Food Tours · Tour

A Mamachari, a River Path, and a Salaryman Lunch

Twelve to fifteen kilometres on a bicycle through the part of Tokyo two stops west of Shinjuku that visitors almost never reach. The operator is upfront about what it is not: no major sights, no fine dining, no photo stops at monuments. It is a ride through neighbourhoods with food in it. You meet outside the ticket gates at Koenji station, six minutes from Shinjuku on the JR line. Koenji is the second-hand clothes and live-music district, cheaper and scruffier than anywhere on the tourist map, and the backstreets around it and in Nakano are the actual subject. The bikes are salvaged mamachari, the upright Japanese city bicycles that everyone here rides, with a front basket that takes a backpack. You will also encounter Tokyo's automated underground bicycle parking, which is a piece of engineering worth the ride on its own. The route uses the Zenpukuji river path and the lanes under the railway tracks, where the arches have been filled with bars and workshops. Two street-food stops at vendors that have been in the same spot for decades, a simple salaryman lunch at a neighbourhood eatery of the kind that feeds office workers at noon for the price of a coffee elsewhere, and a bottled drink of your choice from one of the five million vending machines in Japan. Bicycle, parking fees, helmet on request and cycling liability insurance are all included. Eight guests, guided in English. You need to be a competent urban cyclist: narrow streets, crowds, uneven surfaces. Minimum height 140 cm. Local eateries use dashi in almost everything, so dietary requirements are hard to work around. Ponchos are provided if it rains and the ride goes ahead. Three and a half to four hours depending on the group.