a bike and "organic trips for people of all ages and genders" as if women and young and old people can't participate in bike racing if they want to. Cycling & bike infrastructure should be inclusive of cycling for sport (is it bad if the city wants to sponsor a casual bike race?). Bikes aren't just for basic transportation. I'm a bad/slow touring cyclist, but I always feel judged for owning bike gear by city cyclists in cool clothes. Can we all get along?

[@gillty]

The problem with this video is that it doesn't reflect the reality of cycling in Japan. Bicycle lanes or markings are considered municipal decorations under the national legal system and do not provide any codified protection for cyclists. Cars, trucks, law enforcement generally do not show much regards for cyclists. Cyclists on sidewalks or narrow lanes do not follow any common culture or rules, running through red traffic signals, riding in oncoming traffic, ignoring pedestrians, cutting around blind corners, jumping on and off sidewalks, etc... When considering that "mama chariots" are twenty kg, electric assisted, poorly maintained machines accidents are particularly frightning. Any informed resident (i.e. those who both cycle and have a drivers license) with an eye for being informed would say Tokyo and Japan in general lacks a cycling culture. -a Tokyo cyclist who would like to see things improved.

[@GurHaenouasHazourem]

Get rid of the music!

[@CasualCommuter_]

Yeah I think I'm done with using music - I turned it down a lot this time but I can't unhear it now after hearing complaints from others 😅

[@mauritsbol4806]

600km is 0. This is Tokyo. that is maybe 0.1% of all roads if your lucky.

[@JosiahKeller]

Very interesting! (The video would be 100% better without the annoying & repetitive music though.)

[@CasualCommuter_]

Thanks! And now that you mention it, it is quite repetitive. I dropped the volume compared to older videos, but I may try avoiding music entirely in the future

[@hardrock3730]

Tokyo n'est pas vraiment cyclable, une bande cyclable au sol et mélanger piéton et vélo....

[@rejeanbeaulieu8056]

General roadsharing in a more communitarian respectful society should be a non-brainer. But not in one of self-absorbed entitled individuals, whether motorists, cyclists or pedestrians all somehow valuing agression.

[@devinsilvernail]

I noticed that a huge percentage of cyclists in Tokyo seem to be moms and I love that. The narrow streets were always peaceful and a great place to (slowly) get from point A to point B. Agreed that larger streets aren't super useful for anyone - pedestrians, cyclists, or drivers. In those instances, it's almost more enjoyable to try to walk through metro stations or find adjacent small streets. Great video!

[@mindstalk]

The default bike is 'mamachari', "mother's bike". Similar in name and design to the Dutch 'omafiet' or "granny bike".

[@CasualCommuter_]

Yes! They basically default the Dutch bike, and use the rear wheel lock. Also surprised by how many people had pedal assist e-bike motors on their bikes

[@warw]

Walking the local streets one of our favorite things to do on our trip. One thing that I found nice was the elementary school 'car line' replaced by a bunch of bikes with kid carriers pulled up next to school.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Yeah! There were also plenty of the local streets designated as school streets marked with green and this kanji 文 that had kids walking to school independently.

[@lej_explains]

Good stuff! I’m visiting Tokyo/Kyoto rn for the first time and had the same thoughts - overall lots of ppl biking and way more children/parents than in US cities, but as a pedestrian on the non-narrow roads I’m frequently looking over shoulder to make sure i don’t run into a cyclist, who mainly prefer sidewalks. So it seems like actual arterial lanes or better sidewalk separation would help. Also was a bit surprised to see the lack of enforcement on parking + a good amount of aggressive drivers (particularly taxis) getting close to cyclists on those ‘sharrow’ style markings. Luckily as you point out those narrow ‘invisible network’ streets make it so you can mainly avoid this!

[@CasualCommuter_]

Yeah, that's one of the main drawbacks to the sidewalk riding policy. I generally found the most aggressive cyclists on the sidewalks to be the moms with child seat bikes 😆, nothing slows them down! Definitely need more sidewalk protected lanes. Also regarding enforcement - it was so commonplace that I thought it was just permitted, until I found out it was lack of enforcement from the police.

[@noseboop4354]

​@@CasualCommuter_ Lack of enforcement is also why you see those Mario go-karts in Tokyo. One big difference between police in Japan and the US is that the budget for japanese police is based on how low the crime statistics are, while US police get more money when the crime statistics are high. So japanese police have huge incentive to underreport crimes and infractions, hence they're great for asking directions but not so great to solve theft and other crimes.

