Length of Japan Cycling Tour - Part 1 of 3
Note: All groupings of photos below are thumbnails and will open to their full size in a ‘light box’ (temporary window) which allows you to click through them using arrows/carrots which appear as you hover your mouse over the right and left side of the screen/window. You can close and continue reading/scrolling through the post by exiting the window/’light box’ by hovering your mouse at the top right and clicking the ‘x’ which appears.
Read time: Approximately 18 minutes (4600 words) + 4:30 min video.
This Blog Post is Dedicated to My Dad and Justin’s Uncle Dale
There is no one on this earth who I enjoy sharing my adventures with more than my Dad. I get my love of travel and cars from my Dad. I feel luckier this year than I ever have before to be able to still share this blog with him. Dad, I love you and here’s looking forward to many more adventures to come for you and for me.
Dale (Justin’s uncle) shares our love of adventure and cycling and has been dealt more than ten lifetimes’ worth of hardship to endure this year. Dale, you’ve been on our minds daily. I hope you will enjoy our adventures vicariously until you’re able to cause your own mischief soon enough.
What
On October 19, 2020 (one year ago today) we embarked quietly on our bike ride from the northern most tip to the southern most tip of Japan. I publish this blog in celebration of the 47 days, 2141.2 miles, and 110,176 ft of riding we did over 75 days total of enjoying every inch of the length of this country.
Serendipitously October 19 also marks 5 years since we first arrived to Japan. This ride was a fitting culmination of our time in Japan and a perfect celebration to close out our time there as we have known since June of 2020 that Justin’s contract would not renew and we would be saying goodbye for now to what has been the most incredible experience of both of our lives.
Why
How did we decide to do it? How did it come about? Why would a person want to do something seemingly so miserable such as ride your bike with all your heavy belongings for such a long period of time?
Cycle touring completely encompasses everything that makes me feel alive and creates a life worth living; the same things that feel comfortable and easy aren't the same things that make life worth while. It has been an organic growth from the shorter tours we have done in Japan. The more we toured the more we realized Japan is maybe one of the top countries in the world suited for cycle touring. They have detailed, published, and updated road guide maps (called “Mapple,” written for motorcycle touring), incredible and clean convenience marts and vending machines everywhere. The traditional Japanese inns called ryokans beg you to cycle tour in Japan. They have hot springs which are perfect for soaking tired muscles after a long or cold or rainy day in the saddle, breakfast and lunch served while you wear your yukata and slippers (hotel issue robe-type pajamas). I guess what I am saying is that the idea to tour the length of Japan didn’t come out of nowhere. It was more of an idea that sprouted and took root and grew into the fruition of this trip over years and before we knew it, it was just happening. As crazy as it sounds, I don’t even remember when we first had the idea or first considered the trip…
Despite all the experience we have doing tour rides in Japan, solid gear lists we have from past trips, preparation, cycle touring always provides a challenge - one reason we keep coming back for more. There are always nerves. An infinite number of things can arise and stop you dead in your tracks. On bicycles we are completely exposed to the elements, traffic, wild animals, and no matter how much planning we do, we will experience unexpected road closures, mechanical failures, injury/discomfort small or large… There are limited daylight hours for riding to reach your destination, limits to our physical energy – especially carrying a load in such a mountainous country, and often bad weather which makes righting any wrong far more difficult. We rode this ride over two shoulder seasons, coastal and mountainous roads and experienced the widest variety of weather conditions possible, often within a single day. We must balance our physical ability to carry supplies and gear to protect us against the most reasonable and expected obstacles but we must also make choices to forego the supplies needed against the most severe or unlikely things as we just cannot carry that much (I left my night riding headlight at home due to size and weight). Although I speak basic Japanese, there is a language barrier and so phone calls and communication are difficult. And in many of the most remote places (north Honshu and Shikoku) there was limited to no cell service. All that being said, Japan is likely the single safest and most comfortable country in the world in which to do a trip of this nature.
Organization of Blog Post & Posts to Follow
The simplest way it occurred to me to write anything about such a lengthy endeavor was to break it down into “The Ups” (the most enjoyable parts), “The Downs” (the most difficult or unbearable parts), and “Memories” (experiences which punctuated our time spent riding poignantly, large or small). Only for flow purposes I will put “The Downs” first, the “Memories” second, and “The Ups” last.
