AGE: Nagano

I just wanted to put up a couple of pictures from yesterday when we stopped in Nagano for a couple of hours on our way to Nozawa Onsen. Nagano is the name of a prefecture in Japan and it is also the name of the biggest city in the prefecture. The city was the central location of the 1998 winter olympics.

While at the bus terminal, we found this massive area of bicycles.

Since teaching environmental this semester, I've been thinking a lot about the environmental impact of humans, particularly in the United States. Unless you are really observant, you would never notice the little things that the Japanese culture does to save electricity. Yet they use half of the energy (per capita) than the U.S. This picture is probably the most extreme example I've found. Instead of a line-up of car rental agencies, it's an outdoor bike rental agency. Here I am trying out the smallest one I could find: