Tokyo Expressways

When they move they are the best highways on earth. as beautiful as the city itself.

However movement is something that one cannot really associate with the Tokyo expressway system. While there are some amazingly efficient trains which take care of the needs of most of the  city’s travellers, peeps need to drive and for the day to day getting of things around the bustling metropolis, these arteries are vital parts of the city’s life.

But in order for any artery to be efficient it needs to flow. Like an ever increasing percentage of the local population cholesterol is a problem here too. Due to the narrowness of the beltways and the almost un countable interconnecting loops, curves and interchanges there is always a pint where the traffic chokes. 

 

and if you add the scatterbrained antics of the drivers scenes like this are inevitable.

 

Though it is not all gloomy when the blood stops flowing you get the opportunity to do and see things that would not be possible when going with the flow. We played Janken with a number of the other poor souls who were stuck in the clog. and I personally thoroughly enjoyed the architecture.

 

We also discovered some ingenious ingenuity :p

The barrier reflectors have little propellers with brushes attached so that whenever a car drives past at pace, it spins the contraption up and it keeps the reflectors clean and visible. Who’da thunk it?

 

The discovery however was indicative of the pace of things sadly. If you factor in the entire trip from Shibukawa to Odaiba (for the Tokyo Anime Fair) it took us nearly 6 hours for barely 130km.

but it was all worth it in the end :D