To keep the length manageable/readable I will publish three separate posts.
Length of Japan Cycling Tour, Part 1 - The Beginning - Published at 8:49 pm October 19, 2021 Japan Standard Time - 5 years to the minute since our flight touched down in Nagoya and our life began in Japan (our 5 year “Japanniversary.” Additionally, it is one year ago to the day which we began this bike tour from Rebun Island, in Hokkaido.
Length of Japan Cycling Tour, Part 2 - The Middle - To be published on Friday, November 12th, 2021.
Length of Japan Cycling Tour, Part 3 - The End - To be published on Friday, December 3rd, 2021.
This Part 1 blog post covers from Rebun, Hokkaido roughly to Toyama / Ishikawa prefectures… Parts 2 and 3 will cover the remainder.
The Downs
On a trip like this, there will be bad days. We will be exhausted, weather will be miserable, drivers will be assholes… No amount of planning can prevent this. We had a few really bad days and a few pretty terrible experiences. I am sharing a few of them because without these experiences the trip wouldn't be the same. The worst things are what make the good parts of the trip so blissful. There would be nowhere near the level of joy for persevering through stuff I didn't always know that we'd be able to. I didn't know that we'd be able to finish this trip when we started it because of things like this (also why I didn't make a big point of advertising it). The biggest factors for us which threaten enjoyment of a cycling tour in order of most severe to least:
1. Road Conditions. Japan has mostly amazing roads. But we have experienced a few days of roads which will push you past the brink of sanity on road tires. Repairs in pavement and bumps, cracks, etc on road tires will render the most resilient and good natured person into a demon. Smashing your seat onto your sit bones until your butt is raw. Impacting your palms until your wrists ache. Jarring you so much sometimes it knocks your head back or spasms my back if I don’t see it coming. Thank goodness these days were few and far between.
2. Wind. From this first part of the trip, the headwinds along the coastal section of Hokkaido came straight from the south and they were brutal. There are entire days where I barely have photos from riding at all because it was just a schlog from morning til night. There were at least a couple days where we didn’t even try to ride because I could barely open and hold on to the door of the hotel the wind was so crazy. Wind can nearly double your speed or halve it (tail vs head wind). Having strong wind blowing across your ears all day does something funny to my brain and makes me crazy. It makes it impossible to talk to each other without screaming. Physically and emotionally exhausting. By day 17 of the trip we had had 5 days of not riding due to horrible weather, many days we rode through garbage weather and we were beginning to have conversations of how long and how bad would this have to suck to make us quit… what would it take for us to end it and go home.
3. Truck Traffic/Angry Drivers. Japanese drivers are the best in the world on average. On a trip this long, I’d say about five cars/trucks swiped me so close I lost it because in my mind, it is completely unnecessary. We try to route around this, but sometimes it is impossible. We have had to take breaks from riding just because of the trucks being too loud and close it is tiring.
4. Shoulder width. Many roads have no shoulders. This is fine if the road is in good condition, but if the road is in bad shape, there is also traffic (especially going both ways) - these factors compound one another and can spell disaster quickly.
5. Rain. Ha! As a beginning cyclist, rain was the WORST! On this trip though, rain on its own, not a big deal compared to the above items. We have the gear to make this fine. I don’t want to run out and ride in the rain if I don’t have to, but we did have some of the best days riding even though it was rainy because we had the right gear to keep our bodies warm. And sometimes even our feet and hands.
6. Temperature. Again - temp on its own isn’t a big deal. We bought the beefiest Rapha gloves and a pair of insane Castelli shoe covers for the coldest riding. At any convenience mart in the winter in Japan you can buy a variety of hand warmers. Only really when cold temps are combined with rain or wind is it a problem.
