9 ms·

Looking forward to reading this. Walking is truly the best way to discover a city, and even yourself. On a personal experience, when I arrived to Tokyo for a m

Looking forward to reading this. Walking is truly the best way to discover a city, and even yourself. On a personal experience, when I arrived to Tokyo for a month long vacation in Japan, I had planned going to the Tsukiji Market tuna auctions that first day. It was about 2 in the morning, I had just gotten off a plane, not really tired but the jet lag would kill me for sure, so the plan to counter jet lag would be to not sleep that day and rest the day after and sort of get in sync that way. Now, I don't know how it is now with the new market, but to be able to see the tuna auction you had to be at the market extremely early so, it being 2am seemed a perfect excuse to just walk. I walked for about 2h and when I arrived to the market I found out that day was a holiday in Japan and there would be no auctions that day. Disappointed, tired, I saw on google maps there was an Onsen nearby (around 1h30 away) so I kept walking to Odaiba. The Onsen in question used to be open something like 23h a day which was great for me at 5am. Now that was one hell of a way to relax after that long walk. Never rested that hard in my life.

asah 4y ago
I recently discovered scooters (lime, bird, etc), and have to say that they now compete with walking for me. upsides versus walking: - 10x further distances - 10 blocks feels like 1, it's simply amazing. You can see parts of the city that are impractically far or bordered by boring/industrial zones. upsides versus biking: - slow enough to "take in" the sights, where biking definitely feels like you've "lost" something. - more stable / feels safer - much easier to stop & start, and easy to lock up for a few minutes. - about the same speed as manual bikes (in practice) but slower than e-bikes real downsides: - safety: if there's no bike lanes, then scooters can become hazardous. In particular, because they travel quickly, you can be safe one minute and then quickly have conditions degrade. The risks of medical attention vary by city - developing countries can have limited medical care; US medical care is $$$$. - disallowed & slow zones: it can be *VERY* annoying to have the scooter beeping at you, refuse to go, refuse to lock etc. And the GPS is imperfect, so you can be on the border of a legal zone and have it stop. I've had to walk scooters many times. - cargo: tough to carry significant cargo, e.g. groceries quickly become hazardous. perceived downsides: - return-anxiety: what if there's no scooters? ==> rarely happens, but if so, then take an uber! - range-anxiety: what if it runs out of juice? ==> I've ridden a lot and never come close... - one scooter available for two people? ==> if you're careful, you can put two people on a scooter, then scoot to the next scooter (apps all have maps of available scooters)
- kzrdude 4y ago
  Another real downside to scooters is to miss out on a low-intensity physical activity that makes your body feel good. A day of activity, walking or bicycling, does wonders.
  - asah 4y ago
    Good point. But in my experience scooting was always paired with a lot of walking as well. Put another way, scooting is the "skip to the next track" of walking.
    - asah 4y ago
      Just now: 10,000 steps plus a scooter ride passed the boring parts of downtown which I'd already seen. Just ordered Persian food at a tiny place in a cute neighborhood there's no way I'd have walked to, and not on the subway line.
- eternalban 4y ago
  I did this for a week in Paris (late 2019, there was a strike and the metro had like 2 functional lines). In the afternoon of Christmas Eve got a yen to go to Montmarte, grabbed a scooter near Etoile and in short order got to experience the C.E. mass at Sacré-Cœur. The enhanced mobility is amazing, and its a great way to explore various alleys and neighborhoods. Frankly I was pleasantly surprised at how the Paris drivers coexisted with us on scooters. I felt perfectly safe.
  - cinntaile 4y ago
    Don't you just ride on the bicycle lanes? Why wouldn't that be safe?
    - eternalban 4y ago
      iirc, there is a lane for buses and bikes, which is mainly what I used. But then there are the circles and intersections, and narrower streets naturally only have so much space.
xatlasm 4y ago
>Disappointed, tired, I saw on google maps there was an Onsen nearby (around 1h30 away) so I kept walking to Odaiba. The Onsen in question used to be open something like 23h a day which was great for me at 5am. >Now that was one hell of a way to relax after that long walk. Never rested that hard in my life. If the onsen you went to is the one I'm thinking of, I have some bad news: it closed in September of last year. https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/odaiba-hot-spring-theme-park-oedo-onsen-monogatari-is-closing-down-062421 https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/odaiba-hot-spring-theme-p...
- thematrixturtle 4y ago
  Much of Odaiba is currently closed for renovation/rebuilding. LaQua is probably the closest equivalent now in Tokyo, although it lacks the {kitschy,fun} Ye Olde Tokyo theme of Oedo Onsen. But hey, you get a roller coaster instead. https://www.laqua.jp/en/ https://www.laqua.jp/en/
- xdfgh1112 4y ago
  That sucks. It wasn't the best onsen but the fake Edo area was entertaining.
- glanzwulf 4y ago
  Yeah, I heard something about that. Shame because once tourists are properly allowed back in japan I was thinking of going there again.
- Aeolun 4y ago
  Crap, I’d been thinking of going there ever since I arrived in Japan 9 years ago but never made it :/

