Bikes, Bikes and more Bikes

It was the second day of December and it was nineteen degrees and sunny. What a perfect temperature to connect with the streets and have the wind blow through my hair as I enjoyed a bike ride.

According to David Byrne in Bicycle Diaries “a bike is the world’s most used form of transportation.”

That is definitely noticeable here. Bikes are a principal means of transportation for many because they are cheap, convenient and quick. The local climate and the geographical layout support the activity as well. The roads are kept in good condition so they provide a smooth ride. They are very narrow however and there are deep gutters along the edges which must be avoided. There are a lot of cars on the road too but the nice thing is that the drivers are so respectful and accommodating. At times passing requires some manoeuvring for everyone involved but as no one goes very fast it all feels safe.

Bikes are ridden by everyone from old ladies to children. Most are cruisers with a basket on the front. Many mothers at the kindergarten arrive on ‘Momacharis’ with a child seat on front and back to transport their kids around. My bike is a brand called Frackers, and it is orange with a basket that turns into a baby seat on the front. Unfortunately Lucas is too big to take anywhere in it safely. Bikes with small wheels and tall handlebars are the choice of twenty-something males and females supporting their cool image.

It is liberating and exhilarating to ride a bike in a foreign country. It provides exercise while being an efficient way to whip to the store to get items for dinner. It also offers a different view of the dense residential and urban landscape than travelling by foot or on the train. It makes me feel more connected to the street and the others who cruise around this way. I love biking around here as there is a harmonious flow that I haven’t experienced biking in Canada. The mentality of ‘every man for himself’ is not known here. Everyone watches out for each other. It can be difficult at times when cars, bikes and people are coming toward me and I have to remember to stay left (not to go out to the right) clinging to the edge of those gutters but avoiding the telephone poles. Once someone coming towards me went left confusing me and causing a narrow escape from a head-on-collision.

My ride along the Nigawa River passes houses of all sorts, some traditional and a lot of modern designs as houses have a life of about thirty-forty years here. All are surrounded by walls rather than fences and they have little property to speak of. Tucked between them here and there are places like a post office, cleaners, and a bike maintenance shop all leading to the more commercial area around the train station where there are grocery stores, a bakery, banks, restaurants and cafes.

The Japanese investment into bicycle infrastructure is a statement about what they feel is important for their society. They encourage this activity and it shows in how everything is organized. Around Nishinomiya and Osaka there are specified street crossing areas and ample parking spaces. Riders use electronic bike lock systems outside stores and there are even underground parking garages at the train stations dedicated to the thousands of bikes ridden every day. Even though these exist there are still bikes parked randomly as their riders go about their business.

The children were given bikes when we arrived and so every weekend we take them around the university campus were they are safe from traffic and can go as fast as they can peddle. Lucas always wants to be the leader so often they race by the zen gardens and wind catcher installations that decorate the campus as they jockey for positions. These bicycles have been a huge gift for them as they have come to love riding as much as Tim and I do and it has provided them with a different perspective to see their world as well.

Cruising along on two wheels is a fun way to get exercise and a great way to participate in life in Japan. I hope our children will always embrace that feeling of freedom that a bicycle can give.

Walking through Torii Gates

We took the train to Kyoto to visit the Fushimi-Inari Shrine, a fox shrine where you pray for good luck. Shrines are part of practicing the Shinto (Way of the Gods) religion which is the indigenous form of worship in Japan. Most life events, beginning at birth, are celebrated with a Shinto ritual accessing the essences and spirits in the natural forces in the world. Shinto is said to be a philosophical path which understands the interrelated complexity of humans and nature.

It was a gorgeous fall day and the leaves had turned. We were surrounded by oranges, yellows and reds.

The shrine sits on the south-east side of the city at the base of a mountain and includes a long trail up and around the mountain side. We entered through a large vermillion Torii gate which marks the transition point from the profane to the sacred. It was protected by two large foxes, one with a ball in its mouth the other with a key. It is said the key unlocks the door to the rice granary- rice being the traditional signifier of wealth in Japan. Lucas was afraid of their eyes which do tend to have a piercing affect. There were thousands of Japanese people who had come to pray and some were dressed in Kimono. This just added to the beauty of the place.

