Last month a large group of us got together for our annual Toy Run in Kanagawa. I did a brief write-up on RideApart.com if you want to have a quick look.
I’ve done a few ride reports for the Toy Run on here previously: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and indeed 2017 made it our 8th continuous event! If you’re not sure what a Toy Run is, here goes. All over the world motorcycle groups (and other groups) gather gifts for local childrens homes and hospitals or wherever else kids need help, and then dress themselves and their bikes up in Xmas themed gear and do large group ride-ins to those homes and hospitals and spread a little Xmas cheer and help. One of the best parts of course is actually spending time with the kids, playing some games, and just talking. I’ve heard from many of the kids that the day itself is as exciting as the gifts and in many countries (especially here in Japan) these kids are already a fringe part of society so have the odds stacked against them from the off, so meeting up with people to discuss that feeling, and having people who want to spend time with them seems to be a good thing all around, and reminds bikers and others that hear about these runs that there are ways to help which you can just spin up yourselves.
Thanks as ever to the kids at the children’s homes for having us, and all those who rode in, or donated gifts.
Addendum (December 2020) – we collect a lot of the information now at ToyRunJapan.com.