Uber Eats is something everyone knows in Tokyo nowadays. It is a food delivery service run by Uber. You need to download another app to use this service but the general user interface is basically the same as Uber. Choose the food available, pay by credit card, and wait for food delivered by private contractors.

It was just a matter of time but still great news

Uber Eats started in Tokyo a couple of years ago and it has been expanding ever since. It was first and only available within a small area of Tokyo like Shibuya. From 1st of November, Uber eats Japan announced that Uber eats is finally available in Tachikawa along with many of the western Tokyo area. (the newly added area is colored in red below)

It was kind of just a matter of time because it was already available in Hachioji which is even further down to the western region of Tokyo. Tachikawa is also one of the biggest cities in the region.
Even though it was kind of just a matter of time until Uber Eats covers Tachikawa, I’m still pretty happy with the news and probably you are too if you live in the region. Let me list up a couple of reasons why.

Eating in a restaurant can be time-consuming

Living in Tachikawa and Tachikawa Garden Town makes my life easy because I’m surrounded by many restaurants. Tachikawa is big enough to provide all kinds food for all kinds of people within the reach of walking. Just walk around the station and you’ll see how busy the area is. I love eating new food and I have been showing my favorite restaurants here on my blog but still, there are so many places that I have not been yet. Having many options is great but I don’t always have time to go to the restaurant. Uber Eats is ingenious this way. Especially someone like me who works remotely from home in Tachikawa at least two days a week and have a baby at home. Going to the restaurant, waiting for the food to be served, drink a coffee, and maybe relax a little while, pay the bill, and come back home. This may sound simple but the entire process takes at least 1 hour. Even if the restaurant is 10 mins away by walk. By having people deliver to your door, you have much longer time to utilize. I can work on something or do some house stuff, take care of the baby etc… Getting food by Uber Eats
takes additional cost but, in my opinion, this makes sense because I’m basically buying some extra time.

Quick and simple user experience

It’s connected to my first reason but I would say user experience matters. Uber Eats is not the first food delivery service got available in Tachikawa. There are many local food delivery service too. The problem of the conventional food delivery service is expensive, takes much longer to deliver. Food delivery in general, except for pizza, is something not too common or it’s only used for special occasions for most Japanese people for a long time. I remember using food delivery service back home with my family was either we order certain type of food, soba, udon, pizza, and we used to use the service only when we have guests at home (friends or relatives) and cooking takes extra effort because of the number of people who need to eat. I guess conventional food delivery services still target this kind of needs because they usually set minimum quantity of order or you need to pay extra fee, then the whole thing does not look good for the cost. Not to mention, these conventional food delivery service is delivered by professional carriers, either the platform staff or restaurant staff.
Uber Eats changed the whole landscape. The delivery fee is fairly admissible as most of time it is around 260 yen. Pay by credit card but not at the door by done through app (many conventional food delivery only accepted cash). So you can just receive the food from someone at the door. This takes no more than 2 seconds and it’s something that no food delivery services ever offered in Japan. In addition to this, you can look at where the delivery guy at on the map whenever after you ordered food. It might sound like a small thing but waiting for someone at home without any idea of when they might appear at the door can be stressful. The map on the app and the delivery guy pin is pretty accurate. My wife and I found it even amusing just to be looking at the pin on the map is slowly moving toward our apartment.

Food delivery can be something casual and Uber Eats prove it

The reason why Uber Eats is supported and expanding in Tokyo is because it made the whole experience casual. Before Uber Eats, food delivery used to be something that we only use on special occasions and it was not something we would use casually in daily life.
Uber Eats is still not perfect though. Many of my favorite restaurants in Tachikawa do not offer their food through Uber Eats. Some of the restaurants are just too small for us to take our baby there with us. I hope they provide their food through Uber Eats soon.

Tachikawa is known for its big government-run park called Showa Kinen park. It’s so massive that it’s almost impossible to walk around the park in one day. I often go to the park from Tachikawa Garden Town but there are still areas that I have never been before.
The reason that this park is so big is because it used to be part of the military base. The base still exists right next to the park and it’s called Tachikawa base.
The base is open for public during 立川防災航空祭 (Tachikawa aerial festival) and I visited there in early November. You might have seen military airplanes and helicopters flying just above Showa Kinen Park. Tachikawa base is where those airplanes land.

The image above is the screenshot of the entire park and the base. You can see the base is located adjacent to the park and it’s as big as the park. It’s funny IKEA Tachikawa looks so small compared on this map.
The base does not work just as a military base but also as wide area shelter in event of an emergency such as natural disasters. Tachikawa base is actually designed to function as a government base when the event is so catastrophic that the government facilities located in the center of Tokyo are not functional. Basically, Tachikawa is our last stand.
It’s highly unlikely that both the center of Tokyo and Tachikawa (which is 30km away from the center) get affected by natural disaster at once but this was the case in the latest Godzilla movie released a few years ago. “Shin Godzilla” is the title of the movie and it was actually filmed in Tachikawa.

The aerial event is mostly taken place outside alongside the long and huge runway which is taking up most of the space of the base.
After walking from the gate for almost 15 mins, I found military airplanes and helicopters placed for display. People can get on those and take a picture too.

