Why Tokyo Has the BEST Streets in the World
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
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Tokyo's streets may look utilitarian, but their simple, no frills design makes them a joy to walk and bike on. This is made possible due to dense land uses and a populace that prefers transit to cars.
Special thanks to Christian Dimmer and Will Galloway!
Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Written by Dave Amos.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
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Wait! _Ground News_ is an unbiased news source that you use, and you heard that there was maybe an assassination attempt against "someone?" Methinks _Ground News_ isn't so unbiased after all...
The elephant in the room when it comes to Japan is there are hardly any zoning laws. People can build whatever they want without government interference. There a no parking minimums or set back laws or building height restrictions. If you want to build an 11 story apartment tower on a 10x10meter square of land the government is not going to tell you no. Tokyo is the result of the free market being allowed to do its thing. NIMBYS have no power in Japan because there are no courts, town halls, or zoning boards that will listen to them. There is no legal framework for NIMBYS to obstruct development. Get rid of zoning boards and American cities will start looking like Tokyo in 50 years.
@@Novusod I think it's great that you don't let being clueless stop you from commenting.
@@wclark3196what USA doesn’t have zoning laws that ruin society?
Living in Tokyo is incredibly convenient, and yet it has a small-town-like, relaxed feeling within the neighborhoods because of the small streets with few cars. Just about everything I need is within walking distance - even gyms, a library, all kinds of doctors, bakeries, shoe shops, etc. We even have dozens of orchards and small farms that have fresh produce all year-round. Everything else requires just a short train-ride on a clean train that's always on-time and comes every 10 minutes. And I just want to add that the average rent of a studio apartment is just $600 bucks. Living here on a budget is not a problem.
Is the pay good? Even for minimum wage?
@@armorpro573 Japanese pay per hour is notoriously bad, at least for the typical salaryman. But that is because of the "mandatory" overtime, drinking events etc. that come with it. As for the rest, as always: It depends.
@@armorpro573minimum wage not sure about it, but fresh grad get around 200k yen per month, and part timer in convenience store earns around 900 yen per hour.
Glad you mentioned the affordability. Tokyo has this reputation on the internet for being expensive but it's really not. It's more affordable than most if not all cities in the US.
RUclipsrs, journos, bloggers, etc. tend to just look at the expensive areas like Roppongi, Aoyama, Ginza, Shibuya, etc. where it IS expensive but outside of those areas it's very affordable.
@@armorpro573 depends on the type of job you have and the people you're working for. The only way to not make ends meet is having a part time job, otherwise, you can always find a cheap place to live in the least popular neighborhoods or in the sorrounding districts, as most employers will cover for your transport fees and it is way way too convenient to just ride trains over there, you should look at a map of all the trains and metro in tokyo, it is nuts.
I lived in Japan 10 years ago, and one of the first things to blow my mind was diversity of land use. Across from my apartment, there was a stretch that went: Buddhist Temple, 10 story apartment, single family house, 10 story apartment, tiny Shinto Shrine, 2-story building with a bakery on the first floor and a house on the second. As an American, I had never seen such a eclectic use of urban space, and ever since then, I've been a huge advocate of wiping out the strict zoning laws that strangle American cities. Let the people build what they want!
Much easier when these places aren't getting noisy car traffic, blowing industrial waste or have patrons shouting into the night
Yes, I absolutely agree with you. As a kid in Japan, I used to walk and ride my bike everywhere and everything felt so close to my house, because they actually were. I moved to the US as a kid and going from my residential area to shops and businesses took forever! Everything was spaced so far apart too so just passing by five houses in the US was like passing by two blocks in a Japanese neighborhood.
@@ULTRAOutdoorsmanthose are still controlled by the Japanese zoning rules. It’s not a free for all, but the residential zone explicitly allows for various densities of home and various non-disruptive businesses.
@@kaitlyn__L😅
I never understood. What’s the purpose of zoning only residential or only commercial. Like people who live also need to shop so why do they need to put them apart?
I've been addicted to watching Japanese City walking videos on RUclips for quite a while, especially ones with Alley in the title, it just gets me how safe, pedestrian and bicycle friendly neighborhoods don't have to rely on car traffic, I also love how there is NO on street parking in Tokyo.
For the price of 1 iPhone 15 plus tax, you could get a round trip to Tokyo and pay for a week in a very safe hostel in central Tokyo and pay for a bus to Mt. Fuji. I have recently done this. I ate rice cakes at 7/11s and spent every day in museums and walking the city.
I only like the rain ones but get ya
@@1Rab For the price of 1 iPhone 15 plus I pay 2 month of rent in Germany. And my Japan trip wil be for 3 month, starting in Hokkaido in the summer and moving down with the cooler temperatures.
Still need to save the price a few iphones 15+ for that though.
try living there and having to deal with rush hour transit. you will hate your life very soon
@@sorenjunkers3834 Yes, It's like highway traffic, just that there are about 10.000 times more people transported and you actually get to your destination on time.
When I went to Japan, the quietness of the streets really stood out too me. Residential neighbourhoods have such higher density than what I'm used to in Canada, yet they're just as quiet as the street I live on. Density doesn't have to be loud, the city just needs to accommodate for high density. Tokyo is such a great proof of concept for high density, yet quiet neighbourhoods.
