Gaijin Bikers in Japan » parades

Thank You Tokyo! Part II

Big Ben — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 02:59:11 +0000

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.

(more pictures here, here, and here.)

It’s too bad I didn’t get any pictures of myself at the wedding ceremony, because I was rocking a pretty good mix of formal and biker wear (tux shirt, leather vest, chaps, and biker boots) and also wore a yarmulke for the first time in my life (the groom has a Jewish background—this may be the only Jewish-Chinese wedding I will ever attend in Tokyo.) I also had a slightly nervous experience helping interpret the speeches of the fathers of the bride and groom, where I towered behind them with people wondering who this huge leatherdude was. We had a bit of a telephone game thing going (dare I call it “Chinese whispers” in this context?) where the bride’s father gave a speech in Chinese, a friend of the bride translated that into English, and then I translated that English into Japanese. But everything worked out, and then we headed off for an amazing parade.

Congratulations, Shiye and Justin!

Merry Run 2006

Big Ben — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 14:19:01 +0000

Last night we once again had our seventh annual Christmas Eve Merry Run through Tokyo, filling the night with smiles and sleighbells and V-twin thunder.

This reindeer had a mission to fulfill on Christmas eve, so I had to leave my own cute little Santas at home to go out and bring smiles to the other children of Tokyo.

My run got off to a bit of a shaky start this year. My engine refused to turn over, and I had to do a running start down a nearby hill to get going. Little did I know this was just foreshadowing for our adventures later in the evening.

I met up with the Stinger and Yuka, and we headed off toward Harajuku to meet up with the rest of the parade.

The Gaijin Reindeer stand out enough on our own that we had a bit of a mini-parade of our own going on, especially after we bumped into Andy the yellow-sleighed Santa Claus around Ikejiri.

Yuka and the Stinger at the meetup

Bambi just recently earned her wings, and was participating in her first Merry Run on her TW250.

Macha, one of the smallest Santas I’ve ever seen at under 150cm, was also joining us for the first time on her Virago.

Old hand Mizuki the bad cop reindeer.

That reindeer looks like he’d rather be pushing the sleigh than pulling it.

Shiho, on the right, spent the night jumping out of the convertible to hand lollipops to children, often having to dive back in Dukes of Hazzard-style when the traffic light turned green.

Jiro, the lead reindeer, with his bag of toys. Unfortunately Jiro had to drive the lead convertible rather than riding a bike like most years, but his flashing nose led the way just fine.

Nao, who was one of the models in one of my favorite Merry Run pictures from a few years back, brought another miniature Santa’s helper with her.

GB from Riding Sun discussing X4 stuff with Tatsu.

And we’re off!

I wasn’t able to get any good pictures during the run, as I was too busy making everybody in the city smile and wave. I lost my voice halfway through, but even at half volume I’m still twice as loud as most people. So while my “Merry Christmas” lost some of its striking range, the smiles on the faces of the people we passed showed that most people still got the message.

A quick break to let the bikes cool down.

As we neared Roppongi Hills, we got stuck in traffic on an uphill slope, and the air-cooled Harleys started having a pretty tough time of it. My bike stalled at the top of a hill and Stinger’s stopped halfway down, while Mizuki’s Dyna had been sputtering and restarting all night. My bike cooled down enough on the way down the hill that I was able to restart, but Stinger and Yuka’s Merry Run ended there.

After a spin through Ginza, we finished up the Run near Tokyo station.
Woochee, who had by far the most impressive bike last year, had apparently made it even more impressive this year, only to be unable to get it to start. He ended up changing into a reindeer costume and joining us late on a scooter. Chell the Snowman, who also joined later had even deflated a bit compared to last year.

Santa group picture. I forgot to get someone to take the reindeer group picture with my camera.

Angel group picture. I know they mean to be showing off their wings, but somehow I think that’s not what most of us were looking at.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Stinger’s bike rode home on the back of a truck. (It’s rare to see a repair truck look so festive.)

