Tired of Smog-Belching Tourists? Rent them E-Bikes!

"To encourage travelers to get out of their cars when they arrive at Ashinoko lake in the sightseeing hot spot of Hakonemachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, a tourism committee is offering another mode of transport--an electric bicycle."

This sentence opens a recent article in Japan's Daily Yomiuri Online about an e-bike rental program. The piece goes on to describe the government-sponsored program aimed at "killing two birds with one stone, reducing traffic jams and pollution."

Ashinoko lake, the site of the electric bicycle rental project

Just imagine tourists parking their RVs at the gates of our national parks and proceeding into the natural settings on clean, quiet electric bicycles. It makes me smile just to think of it.