French?
I've lived in Tokyo for a long time, and one of my favorite things I used to do after working night shifts was to ride my bike home, but get deliberately lost down countless streets like those in the video. It's easy enough to find your bearings with landmarks. And then occasionally you end up in a major neighborhood. Riding my bike at 2am down an empty Ginza was wonderful.
You didn't feel like you might get attacked by some late night punks?
@midloran the wonders of police, community, and borders
What’s funny is y’all may not believe me but old Houston streets are narrow like this! I grew up in 2nd Ward and this feels so familiar. It’s sad how my city and other American cities decided to sprawl out and become more car centered because I grew up walking down streets like this. Much love from Texas!
Most cities did but globally most have been removed and outside of Japan very few places still build them and even in Japan they are under attack by car-first politicians
@@ratoh1710 probably Toyota Honda lobbyist-like personnel
@@ratoh1710 Sad to hear, my friend. The thing for us in Texas is these narrow streets HELP with our horrific heat lol. It makes it so there’s shade. The UAE built a new city with streets like this that actually made the city 5-7 degrees F cooler than the surrounding desert. I grew up playing outside. I can’t even imagine going outside right now where I’m staying in the suburbs (due to having renovations being done at my home in the city) it feels like an oven 🥵 smaller and denser areas help in more ways than people even realize especially for us in hot climates
@@HTV-2_Hypersonic_Glide_Vehicle Not really. If they had their way USA would have Toyota Hilux trucks.
However, Americans and advertising changed America from utility to SUVs.
This is a reminder than a Ford Fiesta has as much cargo space and seating as most SUVs.
@@JohnDegurechaff huh? I was referring to pro-car Japanese with potential influence to persuade Japanese officials in Tokyo to change walkable areas... Trust me I am pissed off that the United States places a dumbass tariff or tax or whatever to get cool trucks (I'm typing this in my '99 4Runner next to a lake in Texas, I love my little Japanese SUV/truck).
Anyone who has been to the island of Venice can confirm... cities aren't loud... CARS are loud. SO peaceful at night. Sure during the day it can get a bit loud by the main waterways... but NOTHING compared to car roads.
It is remarkable how big a difference it makes when there are no parked cars in the street.
Hello from Copenhagen.
This is only tangentially related, but I am in awe of how all of those bikes are left out there with no or very little protection and no one steals them. Urbanism is much easier in a society where everyone trusts each other: I wish we had that here in the United States.
It would probably help our mutual trust if we lived closer together and saw our neighbors more frequently, so like with land use/transit there's a sort of chicken and egg problem.
@@frosty_brandon more third places and eyes on the street would definitely help bring people together and create a sense of security
@@frosty_brandon it would probably help if we didn’t take people from low trust societies and put them in a (previously) high trust society.
No one steals them is wrong. Ther eis a real bike stealing problem in Tokyo as you can see by all the posters and police actions.
That said on average it's more likely you need to buy a new bike because of age than that it gets stolen. One of the other urbanist channels just had that topic a few days ago.
I agree with this sentiment.
I've visited Japan a few times now and it's amazing in this regard. But I can't help but think that this is correlated to the other societal variable that Japan rates highly on: ethnic and cultural homogeneity. Until the day we live in a futuristic utopia, the vast majority of people will continue to find it challenging to empathise with and trust people who look different and don't act according to societal norms. I see it as an unfortunate, inconvenient truth - but to dismiss this truth would be intellectually dishonest, and perhaps even immoral.
I think Tokyo had an opposite effect of Paris Syndrome to urban lovers. Every Urban RUclipsrs who went to Tokyo and all of them immediately fall in love with it.
Because Tokyo better than the promise that Paris failed to live up to.
No, you're not seeing double! There IS a Not Just Bikes video similar to this (though a great 30+ minutes long)! Jason visited Japan in May and I visited in June. I'm picking up the baton of urbanist Japan content for awhile. :)
June is a great time, not too much rain left but not too hot yet
And the Architect DamiLee also visit Japan and did a video about their public toilets
Should have used the tram bell instead of the bike bell in the beginning. 😁
The difference is I actually enjoy watching this channel
A collab would've been awesome, but coordinating a trip like this would be a nightmare I'm sure.
1:54 You should have mentioned in the video how in Japan they don't even let you buy a car unless you can prove that you have a dedicated parking spot for it. In contrast to how in America the government doesn't care if you have a proper place to park your car and allows people to hoard cars if they want regardless if they have parking spots for them.
America encourages parked cars to spread like locusts across streets in contrast to these mostly car-free streets you're showing in Tokyo.
Edit: Changed “Tokyo” to “Japan” in the first sentence to be more precise per @mindstalk’s comment below.
That's not just Tokyo, that's all of Japan. Goes hand in hand with the national ban on overnight street parking.
@@mindstalkThanks for the correction. I'll make an edit.
Except they also won't let you rent your designated parking place at your flat unless you have your own car. My space is left empty but my girlfriend can't really visit me in her car because I'm not allowed to pay for that space and neither is she. Typical lack of Japanese logic. Even my Japanese girlfriend was annoyed.
