Tokyo

Leh, George and I were out to see the 'Sue' dinosaur exhibition in Ueno today, and ended up walking through the motorcycle district close to Ueno Station. It's a lot smaller than it used to be, but there are still a bunch of shops down there selling motorcycles and all manner of motorcycle-related gear.

The streets are just filled with motorcycle shops.

A couple of shots of a stylin' maxi scooter.

Check out that pipe...

Though they seem particularly ill-suited to Tokyo driving conditions, Harleys have a following in Japan.

Leh and George check out another Harley...

Two people on a maxi scooter.

Here it is, the ojisan dream bike! A big brother to the Super Cub, the Honda 125cc Benly twin has been around forever and is a favourite among the geezer crowd. You can walk into a Honda showroom and buy one right now that is virtually identical to those of three decades ago. And there are some good reasons for this - it's just about perfect the way it is - strong, solid, reliable and economical to run. This one features a particularly nice box on the back, which fits on the skookum rack that these bikes come equipped with.

Not sure if this was a piece of installation art, or what?

Another cool-looking folding bike, apparently made in the UK.

In an earlier posting I was wondering if the Japanese manufacturers were still making the seven-passenger wagons that were appearing a decade ago; it turns out they are, and it seems to be a pretty active market segment. Here is Honda's offering.

Ueno train station from above.

A panorama shot of the D51 steam locomotive parked in front of the National Science Museum in Ueno