Walking Streets

I don’t have a car in Japan. I am a walker in Japan. I walk, ride on train, walk, take a bus, and walk more.

Most of the time, I am careful about busy streets. Sometimes, when I have a specific goal in my mind, like a shopping list, I tend to be less careful. Sorry mom, but it is true for most of the people, and I am not an exception.

I always think that it is what it is, a metropolitan city and you have to be careful about traffic and that there is no other way around. In Japan, there exits an opportunity of being free of traffic, you can be careless in some streets from 9am to 2pm, or from 3pm to 7pm, or many other time limits, informed with this kind of signs. It means that streets are designated to pedestrians, walking only street, between those hours.

Those streets are always local shopping streets which have small markets, grocery shops, bakeries… These are the streets that I visit often to provide the diversity of items on my shopping list. I focus on my list without thinking about traffic. I see a lot of people like me, happily and safely running errands and shopping.

And, funny fact, I feel like a child when I am on those streets. Free, untouchable and playful…

I didn’t know what a great luxury walking streets were.  Now I know, don’t you wish to try?

Cheers,

Ece