Driving a car around a tour destination may not be an ideal option especially when you want closer look of the area you are visiting. Walking around the destination can be too much of a physical load, so traveling on foot is not your option either.
If such situation is a case you are facing, then you might want to consider Velotaxi.
Velotaxi is a German-born tricycle with a wide backseat for two passengers to be seated comfortably.
According to Vlotaxi's homepage, the service is spreading all over the world, especially in ecology-conscious cities. Those man-powered vehicles have been used in many tour destinations around the world as a part of eco-friendly tour movements. Ecomo.i, (pronounced as "eh-comoh dot ai") a non-profit organization based in Okinawa's capital, became a partner with Velotaxi and has been offering eco-friendly transportation services for the last several years.
Etsuko Takaesy, the representative of "ecomo.i,"together with Okinawa Miyako Hotel, jointly announced an experimental project scheduled to start on Nov. 16th this year. In this travel service project, the Velotaxi drivers will guide passengers through the streets of Naha and Shuri, the former capital of Ryukyu Kingdom. (Few foreign travelers know this prefecture had been a small kingdom nation up until 1879.) The experiment will be conducted till the end of this year. If proven to be successful, the corporation will continue the service in the next year.
The corporation has come up with those three tour courses;
1) The tour of the ancient capital's historical sites
2) Awamori rice wine distilleries hopping
3) The tour of traditional confectioneries
(A local newspaper printed the price of each tour to be JP\4,500 per passenger, and JP\8,000 for two. Admissions are included in the fare. Confirmation regarding the price and the tour courses recommended.)
Tel. 098-868-5105 E-mail: okinawa@velotaxi.jp
The drivers will offer guiding services as well as some music performance to entertain passengers with Okinawa's traditional songs along with exotic "Sanshin," a three-string musical instrument originally introduced from China.
"I have long wanted to make this kind of tour happen, so that we could take tourists around Shuri. But the numerous uphills in Shuri district have long prevented us from realizing the service," said Ms. Takaesu.
To overcome this challenge, the corporation is planning to increased the number of three-wheelers equipped with two batteries instead of just one. The drivers will also be trained to meet the demands for extended courses, whereas the corporation so far covered districts limited to the flat downtown area of the prefecture's capital. With the introduction of two-battery Velotaxi vehicles, those drivers are highly motivated as they are empowered to take passengers to the ancient area on the city's highland where Shuri Castle and other historical monuments await visitors.
