We’re constantly told that a massive Nankai Trough earthquake is certain to strike the Tokai region, where Circles is located, within the next 30 years!
I lived in Osaka and felt the shaking during the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, then lived in Tokyo and felt the shaking during the Great East Japan Earthquake, and now I’ve moved to Nagoya… I often make an ominous joke about what that might mean, but I don’t want to leave it at a joke—I want to be properly prepared. (Personally, I have long-life drinking water, food, batteries, solar panels, and other supplies ready.)
As I wrote before, the idea of how useful bicycles can be in a disaster inspired a cargo bike race themed around disaster relief logistics, which we held at last year’s CMWC Yokohama.
When I saw the reports of the recent Noto Peninsula earthquake, covering the many problems it caused—roads cut off, fuel shortages, traffic jams, isolated communities, and uneven distribution of relief supplies—I wondered whether cargo bikes could help solve some of these challenges.
That said, using bicycles in disasters is still largely untested. Of course, it’s best if disasters never happen, but it’s also important to prepare in advance rather than wait until one strikes. If you’re responsible for disaster preparedness in your community, please get in touch—I’d love to talk with you about how bicycles could be put to use.
Bicycles Are Vehicles for Society — Messengers Who Stay Connected to Their Communities
During the Great East Japan Earthquake, when I was working as a messenger, several of my colleagues were among the first to arrive on the scene as part of Montbell’s disaster relief team. (In the early stages of a disaster, only people with advanced survival skills can enter the affected area.)
After that, relief efforts spread through the messenger community, crossing company lines. Since our working hours were flexible, some of us took time off to volunteer in the Tohoku region.
Many messengers chose to take part in this kind of community action, even though our lives were far from stable. I think that’s because the streets where we work are always in contact with society. And that tradition continues today—for example, with Tommy’s donation coffee.
Tommy, who is also the race director for CMWC Yokohama, continues to serve coffee as “Charin Coffee” using an Omnium cargo bike. He even uses it to take the kids around.
Right now, we’re doing some carpentry to get ready for our booth at Mori, Michi, Ichiba. We need to pick up two one-meter lengths of scaffolding pipe from the hardware store, and when I think about arranging a car just to carry this small load, it occurs to me that this is exactly the kind of errand I could quickly take care of on a cargo bike.
The way our cities are built around cars is beginning to change, little by little, but it’s surprisingly hard to let go of the habits and ways of thinking we’ve taken for granted. Now that Circles is carrying Omnium cargo bikes in earnest, I’d like to take another look at what it means to get around by bike and the new possibilities that opens up. I hope this kind of change will spread, starting with people who ride bikes.
For information about Omnium pre-orders, please see the page below. Reservations for the first shipment are open until 7:00 p.m. on May 19, 2024.