Japanese couriers who went down in history as acrobatic cyclists (13 photos + 1 video)

These mid-20th-century photos from the streets of Tokyo show what food delivery looked like before modern services.





Riding their bikes and holding on to the handlebars with one hand, these noodle delivery men rode with towers of soba bowls balanced on their shoulders, weaving through traffic to deliver dinners and breakfasts to their regular customers. The service is called deme, which literally means “to lead the way,” and it’s very, very old.



Deme is thought to have originated as early as the mid-Edo period, in the 1700s. It was primarily used by wealthy daimyo, or feudal lords, who would send servants to inform shopkeepers that they wanted food delivered to their homes. Over time, deme became a more common practice, used by everyone from students to office workers. One of the most popular dishes was soba, a type of buckwheat noodle that could be eaten cold with a sauce or hot as a noodle soup. It was an affordable dish that could be taken on the go without sacrificing flavor or appearance.





The job of delivering soba noodles was dangerous and required a great deal of self-control and skill. Often, men had to deliver dozens of orders in a single trip because the owners were usually short-handed and the only mode of transport they could afford was a bicycle.

The men would use these unstable vehicles to transport up to a hundred bowls, carefully stacking the bowls of noodles and soup on top of each other. Some of these stacks were up to 1.5 meters high. Like circus acrobats, they balanced the rickety towers on their shoulders as they rode their bikes, one hand on the handlebars and the other on their precious cargo.



According to the traffic regulations in force at the time, a cyclist had to keep both hands on the handlebars while riding on the streets. And riding a bike with a bunch of bowls on your shoulder was dangerous. From a traffic safety standpoint, it should have been banned. But the authorities did not impose stricter restrictions, since the delivery people would have lost more than half of their customers.



Unfortunately (or fortunately), such spectacles are no longer available today, having been replaced by safer and more efficient ways of delivering food.