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Bicycle Tours Tokyo is a 20 mile (32 km.) bicycle tour of Tokyo led by Gaku daily except for Tuesdays and Fridays, starting in Shinjuku. It's at a moderate level of difficulty, with just a few areas on busy roads close to traffic, but most of the biking in bike lines or along smaller roads. Minors (under 18 years old) must be accompanied by at least one parent or guardian, so I tagged along with my 15 year old and his friend. The tour starts at 8:50am and can last until 3:30pm, although we actually finished around 2:45pm. The cost is JPY 17,500 per person (~$120).
After meeting at the starting place, Tokyo Opera City, we went with Gaku to the bike parking area, retrieved our bicycles, and biked a few minutes to a neighborhood shrine. This was one that my son's friend had never seen, although it's not that far from where he lives.
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Our next stop was Meiji Jingu, the most popular Shinto shrine in Tokyo. Today, a Japanese holiday, we were able to see a procession of the shrine's police, who were attending a special ceremony.
Above are some of the wishes left by visitors.
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Our next stop was very picturesque, with the fall foliage: the National Art Center.
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Next we rode to Roppongi, where many international as well as Japanese companies have their offices. Case in point: the pictured Mori Tower, home to Apple, Goldman Sachs, Google, and Pokemon, among others.
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My teen and I remembered Zōjō-ji, strikingly juxtaposed against Tokyo Tower, a communications and observation tower, from a prior visit to Tokyo:
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We were all getting hungry at this point, so we stopped at a Japanese supermarket and picked up sushi for our lunch, before bicycling to the Shibaura waterfront to eat them. The light blue buildings pictured are chilled storage units used for seafood.
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Our next stop, after riding through busy Ginza, was by the Imperial Palace, where we saw this Guard Tower. In point of fact, they never had to use this against attackers due to repelling attackers at other fortifications further away from the Imperial Palace.
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Our final stop in Shinjuku was the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, where we went up to the 45th observation deck to take in panoramic views of the city. It's free to go up, and we were fortunate that at the time we arrived, there was no line, although other times of day it can take 30 minutes in line before getting into the elevator.
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The Verdict
We had a great time with Gaku on our tour; my son's friend marveled that even though he lives nearby, he hadn't seen several of the places we went to. I was a bit worried about the areas with high traffic, where cars pass right by you, especially since I don't regularly bike ride, but these were only in a few busy places in Ginza and Shinjuku, and Japanese drivers are fortunately used to sharing the road with cyclists. Highly recommended if interested in seeing Tokyo from two wheels!
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