And now, for something completely different.

While a lot of the local news recently has been negative, let’s take a second to forget our local issues for a moment and celebrate a new innovation in bicycle parking coming to us from the Land of the Rising Sun.

The above video shows a new, automated, bicycle parking system where riders place their bicycle in the track and it is taken in a machine and stored underground.  It takes about ten seconds to retrieve your bicycle when you wish it returned, which I guess could lead to some delays at rush hour, but is actually less  time than it takes me to free my bicycle after shackeling it to a bike parking area.  A poster showing how the storage works underground can be found after the jump.

Image via dannychoo.com