takuto ohta reimagines the japanese child-carrying mamachari bicycle as a chair

takuto ohta presents homo mobilitas

With Homo Mobilitas, Takuto Ohta reimagines the Japanese mamachari bicycle by conceptualizing it as a chair. His approach seeks to address various urban and societal issues by transforming how we perceive and interact with bicycles. The key inspiration behind Homo Mobilitas is the child-carrying mamachari, a common sight in Japan. These low-speed bicycles, equipped with child seats, highlight the challenges of poor urban planning and the lack of suitable transportation alternatives for families. Their heavy and cumbersome design poses safety risks, yet they remain popular due to inadequate public transportation and car-unfriendly infrastructure in residential areas.

For the body, Ohta chose the Furakazu Shushu model from Maruishi Cycle, a long-established Japanese bicycle manufacturer that developed the first child-carrying bicycle in Japan. In order to safely carry a child, the seat is positioned so that the child’s weight is placed behind the axis of the front handle, and a mechanism is installed that links with the stand to fix the front fork, its low center of gravity stabilizing the bicycle. His approach seeks to address various urban and societal issues, such as the need for urban planning improvements and better safety regulations and outdated gender norms, by transforming how we perceive and interact with bicycles.

all images courtesy of Takuto Ohta

reevaluating perceptions and interactions with bicycles

Despite these design interventions, Takuto Ohta found that the bicycle did not fit him well, highlighting a historical context in the women’s liberation movement where bicycles were designed for women. According to the designer, this reflects ongoing gender norms around childcare responsibilities and suggests a need for future changes in bicycle design to accommodate a broader user base.

By treating the bicycle as a chair, Ohta encourages a reevaluation of our relationship with everyday objects. He points out that most human transportation involves sitting, making the act of sitting a fundamental aspect of modern life. This perspective invites us to see bicycles not just as modes of transportation but as integral parts of our living environment.

Takuto Ohta reimagines a bicycle by conceptualizing it as a chair

addressing urban and social challenges in japan

Takuto Ohta observes that in Japan, despite it being a developed country with a high bicycle penetration rate, urban planning is accordingly underdeveloped. It lacks laws related to safety when riding, bicycles are left abandoned, and their design remains unchanged despite being closely related to daily life. Following the historic advancement of motorization, Japan evolved into a Galapagos environment for cyclists and pedestrians to coexist alongside vehicles, leading to the emergence of mamachari as a by-product.

Low-speed mamachari bicycles are ideal for short rides around the city, particularly effective on roads in residential areas with little traffic, for places where there are no parking spaces, and are not far enough away to use a car. Their demand has also increased among many students and housewives, and they have become very cheap and durable, making them easy to obtain.

inspired by the child-carrying mamachari, a common sight in Japan

In a conversation with a cycling friend, the designer joked, ‘A bicycle is a cool chair that runs, isn’t it?’ ‘If you think about it, all human transportation other than walking is done by sitting on a chair,’ he notes. Leading him to observe the city through a new perspective, his interest was piqued by the child-carrying bicycle – one with a child seat on either the front or rear side. It is a common sight stemming from Japan’s poor urban development, where limited access to kindergartens and daycare centers located in the middle of residential area has led families to turn to these solutions.

The mamachari’s overall mass is quite large in order to accommodate a child of about 1 meter, and their dangerous riding and interactions with cars and pedestrians have been problematic, with many children falling over when starting to pedal away from a stop. ‘I decided to think about how to get at the outline of the problem that was vaguely visible from the moving mass with three chairs on it,’ says Takuto Ohta.

the bike typically has three seats, with one at the front and rear to carry children

transforming how we perceive and interact with bicycles

the Furakazu Shushu model from Maruishi Cycle forms the body

the project address various urban and societal issues

project info:

name: Homo Mobilitas
designer: Takuto Ohta

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edited by: ravail khan | designboom