A Vending Machine and a Volcano - Tour de Kyushu
Justin and I spent Japan's "Golden Week" holiday and the following week (which happened to be our first wedding anniversary!) traveling to Kyushu and touring the islands on our road bikes. We got up just before 5 am to catch the early subway before any rush hour crowds would make carrying bikes and luggage challenging. We "Shinkansened" from Nagoya to Fukuoka where we stayed overnight before taking a train out to northern central Kyushu (Yufuin) to begin our journey of 334.8 miles and about 26,341 ft of elevation gain by bike. I would more than love to connect and offer any information and assistance that I can to any cyclist interested in riding Kyushu. I have linked the maps below to our RidewithGPS routes online so you may use them (or avoid the unpleasant route areas as I have noted) and also linked the images to the fun places we visited. Lots of what I would call "Insider Info", none of which came from a tour book.
May 1 - 2: Nagoya to Fukuoka and Day 1 of Cycling - Yufuin to Kurokawa
We didn't plan it this way, but the trip began with what felt to both of us like a huge explosion of excitement and enjoyment, exactly the way you would hope any trip would end. Leaving Nagoya and waking up 2 days later in our first-ever ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) after cycling over our first major pass will do that to a person! We woke up doing a mutual reality check - like did all of this really just happen in less than 48 hours? The best (and most worm-hole-like) first vacation 1.5 days ever. Recounted through captions below.
First Night in a Ryokan @ Yamamizuki in Kurokawa
The amount of experiences we had to take in just during the first part of the day were more than we could process before we arrived at the ryokan. We arrived JUST in time to our first (ever and first of the trip) ryokan or traditional Japanese-style inn. I had seen pictures of these places online before and I have also see odd pictures of Tim Ferriss on his Instagram in some odd Japanese outfit... I can say this was the most disparate experience from photos to actual experience I have had in life. We changed our itinerary to stay in Kurokawa because it contains some of the most iconic ryokans in all of Japan. This is one of the most iconic ryokan in Kurokawa. We booked it fairly blindly based on suggestions online. We showed up with no particular expectations. Talk about a worm-hole of life experience and memories in one day. We rode down into a valley (800 ft down in a couple miles) with tiled roofs of the ryokan buildings peaking out of trees, glowing lights and lit torches creating a warmth as dusk settled in. I immediately remarked the difference of Western resorts being on top of hills and this ryokan is down inside a valley. I would later understand why. Two staff greeted us and took our bicycles into a very clean side building used for storage. They checked us in, showed us our room - a private balcony overlooking a river, a private onsen in the room overlooking the same river. The type of privacy where NO ONE could see you due to facing the other side of the valley. There were two sets of those Japanese "pajamas" which are actually called yukata. We had 30 minutes to clean up and be at dinner. We were served a kaiseki-style dinner in our own private room with a glowing lamp and window onto greenery as night fell. Showered and in yukatta and slippers. It is the opposite of a western dinner vacation dinner and INCREDIBLY relaxing after a hard day of traveling and cycling. We would come to find nothing compliments a cycling tour much better than a ryokan for just about every reason you can come up with.
Around Takamori Town, Day 3
In a matter of days, this was a trip of contrasts. Our next accommodation was chosen for the warmth of the host of the AirBnb. We rented a single room in a house owned by a man who wanted to share his love of the area with all guests possible. His assistant lives in the house (Keishi-san pictured below). Our original plan was to cycle up Mt. Aso and around the outside, but we changed our mind when the rain and overcast weather made the point (the view) not worth the ride. Keishi-san provided us with soba, onsen, sake distillery, and soy sauce locations in Takamori town and we ate dinner at the little izakaya at which he worked that night and the detour from our plans was one of the best days of the trip.
"Surprise" Pass - Day 4 Earthquake Damage Detour - Aso to Kumamoto
This day was this first day to be fully downhill on our bikes - we were headed to the coast area from the mountains. We took this into account when deciding how much of Yamamura's sake we would consume the night prior, of course. We had a delicious spontaneous lunch at a bakery we passed a few miles out of Takamori town. Bakery items which surpassed Bakery Nouveau - definitely one of the highlights of the trip (めるころパン工房 - translates to Suzanpan Studio). We checked the ratings online after we had devoured our amazing sandwich and pastries to discover it was one of the few places with a rating exceeding 4.0 in Japan. (A 3.5/5 rating is considered very good here and anything above a 4 is attention-getting and likely has long waits if it is a sit down restaurant). The English version of Tabelog.com is the holy grail for dining in Japan. Use Trip Advisor to know which places are overpriced or extremely touristy/busy or to find an easy place to eat with English, etc., if you are feeling tired. Anyway, long story short we wound our way down to the Shirakawa River and planned to follow it into Kumamoto. We arrived at a closed road sign - due to last year's earthquake damage. Like 99.9% of cyclists we got around it, rerouting is a pain and it might be passable. It was a holiday and likely construction was not happening at this time. A short ways down the road it became obvious it flat out no longer existed and they were reconstructing a bridge. We shimmied our way out of the barrier on the other side and rerouted ourselves and our dehydration/hangovers up and over another pass. Gahhh.
Kumamoto to Amakusa - May 6
We would suggest investigating a more roundabout way for cycling as far outside of the city as possible. Riding through Japanese cities of any real size just sucks - no shoulder and busy roads with trucks. Many stop lights. It took us a couple hours to get outside of the city. We didn't explore much of Kumamoto at all - we arrived and had time to eat dinner at a GREAT Italian place (ヨーロッパ食堂 Joulium -ジュール-) near our hotel the GR Ginzadori, close to the Shirakawa River. They had some of the best red wine we've enjoyed in Japan. On the way out of the city in the morning we saw what there is to see of the castle which is undergoing huge repairs due to structural damage from the earthquake. The castle was originally constructed in various portions during 1467 - 1607. The foreshock was 6.2 magnitude on April 14th, 2016 and the main shock was on April 16 with a magnitude of 7.0. Many of the castles in Japan have been damaged and lost or rebuilt due to being located over the "Ring of Fire."
