No.91 Tama River Cycling Course "Picnic Bridge" Completion Ceremony

A new pedestrian and bicycle bridge has recently been completed on the Kawasaki City side of the Tama River cycling course, upstream of the Nikaryo Kamikawara Weir. The City Council Chairman and I were invited to the completion ceremony on May 25, 2019, and gave a speech.
With the completion of this bridge, approximately 20 kilometers of Tama Ward will be connected from Saiwai Ward, Kawasaki City, at the mouth of the Tama River.
Meanwhile, in Inagi City, construction work under the Tamagawa Cycling Road Improvement Project in FY2017 has been completed in order to connect the section that had previously been disconnected at the Kawasaki/Inagi city border.
Thanks to these construction works in both cities, a cycling course of approximately 24 kilometers in total has been connected from the river mouth to Koremasa Bridge in Daimaru.
Over the past few years, Inagi City has attracted the Tokyo Olympics bicycle road race competition course, introduced shared bicycles, established bicycle lanes, invited the bicycle race "Inagi Cross", and is a national mayor promoting city development that utilizes bicycles. We are promoting ``Bicycle Town Inagi'' through membership in the Association.
Kawasaki City is also working on a demonstration experiment of shared bicycles, and I hope that the citizens of both cities will be able to connect by bicycle in the future.
The bridge completed this time is by no means a large bridge, but considering that it connects the cycling course from the river mouth to the Daimaru area, and that it will serve as an opportunity to further promote citizen exchange between Inagi City and Kawasaki City, it is a large bridge. It becomes.
I would like to express my respect and gratitude to Mayor Fukuda of Kawasaki City, the local neighborhood association, and the staff in charge of the Kawasaki City Construction and Green Policy Bureau for their efforts in constructing the bridge.
By the way, the Shinbashi I visited this time was called "Picnic Bridge", and I was wondering if it had some kind of origin. Also, the Meiji University Mandolin Club performed at the completion ceremony, and I'm also curious as to what kind of relationship this has with the completion of this bridge.
In fact, the name of this bridge comes from the song "Over the Hills" that was played that day. When composer Masao Koga was a member of the Meiji University Mandolin Club, he was inspired by the cherry blossom viewing he went to near the Inada embankment near this bridge, and composed the mandolin ensemble ``Picnic'', which he later wrote the lyrics to. It is said that ``Over the Hill'' was a big hit with the ``Oka wo Kite''.
Based on these historical facts, this name was chosen at the request of the local neighborhood association, which requested the construction of a bridge. When I heard the origin of the fancy name, I felt that it was a good story.
On a nice day, it's fun to ride your bicycle and cycle along the Tamagawa cycling course towards Kawasaki.