@@primalconvoyare you in big city? Smaller city area don't really care about it, have ads for parking space
@@primalconvoy Your girlfriend is supposed to use a public parking nearby. That's all.
Loved walking through Japanese cities when I visited there. As a fireman myself, I was so excited to see their "trucks"! So convenient and maneuverable.
Were they functional for fighting 10+ story building fires?
Are American fire trucks capable of even getting there? Do you expect a 50 ft radius of asphalt around every skyscraper, which themselves tend to be in dense areas?
YT recommended this to me, and by coincidence, I stayed in this area of Ueno during the golden week of this year. My hostel was walking distance to tourist sites like Sensoji temple, Ueno park, Ameyoko discount shopping district, and a couple of train stations. As a backpacker, walking these safe and clean streets are perfect- literally no litter, homelessness, and drag racing whatsoever. The well-mannered pedestrians and bikers, the overhead wires, organized garages, and mini gardens & shrines add to their charm, a pleasant mix of sensory overload. You wouldn't mind the long walks!
Always nice to see when people realise that less cars, good transit and walkable neighbourhoods with mixed zoning make a city much better.
Another thing I notice about the Tokyo streets - they’re spotless. No trash or graffiti anywhere.
Freedom has its limits.
You haven't been to Ginza or Kabukicho yet, it's fifthly but compared to the US definitely better than your average big population metro areas.
Tokyo is huge and you probably didn't explore most of it like I did. There is definitely graffiti and trash; from both locals and tourists unfortunately. But that doesn't mean it's disgusting like most urban US cities.
One whole week of walking as a tourist for the first time, with my shoes still as clean as if I had only walked for just one hour.
There is trash and graffiti.
Many elderly people volunteer their time to pick up trash. This is happening in places without tourism. People litter, but other people pick up after them. I've picked up other people's trash myself.
From sea to shining sea, we have corporations that make us obese, car dependent lives that further exacerbate the obesity, and lifestyles that make it so we almost never have to interact with strangers. Small walkable streets sound like a cure to this dystopia
Completely agreed. Going from NYC to Tokyo, I'm way more comfortable walking around Tokyo.
Tokyo has the nice benefit of not having vagrants that act like Trevor from GTA5 every couple of blocks. It's weird, too, since Tokyo's subways often feel a lot like the New York ones... Minus the smell of piss and shit everywhere.
Part of what allows the streets to he so narrow is that not just emergency vehicles, but regular cars are also smaller. I had a friend in Japan who drove a Honda Fit and that was on the larger end by Japanese standards.
It's not just Tokyo that has super narrow streets either. I used to live near Hakodate, where most people have cars. Residential streets in Hakodate are also quite narrow (though I'll point out the the narrowest streets you showed are one way for cars), so even with high car ownership rates, you can have narrower streets if you just have smaller cars
Osaka, too. I lived at the intersection of a narrow street (one lane, one way for cars) and an even narrower one (cars probably driving _very_ carefully to not scrape the sides.)
No. You have smaller cars because the streets are smaller. And nobody feels like they must drive a SUV to not get turned into a soup like homogenate when they crash wth one of the tanks the Americans call pickup trucks.
Which do you think came first, the small streets or the small cars? Japan introduced the concept of the kei-car, with huge financial incentives for people to buy and run these very compact cars and vans, _because_ it knew that it had to do something about roadspace, and in a country that couldn't just endlessly build out onto the plains like America could, smaller (and fewer) cars was the only way that they could enable the population to grow in increasingly dense cities.
@@stevieinselby Well for existing cities, streets came first. If your pre-modern property lines and buildings are already only 5 meters apart, it would be devastating to widen the streets. Granted that doesn't stop people, apparently including even some parts of Japan, but it's significant.
Japan is unusual in apparently _keeping_ narrow streets even in newer development.
Nope. Most Japanese cars are pretty big. It's only the kei cars that are small and that's for tax reasons mainly, not the size of Japanese roads.
One thing I find really impressive about Japan is how the public transportation network extends way out into the boonies. While service may be limited (some rural community bus routes require you call ahead or the bus won’t run) it’s possible to get surprisingly far without a vehicle. Unfortunately rural bus service is gradually shrinking, but you can still find a number of one-lane mountain roads dotted with regular bus stops.
I just came back from Japan, and this video is accurate. What I loved perhaps the most about Japanese urbanism is how passenger rail stations are more than just stations; they're destinations in and of themselves. Also, I noticed traffic flow is better in Tokyo (a transit utopia) than in any car-centric city. Hear that, North American city planners?
One of the reasons Tokyo is laid out like this is that their auto companies never bought themselves the political power to demand all construction favored cars over anything else. That period in the early 20th century when GM and Ford were such huge companies that they deliberately changed America's physical landscape to suit their own purposes, from making jaywaking illegal to buying entire bus and train companies and then shutting them down, they did everything possible to make cars the single viable form of transport. And because it was America, they were allowed to.
They changed America's culture for their own ends, but now that entire car-centric mentality is baked-in to everything in the US. It's going to take a lot more than clever design to change this.
