I was riding my bike today, mostly for exploration of this endless city. I can only ride about 36km a day (before getting to tire) so I can't go far by bike.
Anyway, this evening I saw a few 2nd gen MINIs. Nothing strange here, I see about 3-5 a day. But the driver of one of these MINIs was a mother, hold on, wait for the explanation.
Does anyone know those baby-back pack things? The ones you can put the kid in and then use your arms freely? Well this mother had a young kid in this back pack thing...while driving. She was so close to the wheel (less than a foot), but she looked to be carefully leaving enough space for the kid. No seat belt at all. I can only think of how bad this might turn out if any kind of accident happened.

Did I mention MINIs are popular in Tokyo? Today alone I saw about 7 or 8 classic Minis, and 3 second gen MINIs.

Sorry I don't usually have my camera with me anymore, it's pretty useless. I need to get to Akihabara and get a new one, but the otaku...they scare me so.

 

Are you sure this wasn't Brittney Spears in disguise? If you see her again, check to see if the MINI is full of fast food wrappers.

 

Buy yourself a Panasonic Lumix camera while you are over there. I absolutely love mine.

 

Having driven through Tokyo a few times myself, I can say that child is at considerable risk. The chances of getting into a rear-ender in Tokyo is probably about 10 x higher than on one of our busiest beltways here in the US. And it wouldn't take an impact of more than about 20 mph to seriously injure or kill that child... and even a 5 mph impact could do harm.

Yikes.

 

Several years ago I worked in an area that was mixed residential and light industrial. One of the residents used to drive around with a small infant on her lap. I wondered what would happen if another child or an animal ran out infront of her.