We began our ascent and noticed a mini shrine with a beautiful ornate horse inside and carrots resting on the edge as offerings. Eleanor liked being here and as we didn’t have carrots we left some acorns we found on the ground. We prayed that one day we might have our own horses to take care of.

We continued to follow the crowds and found ourselves inside the Torii gate tunnel on a meditative walk uphill. Successful companies have donated the gates and there are thousands upon thousands of them all lined up about a foot apart along the miles of mountain trails. We stopped about half way for an o-bento lunch and a break which allowed for some good people watching. The vermillion tunnel doesn’t allow for a view of the surrounding forest until it opens up at rest stops along the way and once higher up the view of Kyoto is fantastic. We counted fifty four foxes guarding various mini shrines along the way.

Needless to say we didn’t make it all the way around as the children gave up at the top. We had climbed a good distance and it was time for the descent. We took a route that led out of the gates and through the forest where stone pagodas offset the colour of the leaves. We hoped that all the praying for good luck that had surrounded us would ensure some of it came our way.   

The world of KidZania

On Saturday I took the children to an edutainment theme park that I had heard some of the mothers raving about.

KidZania was founded in Mexico and has locations in the U.S, Dubai and Japan. One of the locations is in our area so it was easy to get to. Its objective is to provide fun, on-the-job training geared for children. The role-playing takes place in a realistic city setting where the fire trucks and paramedic vehicles actually drive around. The setting includes actual corporate names not make believe companies. This led to my uncertainties about the whole concept. I was interested in seeing what corporations are marketing their brands through the kids to the parents. The big names included Coca Cola, Sony and Epson and the rest were Japanese representations for everything from Pizza-La to SMBC bank. I wonder how much they payed to be in the mini city.

We arrived and were processed as if we were at an airport boarding a flight. We walked through the tunnel into a new, indoor world. The city was two stories with bridges linking places like the hospital and the theatre. I couldn’t believe how exciting it was and I hoped that the children would be able to do activities that interested them and maybe influenced them on a direction they might choose for their future.

They both chose to become fire fighters first. After training (which was all in Japanese) the call came in that a building was on fire so down the stairs they went, put on their fire suits and departed in the fire truck with sirens wailing. They pulled up to a building that did look like it was burning (very well staged), hooked up the hoses and used real water to spray out the fire. The looks on their faces was intense.

Parents do not participate nor are they allowed near their children while the activity takes place. The kids are under the care of the adults who work for KidZania. That means that parents take a lot of photos or just hangout and eat at the coffee shops that are incorporated in the city offering chairs for waiting parents. The whole park is a captured audience and no outside food or drink is allowed so we are almost forced to consume.

For his next activity Lucas chose to do construction. Eleanor went off to be an Emergency room Doctor. She wanted to work with the newborn babies but the wait was going to be one hour so she was flexible. It was so heart warming to watch her in her hospital greens performing CPR and using a defibrillator on the patient. But it also taught her a life lesson that I am not sure a six year old needs, that of the anxiety of trying to save a dying person. She had been nervous enough about the fire and now her heart was racing again as she followed the Japanese instructions on how to keep a heart beating.  She chose a more benign activity next, that of a parcel delivery girl. She had to go to other companies and pick-up parcels and then shelve them. She loved that one.

Lucas loved construction as he was able to connect items that made Christmas lights go on as well as build an arch bridge which he then walked over to learn about its strength. He decided to work on a wall mural as his next activity and then it was time for Pizza-La for lunch. They have a little shop on the side of the activity room to sell food made by professionals so we ate pizza and waffles to keep us going. Eleanor was hooked. She wanted to make pizza so she lined up for that next. Lucas went to work in the Design Studio to draw.

It all went really smooth as the place is very well organized and in the end Eleanor had a pizza to bring home for dinner.  They were exhausted from fitting into the very structured role-play and I had enough hanging around as my excitement had waned. The teaching here was very much about thinking inside the box. We left the building and took in as much fresh air as we could before freezing. It was good to be back in the real world where the kids could be irresponsible and creative once again.