Yes and no - a lot of Japan outside of Tokyo and the other big cities is actually quite car-centric, because the auto companies in Japan did in fact still have a lot of political power. Still, for the most part its much better than in Okinawa, which went with an American styled rebuild thanks to the American occupation/military presence.
Guillotines
That's because before the 1906 Rail Nationalization Act, the private rail giants made sure that the city will conform to the rail needs.
@@schoolwork4056Not really, check the other big cities, Osaka, Kyoto
Well, having to cram in 38 million people in the Tokyo Metropolitan Region means except for a few areas, wide streets are _out of the question_ . It's actually way more convenient walk to take the plentiful public transit in the city (buses, subways and commuter rail).
Public transport only works when it is abundant, frequent, safe, and affordable. Some countries think it should make a profit instead of seeing it as the service it really is.
Underrated comment!!! Thank you so much for writing this!!
So many anti-public service governments are that way because they always treat public infrastructure and public service as if they were private companies, and require profit from them. It infuriates me whenever I see a politician say crap like "oh, this public transport isn't profitable"
It’s quite ironic to say that on a video about Tokyo where mass transit is expected to (and is) profitable. Mass transit can be affordable, safe, frequent and profitable. I think this is in line with the North American idea that car infrastructure shouldn’t be profitable either for cars or mass transit. We built to many highways and wide roads because we didn’t care about the bill. Anyway, most of the cost are collectivized so most users didn’t pay the true cost of their usage.
When people talk about Japanese transit like the Shinkansen, they forget the reason why it has this service in the first place. The reality in Japan is that car travel on highways is VERY expensive.Just the cost from tolls for a Tokyo to Osaka trip rivals the cost of a single Shinkansen ticket. Same for airlines which are a bit cheaper, but come with all the inconveniences of air travel. The Shinkansen ends up being a very competitive product which makes a profit for the JR companies.
If we are to be serious about mass transit (especially rail) we have make sure that other options are priced accordingly with all their externalities. When people realize how much their car costs they will switch to alternative which can be provided by private firms (or for profit SOEs). Eliminating other restrictions like parking minimums and other zoning absurdities is also primordial.
Can I slightly disagree but agree? IT NEEDS TO BE EFFICIENT!!!! Here it’s $1.25 to ride public transit but if it takes you 30 min to do what a car can do in 7…..
You do realize JR East made a profit, right ? Like, if you look at their financial report 2023 most of their profit came from transportation.
@@ImRezaFyEw dO ReALiZe… - every Gen Z before saying something dumb
I spent time in Tokyo and he is absolutely correct. I would enjoy just walking thru a neighborhood with no real designation. You would come across some very interesting things and people.
I live in Tokyo, in one of the shitamachi wards not all that far from Taito-ku (where you were). Some useful notes:
- Bike dodging is a rather irritating fact of life while walking along some of the main streets. The vast majority of cyclists prefer biking on the sidewalks, especially on the busier stroads where the carriageway feels markedly less safe. This often leads to conflicts when the sidewalks aren't wide enough
- The mamachari, an ebike usually with a basket attached to the front and a child seat behind, is by far the most common bike type in Tokyo. You showed several in your video. They should be imported to the US, ideally with ebike subsidies (a policy I've heard quite a bit of advocacy for in place of electric vehicle subsidies)
- While improvements are being made to the bike network at a surprisingly rapid pace, Tokyo has quite a lot of poorly designed stroads with ped/bike conflicts and too much space given over to cars. The other day I was walking in a crowd to the subway station and noticed that it had a real New York vibe, where the too-narrow sidewalk was full to bursting but there were hardly any cars on the street. (By the by, Osaka and Kobe are much better at crowd management than Tokyo IMO; Kyoto is the most Tokyo-like city in Kansai and it's also the least pleasant to walk around in). A place where Tokyo can really learn from the Netherlands is being much more aggressive in separated networks for peds, bikes, and cars
- Land use in Tokyo is very much dictated by transportation. You'll find the highest density nodes along JR, followed by the private railways, followed by the subway lines. In addition, most (but not all) Tokyo rail alignments have been repurposed for passenger use, and even the most adorably dinky passenger services like the Tobu Kameido Line have 10-minute all-day headways. This shows the wisdom of safeguarding old rail alignments and planning for them to be put back into service, and upzoning around rail corridors with this intention in mind
- Most Tokyo stations have bike parking garages! They can be tucked out of the way, but once you know what you're looking for, you'll find them easily. This is also an important demonstrator of how bikes are a walkshed multiplier in extending station reach
- Long-term I suspect the most important lesson Tokyo provides is that the *feeling of* being on a narrow street is the most important part of a narrow street. Liberalizing American land use policies so owners can use more of their property and rethinking street design to achieve this sense of pedestrian safety are long term the most important lessons Tokyo offers to the US
My school had an emergency drill the other day and some idiot woman on her bicycle was trying to cycle through groups of many small kindergarten and Grade 1 kids, even though the bicycle path was RIGHT NEXT TO HER. She didn't give a toss.
Just widen sidewalks and make arterials one way
Also came from a trip to Japan 4 months ago, my wife wore brand new white shoes and we took a walk while raining for a whole day at around 20k steps, and you won't believe how clean Tokyo is when we came back to the hotel only to find her shoes hasn't had any single dirt on it! No mud, dust, whatsoever. I'm not even exaggerating.
