Tokyo Great Cycling Tours have introduced special new rides just for the summer season. The summer rides will run in the mornings and evenings, to avoid the hottest part of the day, from 21 July until 4 September.
The Summer Morning Ride starts at 5:30am with a visit to Tsukiji Market to see the tuna auction, followed by a super fresh sushi breakfast. After the breakfast, you'll ride for about one hour passing through Tsukuda Island, Nihonbashi, Otemachi business district and then along the moat of the Imperial palace. The ride finishes at 8:30am leaving you free for a full day of sightseeing before most people are even up for breakfast!
The Summer Evening Ride, meanwhile, takes cyclists on a waterfront ride from Shimbashi to Takeshiba and Hinode pier, then to Tokyo Tower and the Imperial Palace. It departs at 6:30pm from JR Shimbashi Station, returning at 8pm. Afterwards, if enough members are interested, a trip to a local izakaya pub for some beers can be organized. The tours cost 3,000 yen (£19//€22) including bike rental, a bottle of water, insurance and a guide. For more information please visit www.tokykocycling.jp/summer.
Fireworks Festivals throughout Japan
For many Japanese, summer means fireworks. Almost every weekend throughout Tokyo and Japan there are large fireworks displays. It’s customary for people to wear yukata (light cotton kimono) on the muggy summer nights to see the "hanabi" (literally "flower fire").
Unlike fireworks displays in most other parts of the world, many others in Japan are a competition held between rival pyrotechnic groups. Each group tries to out-do the last, and the result is an incredible variety of fireworks, not just in different colours and patterns, but forming shapes as complicated as characters from Japanese animation or kanji. The Tokyo Bay Fireworks Festival will be on 22 August from 7pm until 8:20pm. If visiting Japan in August ask staff at your hotel or ryokan if there are any fireworks festivals happening at the time. |