asah 4y ago

I recently discovered scooters (lime, bird, etc), and have to say that they now compete with walking for me. upsides versus walking: - 10x further distances - 10 blocks feels like 1, it's simply amazing. You can see parts of the city that are impractically far or bordered by boring/industrial zones. upsides versus biking: - slow enough to "take in" the sights, where biking definitely feels like you've "lost" something. - more stable / feels safer - much easier to stop & start, and easy to lock up for a few minutes. - about the same speed as manual bikes (in practice) but slower than e-bikes real downsides: - safety: if there's no bike lanes, then scooters can become hazardous. In particular, because they travel quickly, you can be safe one minute and then quickly have conditions degrade. The risks of medical attention vary by city - developing countries can have limited medical care; US medical care is $$$$. - disallowed & slow zones: it can be *VERY* annoying to have the scooter beeping at you, refuse to go, refuse to lock etc. And the GPS is imperfect, so you can be on the border of a legal zone and have it stop. I've had to walk scooters many times. - cargo: tough to carry significant cargo, e.g. groceries quickly become hazardous. perceived downsides: - return-anxiety: what if there's no scooters? ==> rarely happens, but if so, then take an uber! - range-anxiety: what if it runs out of juice? ==> I've ridden a lot and never come close... - one scooter available for two people? ==> if you're careful, you can put two people on a scooter, then scoot to the next scooter (apps all have maps of available scooters)

kzrdude 4y ago
Another real downside to scooters is to miss out on a low-intensity physical activity that makes your body feel good. A day of activity, walking or bicycling, does wonders.
- asah 4y ago
  Good point. But in my experience scooting was always paired with a lot of walking as well. Put another way, scooting is the "skip to the next track" of walking.
  - asah 4y ago
    Just now: 10,000 steps plus a scooter ride passed the boring parts of downtown which I'd already seen. Just ordered Persian food at a tiny place in a cute neighborhood there's no way I'd have walked to, and not on the subway line.
eternalban 4y ago
I did this for a week in Paris (late 2019, there was a strike and the metro had like 2 functional lines). In the afternoon of Christmas Eve got a yen to go to Montmarte, grabbed a scooter near Etoile and in short order got to experience the C.E. mass at Sacré-Cœur. The enhanced mobility is amazing, and its a great way to explore various alleys and neighborhoods. Frankly I was pleasantly surprised at how the Paris drivers coexisted with us on scooters. I felt perfectly safe.
- cinntaile 4y ago
  Don't you just ride on the bicycle lanes? Why wouldn't that be safe?
  - eternalban 4y ago
    iirc, there is a lane for buses and bikes, which is mainly what I used. But then there are the circles and intersections, and narrower streets naturally only have so much space.

xatlasm 4y ago

>Disappointed, tired, I saw on google maps there was an Onsen nearby (around 1h30 away) so I kept walking to Odaiba. The Onsen in question used to be open something like 23h a day which was great for me at 5am. >Now that was one hell of a way to relax after that long walk. Never rested that hard in my life. If the onsen you went to is the one I'm thinking of, I have some bad news: it closed in September of last year. https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/odaiba-hot-spring-theme-park-oedo-onsen-monogatari-is-closing-down-062421 https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/odaiba-hot-spring-theme-p...

thematrixturtle 4y ago
Much of Odaiba is currently closed for renovation/rebuilding. LaQua is probably the closest equivalent now in Tokyo, although it lacks the {kitschy,fun} Ye Olde Tokyo theme of Oedo Onsen. But hey, you get a roller coaster instead. https://www.laqua.jp/en/ https://www.laqua.jp/en/
xdfgh1112 4y ago
That sucks. It wasn't the best onsen but the fake Edo area was entertaining.
glanzwulf 4y ago
Yeah, I heard something about that. Shame because once tourists are properly allowed back in japan I was thinking of going there again.
Aeolun 4y ago
Crap, I’d been thinking of going there ever since I arrived in Japan 9 years ago but never made it :/