Interesting video. One major thing you really need to mention is that Tokyo was pretty much an empty, burnt out field after WWII and Japan had to build just about everything from scratch. That would make an interesting video as well. Compare it to some of the European cities that met the same fate during the war and compare how each of them dealt with it when they rebuilt.
Culture may be the biggest obstacle in implementing Tokyo street design in other western countries. Like how you say you were trying not to be the loud American stereotype, or how the Japanese all respectfully place their bicycles out of other people's way. Even here in the Netherlands, where I live, people are loud an obnoxious at times. You'll see bikes parked everywhere, blocking paths, entrances, mailboxes, without any regard for other people.
If you have no other choice to put your bike anywhere, the courtesy to other people, over your own 'pain' , has limits.
Two things I’d like to add
- WRT parking, it’s legal/pretty common to street park next to a business and keep the car running while you perform your errand (for example, a quick 7/11 run). That cuts down on the parking demand. It’s hard to replicate elsewhere because in most places in the world, if you leave your car running and unattended it might get stolen.
- what really impressed me about Japan is that the smaller cities and towns, like Fukushima or Matsuyama, have the same commitment to dense planning that you see in Tokyo, especially in contrast to the US. Those narrow streets exist all over the country. On the one hand, I feel like they paved over a lot of things that didn’t need pavement. On the other hand, I realized how much we waste land in the US, especially in the rural/suburban places where I grew up.
I think the thing people forget about Japanese streets is that the people are a huge factor in their success. Like... if you drove a truck on an Amsterdam bike path you'd barely make it 10 ft, but a road the same size does triple duty for cars, pedestrians and bikes because everyone sort of naturally dodges. With no explicit rule on who's turn it is, if two cars heading opposite directions on a 2-way one lane street meet with no room on the shoulder, one will reverse until the next available space so that the other can pass. Also there are definitely a lot of large car friendly streets in Tokyo, it's just that wide streets are used mainly to head between neighborhoods, with narrow 1-lane streets within the neighborhoods themselves. So GPS systems are actually designed to avoid narrow neighborhood streets when possible even if the overall route is longer.
Pioneer even advertise their nav can set to avoid narrow road and turns.
We do have basic traffic rules though here in the Netherlands, we all know when coming from the right you have right of passage. (unless there are shark teeth or sign that says otherwise)
I've watched a lot of videos of people just walking around Tokyo in various areas and times of day. It's incredible how far they're able to walk and basically not interact with any cars. I don't know if I could ever live in Japan/Tokyo because of some of their cultural norms, like fake politeness, mandatory overtime/work events, conformity to norms, etc., it would be amazing to visit. I've always thought Los Angeles could/should take Tokyo as inspiration for how to build the region up. It might take decades/never but it's a dream.
Not Just Bikes, then DamiLee, now city beautiful. Japans getting a lot of love recently from the built environment part of youtube. Just waiting for Stewart Hicks and Adam Something next
Hardcore Tokyo fans watches Life Where I'm From... he's always in Tokyo. He lives there. 😌
Adam Something might no like how capitalist Tokyo is but good urbanism overcomes all
100% agree. The Japanese really nailed some things. These streets are one of those things. Often shared spaces. That - combined with social conventions - make them a pleasure to use. There are no cars in the street because no-one is allowed to have a car without a proof of a parking spot on their lot
An important factor is the lack of on-street parking. I live in Seoul, we also have similar narrow, dense mix-used streets, but due to a lot of parked cars, it doesn’t feel as walkable as Tokyo’s. It blocks line of sight, making the street feel narrower and more dangerous.
I read that in Tokyo, in order to own a car, one must prove to have a parking space for at their home so if a person has 3 cars, then he must have enough space to park the 3 cars without blocking the road.
It is almost two times more expensive to own a car in Tokyo than Seoul.
@@kmch7286 But Japan still has much higher car owning rate per person than any other country in the world
@@phunweng962 No it's not. Only in Asia.
Search global car ownership rate.
I got back from Japan 6 weeks ago. Tokyo & Osaka and place was Great
I also stayed in Asakusa on my recent trip and we loved the location of our capsule hotel, Tomariya Ueno. It's so quiet it's hard to believe you're in Tokyo.
So glad you covered Japan. I've been living in Japan for years and as you said, I love the streets here.
This kind of narrow street is kinda everywhere in Japan, from metropolitan like Tokyo to small village in god knows where in the countryside. While the smaller the town is the harder to actually walk since there's no dedicated pedestrian area, you can still walk and people will (mostly) respect your rights as a pedestrian.
3:50 Amsterdam is built on a swamp so building underground metro lines is nearly impossible. The North/South line was also a disaster, but it was definitely worth it.