After delivering my condolences over the phone, I hopped on my bike to head home…and found that I was in the same situation. We tried pushing it to a running start, but it was feeling uncooperative, even with three reindeer and a snowman pushing it. I ended up waiting around for the JAF guy to come give my battery a jump, but I managed to ride it home once it was started. This wasn’t exactly a stellar run for HD’s, but it was worth it to see all those smiles.

Montage!

Big Ben — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 03:33:25 +0000

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.

Stinger, Yuka, and the parade bikes look amazing, and even I end up looking pretty damn cool, if I do say so my damn self. Don’t be fooled by the crappy thumbnail. This is a must-see for anyone thinking of getting married soon, or just for people who like bikes.

Merry Run 2005

Big Ben — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 14:18:43 +0000

It’s Christmastime in the City, baby!

Jingle bells and the rumble of V-twins brightened up the Tokyo night on Christmas Eve again this year.

We had a bit of a late start, but we managed to spread quite a few smiles around the city anyway. I think GB at Riding Sun got it pretty much right, and I’ve said most of what I want to say about this run in last year’s post.

Merry Christmas and/or best wishes for the holiday of your choice to everybody!

(The rest of this post will be in Japanese for the friends we rode with. Enjoy the pictures!)

わしとミズキのランは高津で始まって、未完成なトナカイ2頭で汐留まで
(アピールする・しないで周りの反応がかなり違うね。)

現地でブログつながりで出会ったもう一人の外人バイカーと初めてアナログの世界で会う。
彼は人気ブログ「Riding Sun」を書いていて、事情あってここで名前を記述しないことにします。Riding Sunにて何枚か画像を載せているので見てね。

毎年衣装がパワーアップしていくウーチーは今年も期待を裏切らない。

スノーマン・チェルは今年もいい感じ

不良トナカイ

若者サンタと同化するウーチー

みつが乗るとウーチーのツリーが余計でかく見える。
このまま乗ってて欲しかった。

オチのウーチー

隊長ジロリンが来て、急いでパレードカーを飾り付け

さぁ、発進だぁ!

まずは銀座

東京タワーでかなり盛り上がった。

バイク10台とパレードカー一台
トナカイ4頭
サンタ類9人
スノーマン1体
ツリー一本
帽子をかぶった怪しいおっさん一人
…だったかな?

麻布十番

ゆっっっっくり六本木ヒルズへと進む

バイクから火が吹いたのにすぐ復活したノブ・サンタ

今年は非常に寒いのに頑張るパレードかー隊

六本木ヒルズのイルミネーションはもう終わってたけど、オレ達で十分明るい。

12時を過ぎたら街歩く人が急に減って気温も下がっていくが、渋谷に入ったらまた盛り上がって暖かい!

Merry Christmas everybody!
やっぱりメリー・ランは最高だね。
また来年!

Another great parade

Big Ben — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 12:17:30 +0000

Yesterday we had a wedding parade (like the one we did for the Stinger in August) for Miyazaki-san from our 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. This parade was smaller scale than usual—one convertible, eight Harleys, one X4, a Vulcan, and a big scooter as cameraman.

It being the last shopping weekend before Christmas, the streets were packed with people, so we had a great audience in a happy holiday mood, and we had some of the best crowd reactions we’ve ever had for a parade while riding through Ebisu, Daikanyama, Shibuya, Harajuku, Omotesando, and Meguro. (Unfortunately I didn’t get any good pictures of the crowds, since I was busy entertaining them.)

In front of Harajuku station, where we got stopped at a long traffic light under several pedestrian bridges, and the crowds grew to several hundred people during the time we were stopped at the light, and then the pattern repeated at the next major intersection. The bride and groom got congratulations from hundreds and hundreds of people, and we brought a smile to quite a few faces. This is one occasion when the thunder of V twin engines is an indisputable force for good.

I don’t have anything new to say about these parades that I didn’t say in the last post about them, but it really never gets old. I finished the day with my throat sore from yelling and my arms sore from waving at people, but the smiles on the happy couple’s faces and on the people watching us go by make it all worth it.

I can’t wait until next week’s Merry Run.