[@Corredor1230]

It depends, for my daily commute my only way is through a major arterial road, and it suuuuuucks. I really haven't enjoyed or felt particularly safe commuting by bicycle in Tokyo because there are no real bike lanes. The road is 3 lanes per side and it really doesn't see that much traffic (it also runs parallel to an elevated highway anyway), so I don't understand why no effort has been made in improving bicycle infrastructure. I frequently see bicycles on the sidewalked annoyed at pedestrians and I also see drivers annoyed at cyclists on the road. Separating bicycles would do a lot of good for roads like this, where the sidewalk is not an option, and the narrow streets don't provide a consistent network.

[@freemanol]

Seeing how cyclists in japan can share the space with pedestrians made me feel that maybe it's also the sensibility of the japanese people that makes it possible to cycle without a full-fledged cycling infrastructure. If people don't get mad too easily, slow down when it's reasonable to do so, avoid narrowly zooming past things, it could work. Meanwhile when I lived in London, cyclists and pedestrians are very aggressive and defensive about their right of way, and also making dangerous manouvers since technically it's legal. It made the experience scarier eventhough there are dedicated cycle lanes there. Things work in Japan because they have a functioning society, which agrees to be sensible towards one another. There are exceptions of course, but I feel that is the root of a good city, before good infrasturcture.

[@hobog]

3:39 Taiwan's urban planning features alley-streets like this, maybe colonial influence

[@Corredor1230]

As someone living in Tokyo, I actually quite disagree with this take. Of course, a lot of people here use their bicycles, that's no mystery, but cycling here feels neither safe nor efficient if you're looking for a practical commute and not just grocery shopping. The narrow streets are no good because they're hardly ever the most efficient path from point A to point B. They're winding, often lead to dead ends, and very rarely go in a straight line, meaning it's very easy to lose your way. But the stroads and major roads are awful for cycling. These often go through the most popular neighbourhoods in town, meaning sidewalks are not an option a lot of the time, but going on the street will almost feel suicidal. It really sucks. Personally I think bicycles are fine in Tokyo for moving within your local neighbourhood, but anything outside of that is impractical and dangerous. I really wish there could be a bit more attention paid to these issues, but with an aging population and stagnated economy, I understand this is not really where anyone's priorities lie at the moment. It really is a shame.

[@Bakapooru]

Unless there is a “no stopping” sign, vehicles can stop on the side of any road to load/unload. Bike lanes can be on the sidewalk because most bikes are not road bikes. They’re one or three-gear “mama-chari” (mama chariot). They can’t go fast. The white lines not delineate a sidewalk, but they define areas of responsibility. If a pedestrian is hit between the line and the building, it’s the driver’s fault. Most streets are already too congested to fit a dedicated bike lane.

[@TommyJonesProductions]

It helps that most people there don't fall for the advertising and choose to drive a giant oversized SUV/Pickup/Minivan.

[@CasualCommuter_]

A lot of the domestic "SUVs" were much smaller than ours, about the size of a large compact. On a few occasions I did see imported luxury SUVs - but thankfully a lot of the infrastructure does not accommodate these ridiculous vehicles

[@insatsuki_no_koshou]

It's less about advertising than the fact that Japanese car owners are legally mandated to provide parking space for their vehicles themselves. Bigger cars require bigger parking and hence leave less room for housing.

[@christopherwarsh]

Bicyclists are some of the most narcissistic people in transportation. Because in your video, anyone not biking is “evil”

[@h4m74ro]

Haha, it's just the people walking in cycle lanes and illegally parked cars. That's a bad thing, do you not recognize that?

[@CasualCommuter_]

Most motorists were actually very good at actually stopping at stop signs and yielding to pedestrians/cyclist (unlike ours here in Canada 😆). The main problematic issue was the drivers that illegally stopped/parked their car in the bike lane - which is obviously bad

[@mindstalk]

No, the most narcissistic people are drivers. They're utterly coddled and catered to by society, they foul cities with pollution and noise, they can get away with literally killing people, and they cry like a toddler if you point any of this out or propose making life a bit safer for everyone else.

[@kernfel]

@@CasualCommuter_ Except that it isn't illegal here in Japan. I've been through Japanese driving school recently -- the painted bike lanes, even the ones with a blue surface, are at best a reminder for motorists that there may be bicycles there, but they are by no means exclusive-use (... yes, even when the writing on the lane says "bicycles only", go figure). It is, as per the official opinion, the correct thing to do to (a) stop at the left edge of the road, i.e., in the bike lane, for loading etc., (b) squeeze to the left end of the road for left turns, etc. etc. You learn to deal with these sorts of things as a cyclist -- either, like most, just use the sidewalks and slow down some, or, be extra vigilant and ride in the road, anticipating stopped vehicles, left turns, etc. and dealing with them. For what it's worth, most drivers (in central Tokyo, at least) are very circumspect and e.g. wait to complete their left turn until both pedestrians and cyclists (including those on the road behind them) have passed on the left.

[@mauritsbol4806]

Tell this @notjustbikes rn.