I visited Japan twice last year..Staying in Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Tokyo, Yokohama and visiting Osaka.....My favourite thing was to walk to any of the places I wished to see..rather than taking trains or buses..as like you..I wanted to see the these very interesting side streets and paths...I adore the ambiance of Japan...On my first day I walked from Shibuya to Soshido temple..from there to Gotokuji temple and back to Shibuya all down the back streets....Loved it!...Came across many small temples, shrines and interesting features...Tucked away shops, vending machines, parks...and such a variety of dwellings...Saw the odd westerner whom I felt probably lived there rather than like me a visitor...Jealous...hehe...Seeing the locals just go about their daily lifes...dodging the mamachari's..hehe...Amazing place...just wish I am able to return someday (I doubt as life is not to me)...I was in Japan to see my favourite band live. (from UK)
During a hotel transfer..I walked from Shibuya to Tokyo tower..onto Hie Shrine..then Shimbashi to a cake shop...onto the Shin Godzila statue in Ginza..down over Tsukuda Ohashi Bridge to a hidden temple...With all my luggage...I then took a bus the final part to the hotel in Ariake just up the road from "Tokyo BIG Sight"....Was a hot day and I was feeling it by then..hehe...During my trips I also stayed in Ueno, Kanda, Akihabara....Ueno with it's wonderful park and bustling market streets was very vibrant.
@Bodneyblue what kind of band?
@@longiusaescius2537 All female Japanese rock band. "BAND-MAID"
@@Bodneyblue rare 80 year UK W
@@Bodneyblue patrician taste
Your channel logo shows up on the blue truck at 0:50!
Great catch lol
As you mention there are many pros about these streets. I would however like to point out one negative aspect of them. The times I have been to Japan, the apartments I lived in always had little sunlight during the day, and most windows were covered in "frosted" glass to prevent people from looking in. This created a feeling of isolation and lack of connection to the outside world. If we were to take inspiration for this in the west, I think a middle ground is the perfect solution. One that does not cramp buildings so close to eachother as Japanese streets, but definitely not the wide two lane streets dominating many western cities. A middle ground would be an ideal solution for the people moving on the streets, but also to create some much needed "air" between buildings for the people living there.
My family put up curtains, frosting, blackout covers, and/or one-way window tint on every single window in our apartment. We would be just at home in Japan lol
Gaijin Goombah had complained about bicycles among other pet peeves when revisiting Japan as a tourist and decide to rent a car. Many bicyclists don't have a sense of safety. Narrow side streets surrounded by properties have tight turns and blind spots requiring mirrors.
Compare to Okinawa being so car dependent leading to constant traffic. When the area is influenced by the US military. The monorail is the only rail system and there was a railway which got destroyed in the war.
Maybe look at Odaiba. Infrastructure is more modern with bigger roads. Big parking lots.
What i dont understand from the US suburb is there are no minimarket near ur house, u need to drive a car to supermarket just for a few purchase. in asia there are minimarket every 1 kilometer and even more micro market
You and not just bikes ❤
I'm so obsessed with Japan that even if a person uploads street walk videos, i will be watching it for sure. The level of cleanliness is just remarkable.
Those minuscule parkings, I think those were probably old houses that became vacant and the family that owned the house demolished it and instead of laving the lot vacant to see converted it into parking to ear a bit of money.
Japanese land use is a lot closer to "free market" than the US is. Even in the most restrictive zone you can have a small shop in your house, or build rental housing, or yeah a commercial parking lot, and switch between them pretty much at will.
@@mindstalk Nah, is just a matter of stupidity.
@deathdoor you profile picture is like oil and water
@@longiusaescius2537 Not, it's is not.
That idea that people with "animu avatars" are all fascist is a gross generalization. Specially don't how knows a bit about the story of anime and manga and the people behind it. Hayao Miyazaki isn't the only "communist" (he isn't anymore) in Japan.
@@deathdoor anime keion hitler etc etc
It’s hard for most suburbanites to get used to the amount of standing and walking that’s common in Japan.
Trash trucks can be tiny in Japan as trash fees are so high. If you’re paying 3-5x more for the same volume of trash, you’re going to reduce your trash. We could implement that here, but Americans hate taking the bitter medicine to a better world.
It is superb to be soaked in convenient and walkable environment like this in Tokyo. Narrow alley really constricts the flow of traffic and renders better walking and biking experiences.
3:55 That map only shows the Tokyo subway routes, it doesn't show the routes for JR and the other private railways in Tokyo.
It does have a focus on the metro but some of the JR and other railways are listed. In the bottom right you can see a few of them are labelled. They don't label the stations for those lines but they do pop up on the map.
I have a hard time finding a legible train map that shows EVERYTHING, so I picked one that worked well visually for the video.
For future reference search “suica map” and it’ll have most of the lines/companies of greater Tokyo.
@@CityBeautiful If you go to tokyojapanmap360 and click on "train" you will find a map that shows everything.
Walkable cities are possible when you have a low crime city where everyone including women, children and the eldery can walk around without fear of being victimized.
America needs to get REALLY tough on crime before our walkable neighborhoods can fully actualize
That garbage truck at 0:50 was perfect. I know exactly why it chose to grace you with its presence.
6:15 great point. I don’t think much of what Tokyo does is possible in the US today but one can still learn from them..especially zoning laws. Some European cities can be a better fit with US comparisons
Not Just Bikes has a great video on the Fire Truck issue.
It does not mention that in the USA the FD does a lot of work that is done by ambulances and police in other countries. Especially because ambulances aren't free.
