The RoggBlog

After the rider skills course, the manager of the bike school sat me down, and congratulated me for finally getting all the way through the tortuous licence process. Much stamping of forms was accomplished. And then he said this:

On a motorcycle, you fly down the road, open to the elements, but you must remember: that power is not your own. It’s from a machine. And if you forget this, you’ll come to grief.

A salutory reminder for us all.

That said, there are plenty of big roads up around Ariake and Tokyo Bay that are almost empty even on a Sunday, since the whole area is still under redevelopment. So if you really - I mean, medically - need to put the hammer down, try there.

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My favourite web app at the moment is the fantastic Navitime. It’s a map, it plans routes - either by Japan’s notoriously pricey expressways or regular roads, and with an estimated taxi fare and carbon emission total (if you’re a hippy: exhaust fumes rock) - train routes, and all sorts of good stuff.

And it’s just got a spiffy new look.

I swear, if I couldn’t already I’d learn Japanese just to use this bad boy.