Toyohashi

The city built a bike assembly bay in the plaza at the south exit of Toyohashi Station for riders who come by train with the bike in a bag. It has a windbreak so the bag stays put, a concrete floor where a dropped bolt shows up, and a lift and toilets close by. You don't book it. The Toyotetsu counter at Shin-Toyohashi lends a pump and tools and holds luggage while it's staffed.

Shin-Toyohashi is also where the Toyotetsu Atsumi line starts for Mikawa-Tahara. Bikes ride whole on every train at weekends and on holidays, and on weekday trains leaving between 10:00 and 14:59, for ¥100 a bike on top of the fare. Each train takes ten. Groups of five or more on one train call Takashi Station by 17:00 the day before. The railway turns bikes away on the night of the Toyohashi Gion fireworks in mid-July and over the Toyohashi Matsuri weekend, the third Saturday and Sunday of October.

Michi-no-Eki Toyohashi sits inland of the Omotehama coast, about 20 minutes by bike from the sea, and rents e-bikes at ¥1,000 for four hours or ¥2,000 for the day. Its food hall serves Toyohashi curry udon. The city also runs cycle pits with a pump and tools to borrow, at the michi-no-eki and at 13 convenience stores among other places.