Any time I watch people walking around Tokyo, anything away from the main streets looks like it's practically indoors with how narrow the roadway is and how clean they are. Cities can be too much for me but it looks calming.
The reason you don't see much cars on these quet streets is because it is mandatory to buy a car parking space when you buy a car. If you can't - no car for you. And I think it should be like this everywhere
I think another barrier for taking lessons from Japan is that it has a very different overall culture. The US is an extremely individualistic and non-conformist culture, whereas Japan is the exact opposite.
You forgot to mention fleets of tiny transport trucks constantly buzzing around Tokyo delivering food to all the convenience stores. Who says you always need giant semis for deliveries?
I stay between Ueno and Asakusa as well, near Kappabashi. Magnificent, quiet neighborhood.
Vacant land in Tokyo is taxed differently, so land owners will turn their land holdings into tiny parking lots in order to avoid taxation. Often, these little parking lots will be sold to a developer and turned into apartments or offices.
Also why houses that would be condemned in north america are eyesores that do not get torn down.
Was there a groupon for a trip to tokyo, feels like all the people I'm subscribed to visited just recently. Ordinary adventures, not just bikes, dami lee, city beautiful.
2:26 first time I hear about "outdoor voice". Say a lot about how loud your city is when this is a thing.
I just returned from another 2 ½ weeks in Japan. While basically everything mentioned here is true, let me really recommend renting a car if you want to go into the countryside. We spent one week in Nagano Prefecture and really enjoyed the liberty this gave us, because while there are bus lines, they can be very, VERY difficult to use. And I really do recommend spending at least a few days in rural areas, because the vibe and people there are totally different.
@Mediaevalist nice name
I found it intriguing how I could easily walk around Tokyo at its busiest and still feel at peace knowing there's a lot of activity around me. However, first time in NYC, felt rushed, stressed, and bottle-necked, just first impressions, I know I should take a few other trips to the big apple before formulating a logical conclusion it's just my first impressions of both places. Love Tokyo when I was stationed there amost 5 years!
Hey, I just missed you out there! I also visited Japan in these last few weeks. I've been to a few countries around the world, but Japan is by far the best country I visited. The transit, walkability, IC card payments, and convenience stores made travel and sightseeing easy and enjoyable.
There's something Tokyo's streets REALLY need though: names. They use the chome system in Japan which is confusing af.
Sometimes it's better to navigate using landmarks than street name-and-numbering.
Hey, we were in Japan at the same time! Small world. July 4th weekend was a great time to visit - no fireworks to worry about, but wow Tokyo was humid and hot! Anyway -my wife and I had very similar thoughts - central Shinjuku is quieter than our suburban neighborhood in Las Vegas.
Tokyo is a city we'd love to live in someday. It's not perfect, no place is, but it's well designed and honestly, really fun.
Tokyo streets also work because the people of Tokyo are intelligent, clean, tidy, and polite. There is little crime. There are almost no trash bins. The human factor is an important element. I live near Toronto and the city has become increasingly filthy and crime ridden (especially theft).
The best is actually Osaka, that's because bike commuting is even more normal than it is in Tokyo.
When I visited Tokyo, I loved those tiny streets. Those tiny streets are human scaled. It's actually really comfortable to walk along them as a human. They are quiet, peaceful, cozy, safe feeling, plenty of shade, with lots of scenery to look at (different buildings). The big benefit is that these tiny streets mean you are closer to your destinations as everything is closer together - you are never a far walk from stores and restaraunts.
The residential streets we have in the west are all car scaled (more firetruck scaled). They aren't comfortable for humans to just walk peacefully in. And they aren't useful for getting you to any destination if you are walking as everything is too far away and theres little shade.
Can't stress this enough, the shade these tiny streets provide really make a difference between suffering under the blistering sun and a nice pleasant stroll.
Even small towns in Japan have small streets like this with mixed commercial/residential zoning. Imagine the Tokyo urban fabric but with 1-2 story buildings. You do see some businesses with surface parking lots here and there on some wide arterial streets, but they're way smaller than the ones you see in America.
That's the beauty of Tokyo and Japan in general. That's why I love to visit Japan as my number one tourist destination😊 (been there six times already).
Tokyo looks amazing. At the same time, I'm not sure if I would agree with the video title. The streets look quiet and accessible for pedestrians and cyclists, but to me it feels like there is way too much asphalt and concrete everywhere. The streets could use much more greenery, trees and plants.
Hey that's what NJB is talking about in his latest video. Taiwan has the same back streets, except with trees and with a lot going on, maybe a lil temple maybe the tastiest little eatery. Like sure it has its deficits as well but at least they got the trees right.
Those random little parking lots are there because a building was demolished and the owner of the land gets to make some money while the new building gets designed/permitted etc.
An empty lot pays much more in taxes compared to a building. This is why decapitated buildings are not torn down, and now pose issues outside of major cities.
I believe another key point to ensure that car usage is so low in Tokyo is the fact that you can't buy a car without proof that you have a place to park it off-street. There's no such thing as abusing of public space for your car!
As a person who loves visiting Japan and also urbanist content I’ve been eating so good 😭
*Fun Fact:* You can’t buy a car in Tokyo without proving you have dedicated parking space for it.
