![Underground bicycle parking at Metro station](https://tokyogreenspace.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/bike_underground_parking.jpg?w=1000)
The Sugiyama Koen near Shin Nakano station has just been renovated, with a shiny new playground and some new landscaping. I am glad they kept the old school clock.
They also put in underground bicycle parking. It’s cool but a bit daunting that the system has no staff. What if your bike doesn’t come out? I need to learn to read the instructions before I dare put my bike in there!
![Sugiyama Koen bicycle parking instructions](https://tokyogreenspace.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/bike_underground_park_instr.jpg?w=1000)
It is interesting how Tokyo provides no accommodation on streets for bicycles: no bike lanes and few bike-only paths. Bicyclists range from the elderly to young mothers with children to hipsters on fixed gear bikes, and they generally compete with pedestrians on the sidewalk. A few brave ones take the road. Still, there is a huge bicycle parking infrastructure, which shows perhaps that the government is mostly concerned about storage, especially near the stations which are critical transit and shopping nodes.