Best Riding of Trip, Attempt to Check in to Nursing Home, Coin Laundry Kindness - Amakusa to Kushikino - May 7
This day was a great example of the reason I love adventure vacations. This type of cycling exposes us to the elements, takes away the guarantee of complete comfort, and puts us at the mercy of whatever surprises lay in our path. We are never remote enough that it is a matter of life and death, but of inconvenience. It attracts enough attention that you are opened to the curiosity and are given a new chance to interact with those along your path in situations where motorized transportation would deny these opportunities. One of the funniest things to me is humor associated with communication in foreign language. Cycling in Japan you get all of the above.
Reaching our destination at the end of the day, we had a choice of two buildings on a very steep hillside. No big signage anywhere to make it obvious. Naturally we chose the nicer-looking of the two buildings which was also higher up with the better view. The lower building may house the onsen and the upper building looked like a nice (albeit old) hotel. We noticed another car with people driving around looking for something also as we entered the upper building. They turned around and left. Justin walked in and the man behind the desk looked a bit confused. I was a little worried because usually it is obvious who we are when we check in (we are likely the only Western names) and it doesn't take a whole lot of straightening out. Bracing myself for something haven fallen through with the reservation process or a miscommunication, I stood back and surveyed the premises while Justin handled the situation. I was ready to hop in an onsen and relax!! I did not want to hop back on the bikes for more riding. I noticed there were more than a few people in wheel chairs. And, the art of the walls was.... made by children... hmmmmm... HMMMM... I pointed out my gathered intel to Justin, we realized our mistake and walked out laughing and apologized to the man at the desk. Likely we left him with the funny story of the month for his friends, "Two gaijin in crazy spandex tried to check in to the nursing home today." HA!
Another useful tidbit we caught on to while on this trip is that Japan has plentiful coin laundries! So, instead of washing our bike shorts in the sink and wringing them out to dry we began seeking out a coin laundry each night. The lady at the front desk (we made it to the actual ryokan, the lower building!!) indicated it was 5 min. She nodded at my upside down-scissor finger gesture (the universal symbol for walking, right?!). Well, 20-30 minutes of walking in the complete dark along the road we came to a family run convenience mart (konbini in Japanese). The type where the kids sit behind the table to wait on customers and do their homework at the same time. Justin went in to ask and came back out with a father and son in tow. They indicated it was another 20 or so minutes walking and at this point I was losing interest in the coin laundry. I wanted to relax. The father insisted his son drive us to it. And not only that, he wrote his cell phone on a piece of paper and insisted they call us for a ride back to the ryokan. We were touched. We hopped in and were at the coin laundry in a few minutes. We did our daily journaling and sent a text message when we were done - thankful for the ride. The kid must have ran to his car immediately (in true Japanese style) because it seemed he appeared 32 seconds after the message was sent. This time his very energetic buddy had come along for the excitement. We felt like celebrities!! Celebrities with damp bike shorts in a plastic bag!! The excitement in the car reminded me of piling in the car with my high school friends on the way to a concert or something. They were just so happy to help us out and we were just so touched. Anyone having been to Japan knows they expected absolutely nothing in return and we knew enough at this point not to insist or offer but to take this kind experience and remember it the next time we were in a position to help a traveler in need. Our "arigato gozaimasu's" were simply not enough - I thanked them profusely in English as well in hopes I could convey the feeling.
Volcanically Heated Sand Baths and Onsen in the Pouring Rain - May 9
This day was another day of challenge - big rain was rolling in. If we ate breakfast fast at the Green Hotel Fukuzumi and were on our way, there was a chance we'd miss it. According to the forecast we were getting soaked but enough rain storms had held off JUST until the end of my bike rides, I had hope. Wet bike shoes with no boot dryer is no bueno! We made it to the Ibusuki Royal hotel and rolled under the awning JUST as it began to sprinkle. Even with a stop to test the drone in the middle of the ride.
The hotel staff turned us away for early check in (despite it being a ghost town after Golden Week ending). We road reluctantly to lunch in the rain and were happy to have been welcomed more warmly into the restaurant for some hot soba and a beer even though we were less than dressed up.
From there we rode back to the hotel and got a cab to the number one Trip Advisor destination in the area - the hot sand baths and the incredible outdoor onsen, both with sweeping views of the ocean. The hot sand baths were sheltered from the rain - it was perfect to lay there and listen to the rain and watch the storm over the ocean. The rain continued clear through our time in the onsen. A downpour in an outdoor onsen with sweeping views of the ocean is something I will remember forever. Incredible!! (No photos of the onsen or any onsen because swimsuits are not allowed).
Leaving Bikes Behind... Kagoshima City to Sankara Resort on Yakushima Island
The weather forecast of a big lightning storm was the impetus for us to park our bikes and take the jetfoil to Yakushima instead of bring them to ride around the island. We thoroughly pickled ourselves in shochu (something like vodka) at an incredible Shochu bar in Kagoshima (image below is linked to an article with information on the bar) before boarding the jetfoil boat for Yakushima to celebrate our first wedding anniversary by sitting on our butts with our books and relaxing. Complete with a big and beautiful thunder and lightning storm rolling in - something my heart has literally ACHED for over a decade straight now after leaving the American Midwest for Seattle.