It's amazing that you got a grasp of the Tokyo street system in such a short time. (I've lived here for 10 years and it took my much longer.) BTW, everything you said is true of all of Tokyo and other big Japanese cities. I live in Suginami Ku, which is about about 10 minutes from Shijjuku by train.
The neighborhood I live in in Baltimore has a mix of apartments, shops, offices, all intermingled. And it is almost silent the majority of the time. It's loud briefy in the early morning and in the early evening when cars go zooming through trying to get to/from downtown, and on friday nights when the bars let out and people are loud on their walks home. That's it.
The sidewalks are wide and comfortable.
It's just... great.
Not as great as tokyo, but still great. It really proves that good land use and limiting cars is the secret to making great places to live. And this is in a neighborhood where the next block over there's crumbling abandoned buildings, and where the first person out of the building has to wake up some homeless people so we can get out.
Still better than most places in the US by land use, transit access, and fewer cars alone.
I recently visited the opposite end of the island I stayed in Iwakuni and Okinawa. Iwakuni is a place you’d stay if you want a quiet peaceful vibe
I grew up on an old block. Every house was different. It was so interesting. Today's dormitory suburbs are mind-numbingly boring.
I've been enjoying watching long videos by Rambalac of his rambles around parts of Tokyo and noticed these street layouts. Thanks for this analysis.
Transit being really good is one thing, but I think the other killer is how expensive it is to own a car:
- registration is expensive, taxes and fees are expensive, for the car
- having your own parking at your home is also expensive (that's right, you pay for that too)
- services are expensive: all gas stands are full service, not to mention that fuel is expensive
This street structure is pretty common in Fukuoka prefecture as well. But there are some streets that are busier, with no dedicated sidewalks, so it can feel a little less comfortable to walk on them.
Technically, bicycles are not allowed on dedicated sidewalks. You are supposed to bike on the street.
A big difference is that getting a driver's license in Japan requires more proof of skill and attention. I've been driving in the US for over 30 years, but failed the driving exam in Japan twice. It feels safer to literally share the road with cars.
I visited Japan back in March. Tokyo and Osaka were phenomenal, but Kyoto's heavy car use was a real jarring reminder of why I love this channel and NJB.
Because the rate of undergrounding utility poles in Tokyo is so low, it was much easier for us to get high speed fiber connection than American and European cities.
As someone who lives in China prefecture, there is more diversity to the streets than what is shown here. I understand the focus on Tokyo but Tokyo is really just one metropolitan area of Japan and there is so much more outside of that.
Tokyo is really all about Transit Oriented Development.
Also, bicycles work with not much infrastructure also because the neighborhoods are mostly self sufficient. In most places you never need to go further than a 15 min walk from your home to go to the supermarket, medical clinics, restaurants and so on. And when you go to work or meet with friends who live elsewhere you just take the train. Land use is super important!
I’m not sure Tokyo could be “urban planned” onto American cities. It’s all so organic.
It's not organic, japanese urban planning is famous for being very top-down. You don't exactly have zoning meeting either.
Looks rad over there.
Rad is a German shorthand word for bicycle (literally "wheel", but shortened from Fahrrad), so it sort of fits.
They build utility poles into the street because Japan doesn't have public domain. Wait until you get outside of Tokyo where there is little public transportation and a lot more cars, but the streets don't change and it a nightmare. Worst streets in the world for pedestrians and cars alike.
Rural areas in Japan are still rural areas, so one gives up lots of conveniences. And the less denser outer areas are fine for the pedestrian. I could walk from the outskirts of Kyoto down to Nara just fine one afternoon, a several mile walk. It was pleasant, lots of greenery even if there were clusters of houses in some areas.
The fact that you have to prove to have a place to park your car on private land before you can even register it in Tokyo certainly helps..
And US firetrucks are only so big cause the streets are so wide..
one caused the other..
I've lived in Tokyo before and public transport was really great there.
You could really walk between two neighboring stations should you wish.
The city was really built around the train and metro as those usually predated existing buildings.
but the local people thought that bike theft left a lot to be desired, which I agree.
Tokyo was a safe place for lot of things but not for umbrellas and bicycles.
You will get handed back your wallet, but your fancy umbrella will be gone in a flash.
And for a comparison, look at Taiwanese streets which are very similar, except too big even when there's no sidewalk, and heaps of motor vehicles.
Taiwan is getting fed up with their street designs, and will likely go more the Netherlands route (which accommodates large automobiles).
It was so cool serving you donuts the other day! Made my day
Amsterdam has small streets like this, but with bricks 🧱 instead of asphalt.
Lame, how about stone?
Oh that's so cool!
I briefly worked at a resort that had brick roads and driving the golf carts on them was great fun. The crrgcrrgcrrg sound and feeling of them under the little wheels was a sensory delight
I walked in the same neighborhood, from Asakusa to Ueno, back in October. Could not agree more. Excellent area for a walk. Great topic!
This an interesting contrast to when I went to the Dominican Republic. The capital has many narrow streets and many had no sidewalks. But they adopted the American standard of wide central boulevards and car dependency.
To do this would require a national upgrade of our sewer systems, roads etc. It wouldn't be economically feasible, unfortunately. 😊