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Throwing Bananas Across Rainbow Bridge
レインボーブリッジの向こう側にバナナを投げている
If you have an international drivers license (and a costume), why not go-kart in the busy streets of Tokyo?
"If there's one thing I regret, it wasn't getting my international driver's license before leaving Canada."
"You need it, then?" I ask.
"Yeah, but honestly, I only found out about it when I got there," Philip replied. His response was the usual one to any Western tourist who finds out about the fantastic and somewhat culturally different attraction on the roads of Tokyo: Maricar [1]. It can easily be described by three prominent vital features:
- You get to drive in go-karts.
- You're driving in the middle of traffic in the Tokyo street jungle.
- You're in an anime or video game-inspired costume.
Let's get this out of the way: yes, as many pictures of Maricar on social media proudly show, it could easily be mistaken as a weird Mario Kart rip-off on the streets of Tokyo, especially if one wears an iconic Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, or Yoshi costume. Presumably, being as diverse as possible, you could also wear costumes from any other Japanese games or shows such as One Piece, Pokemon, Yokai Watch, or Sailor Moon.
Let's also get this out of the way: yes, it sounds like a blatant copyright infringement in the back alleys of Akihabara and Shinagawa. In fact, the company has been under fire (obviously by Nintendo) for some of these possible apparent rip-offs. In a case of obviously doing their research, the Maricar company has fought back successfully by (a) stating the costumes are an added benefit and do not actually provide profit to the store note 1 and (b) having a name that sounds like an abbreviated form of Nintendo's eponymous game, shares no other commonality other than driving in a kart-like vehicle.
Though, when driving down a meandering Tokyo road at 50 kilometres per hour with road traffic on either side, there's no comparison to the relatively mundane, 'sit-at-home on your couch' adventures of Nintendo's Mario Kart.
But let's not get carried away yet. First is the requisite preparation that my friend Philip warned me about: since you are driving on Tokyo's streets, you need an international driver's license. Conveniently in Canada, the local Canadian Automobile Association's branch does it for around 25 bucks, ready in 15 minutes.
Second is the mental preparation for driving in Japan. I've occasionally read about a few Western tourists renting cars to travel around Japan. Besides them and my few Canadian friends who live in Japan (and probably have a legitimate reason to drive around), I've never met anyone who has driven in Japan. The train system is beyond phenomenal compared to the North American rail system, so there's no real need to rent a car. The whole driving-on-the-left thing might deter a few people on the fence about renting a car. Combining these anxieties and the lack of necessity mentioned above with doing those things in a vehicle with no windshield, seatbelt, or helmet is not particularly exciting to some people.
Overcoming the legal and mental preparations, I decided to risk it all and head for the Tokyo roads. I ended up asking a friend who happened to be going to Japan at the same time as me if they wanted to join. "Yes, yes, yes!" was her immediate response. Clearly, no mental preparation is necessary.
Since we only had a few overlapping days in Tokyo, finding a date and time that worked for us took a while. We ended up booking a 2-hour tour in the evening from the Akihabara site advertised to go around the Akihabara, Odaiba, Ginza, and Tokyo Tower area. Interestingly, two prices were posted for the tour: the usual $80 price and a "happy fare" at $60. The "happy fare" stipulation was to mention the company positively on social media. It seemed easy, and in my head, I thought there was no actual way they could police that.
The day of our scheduled tour was sunny, hot, and humid - which, though after a week of rain was greatly desired, the thought of driving around exposed in thick furry costumes was not all the bit enticing. Our scheduled time was just after sunset, so the air was starting to cool down at least.
As we walked the side alley to get to the store, a string of go-karts driven by Mario, Luigi, and Pikachu drove by us. It finally hit me: I'm about to drive in the middle of Tokyo in a funky costume. Yes!
Amid the usual legal stipulation that would accompany driving a go-kart in the streets of Tokyo (read: don't sue us), we were assigned our group and shown to the racks of costumes. Since we were one of the last groups heading out, the more popular choices were initially unavailable. Still, it was only a short time before some other groups returned and dropped off their costumes. In the end, our group was comprised of Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Koma-san, and Chopper note 2.
In honesty, the lack of seatbelt and vehicle exterior becomes apparent as soon as your foot presses down on the accelerator pedal and you move even a foot ahead.
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God..."
The go-karts were initially parked in a small parking lot down the street from the storefront. After picking our initial place in line, we were given brief instructions on how the go-kart works and how Tokyo traffic works. One of the workers from the store was going to drive in front and guide us around the city as we heeded his one simple instruction: "Just follow me." Each go-kart had a light attached to the back so that in the dark night, you merely had to drive towards this source of light.
