Thank You Tokyo!
Saturday was the Stinger’s wedding run and party.
We’ve been doing these parades for years for various biker friends and friends-of-friends, and it never gets old. Throw the happy couple in the back of a convertible, surround it with Harleys, ride around Tokyo waving at everyone like you’re celebrities, and people everywhere stop to stare, wave, take pictures, applaud, and shout congratulations to the happy couple.
It really feels like the whole city is celebrating the couple’s happiness, and after a parade I always find that the smile muscles in my face are sore from overuse.
In a country where noisy bosozoku bring down the image of bikers, it’s great to have events like these parades and our Merry Run to show people the positive side of biker culture.
Our parades have gotten such favorable reactions that some biker friends of mine who run a small event management company have started offering the service for a small fee. 
More pictures can be seen at the Gaijin Bikers main site.
由佳とオーエン、結婚おめでとう!
末永くお幸せに!
Update: a clip from the DVD of the parade can now be seen at Google Video.
Congrats to Stinger!
You have to let me know the next time you have one of these group rides in Tokyo… (unless it is Harleys only)
Comment by Gaijin Biker — August 10, 2005 @ 7:07 pm
No brand restrictions here, we just had more bikes than we could handle just with immediate friends of the bride and groom (including another X4.)
You’re definitely on the list of people I’ll contact for our next short run.
Comment by Big Ben — August 11, 2005 @ 12:05 am
That really looks like fun! Althought the one bike with the viel fabric hanging from the handlebars of the one bike… do you say “handlebars’ when talking about motorcycles? … are giving me “Isadora Duncan”-style shivers! I’d be afraid the material would get caught up in the front wheel and cause the bike to flip over or something.
/ clueless chick ramble over , lol!
Comment by lammgtry — October 13, 2005 @ 5:22 am
How did I end up as “lammtry”? Oh, well. : )
Comment by Sharon — October 13, 2005 @ 5:22 am
Yeah, extra consonants!
Sorry, Langtry, but Blogger won’t let me go in and fix your comment.
Yup, they’re called handlebars on motorcycles too.That’s my bike in the picture, and yeah, it was dangerous. They even started to get caught in the wheel at one point, but the material rips easily, and since it’s a parade, we were never moving fast enough for it to be a real problem. Looked amazing streaming out behind me when we were moving though.
Comment by Big Ben — October 13, 2005 @ 9:00 am
[…] Yesterday we had a wedding parade (like the one we did for the Stinger in August) for Miyazaki-san from my dragon boat team. We had great weather—great weather in December meaning 10℃ (50°F) with lots of pretty leaves blowing around—and amazing crowds wherever we went. […]
Pingback by Gaijin Bikers in Japan » Another great parade — December 18, 2005 @ 9:24 pm
[…] I finally got a chance to upload a clip from the DVD of the Stinger’s wedding parade through Tokyo. This is a montage of the Hawaii wedding, the Tokyo Harley parade, and the Tokyo reception, professionally edited by our friends from Moment Factory. […]
Pingback by Gaijin Bikers in Japan » Montage! — February 28, 2006 @ 12:47 pm
[…] My friend Justin got married last weekend, so we did our traditional wedding parade through Tokyo. This parade had a really international flavor, with a Chinese bride and an American groom, but the crowds in Tokyo didn’t discriminate, shouting out congratulations and taking pictures as if the couple were local royalty. The couple was able to share their happiness with the whole city, and brightened up quite a few faces as we went along, and in return, the whole city helped them celebrate the happy occasion. […]
Pingback by Gaijin Bikers in Japan » Thank You Tokyo! Part II — September 24, 2007 @ 11:57 am