What attracted people the most is probably the free military helicopter ride. You need to come to the show early and queue for limited ticket for this but you actually get on one of the cargo helicopters (CH-47) and fly around the base. The helicopter goes up the sky but it never leaves the base).

The show day this year was perfect thanks to the weather. No single cloud in the sky as you can see the photos. I was told later that it always rain on the day they host the aerial show for some reason and it’s been many years since this day was sunny.
There are little shops and food on the go just for this day and it was actually fun just to walk around the base.

Overall, it was great to be there at the event. Maybe next year I’ll sign up for the helicopter ride.

Just a few days ago I heard a new bouldering gym ( called D.bouldering) is opening in Tachikawa in the coming Spring of 2020. The specific location of the gym is yet to be disclosed but it’s only 4 mins by walk from the north side of Tachikawa station.

It’s as big as 330 sqm ( and 15 walls!!)

I used to boulder often back when I was in Oakhouse Kichijoji 2. I kind of just stopped after I moved in Tachikawa Garden Town. There are still some gyms in Tachikawa too but they are kind of small. Small bouldering gyms usually have their own community and newcomers are kind of hard to blend in sometimes. I personally like bigger gyms like b-pump in Ogikubo where every group gets to boulder without waiting much and being part of the community isn’t really a big factor to boulder.
There are many bouldering gyms around Kichijoji area and I liked many of them. If you’re living in that area, they are definitely cool places to go but it’s always fun to try some news gyms every once in a while.

What excites me the most is the size of the gym. The teaser site of the new gym says the gym space is as big as 330 sqm and there are 15 walls. Every boulder in Tokyo knows and agrees that b-pump is one of the best bouldering gym brand in Tokyo. There’s a big one in Ogikubo and I’ve been there many times as well. That gym is 330 sqm in size. So this new gym in Tachikawa is the same size as the one in Ogikubo which is really amazing. There should be only a few gym bigger than 330 sqm. It’s really cool to know that one of the biggest bouldering gyms in Tokyo is available in Tachikawa.

Could it be in New Springs?

The question is where in Tachikawa? The website says 4 mins by walk from north side of Tachikawa station but there are not many buildings who can build such a big bouldering gym. In addition to the size requirement, bouldering gyms usually require multiple floors in order to offer a real climbing experience. Most buildings around Tachikawa station do not fit this requirement actually. The chance is low but it could be inside the new commercial district called Green Springs which is also scheduled to open in the coming spring of 2020. It would be really exciting to see such big gym in the area. There are already many shops in Tachikawa. I hope Green Springs don’t just turn into another shopping mall but something much more. Opening a bouldering gym there would be the ideal way to attract many more people around Tama region in my opinion.

It is at the end of October and it’s one of the best time of the year. Many people like spring time but autumn is as nice in my opinion. Cool at night and in the morning and sometimes it gets pretty warm in day time but it never gets humid as it usually is in summer.
So what do local people do in Tokyo in Autumn? Well, it’s basically the same as what we do spring. Go outside, hang out with friends, and BBQ. No hanami though.
Last week on Saturday was such a typical autumn day in Tokyo and let me tell you how it went.
The day started as early as 8 am and start heading to a local gym, Shibasaki gym right at the back of Tachikawa Garden Town. The gym is only 5 mins away by walk.

The purpose of going to the gym was to take a court for badminton which I planned to play with my colleague in the morning on the same day. The reservation starts at 8:50 am but by the time I got there at 8:50 am, I was too late. There were already 10-15 people ahead of me and they were all waiting for taking the badminton court. To reserve the time slot, you need to be at the gym reception counter even before then. Because this entire process is done in a first-come-first-served manner. It is better to be in front of the gym as early as possible. This was actually the first time I failed to take the court. I guess playing badminton especially on Saturdays is very popular in Tachikawa.

My colleague and I decided to go to Showa Kinen Park instead to play disc golf. This is something he was interested to try out because he has never played such a sport before. I used to play disc golf pretty often but it’s been years since I played last time. I thought it would be nice to play again.

For those who have no idea what disc golf is. This is it.

Basically, playing golf with frisbees is what disc golf is. There are 18 disc golf halls in Showa Kinen park and it is the biggest court. There are only two parks in Tokyo you can play disc golf by the way.

After the disc golf, we moved to an area called BBQ garden which is the only BBQ permitted area in this massive national park.

In my earlier post, I wrote about three types of places you can do BBQ in Tokyo.
This BBQ garden is one of the Public BBQ permitted area available to everyone. It is hard to book because it’s pretty popular. A group of friends in Oakhouse Kichijoji 2 somehow did and I joined them. I did nothing to prepare or make a reservation but they must’ve planned months ahead.

Many things and types of equipment can be rented on site. So what you need to bring is food only. The BBQ site actually does sell food to grill as well. It’s a bit pricy but this is a pretty convenient option. Charcoal can also be bought on site.

Prepping the BBQ was easy as all the gears and types of equipment were already there. The provided aluminum foils were also easy to grill everything people brought over.

The BBQ was served as the South African style. Everything was great. Every food I ate during this BBQ was something I have never tasted before. The smell of exotic spices and herbs was amazing.

I would totally recommend this BBQ garden if you actually can take the spot. Making a reservation is the hardest. Good luck!