And as the guide's go-kart headed onto the street, the excitement of what was actually happening was approaching a zenith. The thought of doing something so strange and crazy in a foreign country was so utterly incredible and amazing that it felt like all the other things I had done so far had led up to this fantastic occasion. And then your go-kart skips the curb onto the actual streets. You're driving by parked cars and approaching an intersection where vehicles and drivers are crossing. At that point, your excitement turns into a madman's rush of thoughts: why are you doing something so strange and crazy in a foreign country that's so dangerous and stupid if you really think about it?
The guide first took us through the main street of Akihabara. The sidewalks were still crowded with tourists and locals just after twilight. As soon as we pulled up to the intersection to wait for the light to turn green, the heads turned towards the buzzing hum of our go-karts, and the cell phones were all pulled out and pointed straight at us.
Little kids were waving at us. Teenage girls were taking photos of us from different angles. Guys ran toward us to take selfies with our costumed selves. We smiled back and waved at the crowds before the light turned green, and we were off again down the street. Drivers in cars along our left side would be smiling at us and holding a thumbs up. Passengers in taxis driving in front of us would be waving at us and taking pictures. One driver exited his car while stopping at an intersection to take a selfie with our group.
At that moment in time, we were famous.
But the fleeting moments of fame were quickly replaced by the adrenaline and thrill of driving the 50 kph alongside semi-trucks, sports cars, and motorcycles. With fluid agility, the go-kart swerved gracefully across lanes and curves. The rush of the night wind was refreshingly cool, and the droning hum from the speeding go-kart drowned out any noise from the urban fanfare that the go-kart was rushing by.
At the apex of speed and excitement was the pinnacle of the tour: the 800m ride across the massive Rainbow Bridge to the Odaiba island waterfront. As cars and motorcycles would merge or otherwise cut us off on this expressway, our go-kart reached 70-80 kph - unexpected speeds from such a vehicle. No matter how dorky the idea of speeding in a go-kart while wearing costumes from anime and video games was, there is no denying that the fragment of time from the approach of the bridge till we had finally paused for a pit stop on the island felt like the self-proclaimed most extraordinary moment of any adventure I had done up to that point note 3. More excitingly, we had to do the exact same journey in reverse as we traversed back to the Tokyo mainland.
Our scheduled two-hour tour ended up being two-and-a-half hours, including two pit stops outside Aquacity on Odaiba and at the base of Tokyo Tower. Our guide made numerous mini-stops to get pictures of our go-karting adventures along the way. More than likely, however, there were probably loads more photos of our group taken by pedestrians, especially as we traversed the long stretch of the Dai-ichi Keihin highway through pedestrian-filled Ginza back to the Akihabara storefront.
"That was unreal."
"Totally worth it."
In the end, I did give the place a hugely positive (and non-forced) review on Instagram and Facebook - which says a lot, as I usually don't post reviews on social media. Whether it's being able to share such a positive and exciting emotion with a good group of people or being able to see the urban "Tokyo jungle" from a perspective that many tourists don't typically experience, it's definitely a moment of my time in Japan that I feel no qualms in freely mentioning as a "must-do" in Tokyo to friends who take the 10-hour plane ride to the 35th north parallel.
Author: Francisco Tenorio
Last Updated: 2024/03/3
Notes:
The company was trying to get at the fact that it does not charge for the costumes. The price you pay for go-karting in Tokyo is only for renting the go-kart and getting toured around the city. The costume rental is a "free perk" that could easily have been substituted by customers bringing their own costumes or forgoing the costume altogether. But who would want to miss out on driving around Tokyo in a Donkey Kong costume?
[Return to Text]For those not in the know, Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi are famous characters from Nintendo's 'Mario' video game franchise. Mario and Luigi are plumber brothers who routinely fight the giant lizard creature Bowser to save the often-kidnapped Princess Peach. Yoshi is their dinosaur friend who helps them on their adventures. Koma-san is a creature from the video game franchise 'Yokai Watch.' He is a yokai, a spirit based on the guard dogs you see in Japanese temples. In the game and the anime based on the game, Koma-san is portrayed as an innocent and "simple" yokai who comes from the countryside to the big city and is mesmerized (and at the same time easily frightened) by the hustle and bustle of city life. Tony Tony Chopper (or simply 'Chopper') is a blue-nosed reindeer from the anime franchise 'One Piece.' In the series, a young Chopper ate a unique fruit that increased his intelligence, allowed him to communicate with humans, and transformed into a human-reindeer hybrid. While this ostracised him from the rest of his herd, he was able to befriend a human doctor and, in turn, gained the interest to become a doctor himself. He would eventually join the carefree Luffy and his pirate crew and travel the world.
[Return to Text]Add one-handed driving and a dispassionately calm demeanour to this appearance of coolness
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