The fatiguing effects of these things can exponential when multiple are combined and without a few days of rest or easy/good conditions riding in between the emotional and mental fatigue can just accumulate. I am not an angry person and I really don’t yell - it takes a lot. One of the ugliest parts of this whole trip was on Day 12 a semi truck driving pulling back over into me as he didn’t completely pass me only to be stopped at road work together a short distance down the road. I was a few levels of anger beyond any part of my personality I’ve ever been familiar with and I road my bike up along side of his truck, turned around and screamed at him staring him right in the eyes for a good long while. No matter if he understood English he got my point.
Day 18 was a very special place in Aomori Prefecture called Oirase Gorge. It was a beautiful winding river and road through a forest. However the road was ancient and no one has business on any part of that road with road tires. Our bad. The next evening at dinner, we were staying at a nice ryokan deep in the Japanese inaka (country side). Probably very well known by Japanese people but not one that likely sees any non-Japanese (our favorite kind). The lady working at the restaurant happened to speak faster and more the more I tried to tell her I didn’t understand… Prompting me with questions and instructions and I couldn’t make out a single word she was saying. Complicated instructions on the buffet and gloves and chopsticks and…. Japanese people sometimes go into “help overdrive” when you don’t understand and explain in MORE details and with MORE questions and not less. Out of nowhere I burst into tears. I had the best wagyu to date while I struggled not to just sob over dinner. Fatigue - emotional and physical had just gotten to me.
Memories
Finding Our Groove - Days 0-4 of 75
We flew into Sapporo and then to Wakkanai where we took a ferry to Rebun Island in Hokkaido, the chosen start to our ride. Just over 3,000 inhabitants on 31.4 square miles (81.3 square km), it is known for its alpine flowers. (The northern most point of Japan wasn’t remote or cold enough for us, apparently.) Sunshine, but frigid temps, howling winds and a desolate feel to the area all helped to amplify our nerves. The site of the HUGE bags of gear we’d sent via Yamato to pack into our panniers and trailer didn’t help, either.
Justin assembled the bikes after the sun had risen enough to allow his hands some warmth. Our first challenge placing us at the mercy of those around us arose quicker than we’d expect. My Trek 1000 bike is of unknown age and origin as I bought it used in college around 2006. Of all the years and opportunities possible, the seat post clamp chose this moment to have the threads stripped enough to render the bolt engaging (what allows the clamp to clamp and hold the seat post & seat up) with the clamp impossible. After a couple hours and a failed trip to by the hotel clerk to obtain a replacement bolt which was too long and would hit my inner thigh, the hotel owner called his friend who owned a machine shop down the street. We watched as he tried repeated sizes and washers entering and exiting his shop as we stood on the street side, holding our breath. Finally he found one which fit and cut it down to size. We set the seat at the height it would remain at without the ability to adjust it (as we had no wrench) until we could get to a proper bike shop in the first city of any size on the ride – Sapporo, several days of riding later. He saved us and the beginning of our ride. True to Japanese style, he could not accept a single yen for his trouble. We could not say enough thank yous and I switched to English in hopes he could feel my gratitude more despite not understanding. We rode off for a quick out and back test ride with views of the neighboring island, Rishiri in sight. We’d return to our hotel, spend hours packing our panniers and a suitcase to send home before getting a shuttle into town to use the local onsen. That evening we toasted our 4 year Japanniversary with mini bottles of Yamazaki 12 we’d brought to celebrate the occasion. Ready for the ride to start the next morning, we turned out the lights in our little room in the hotel on the teeny island and fell asleep under the glow-in-the-dark-fish pasted on the ceiling.
The first day of riding was successful. We pulled into our planned lodging – a campsite – with less daylight and warmth remaining than we’d like. I opened the door to the campsite office and walked in to see the girl working there, sitting in comfortable warmth and playing cards on her computer killing time until they closed shortly at 5 pm. I was looking forward to throwing the tent up, using the next door onsen and EATING. I was hungry, cold, and tired. I told her we’d like to camp in the open tent space and she informed me they were full. An empty field, in frigid weather, with no tents in sight was “full.” Not what I expected to hear. I pleaded a little before giving in to return to Justin who stood outside with the bikes. He sent me back in to rent a bungalow instead of using the tent we brought. Also “full.” I was incredulous. More than a little annoyed we road to the hotel next door and I asked to rent a room for the night, at this point it was almost dark, and Justin was freezing from standing outside in the wind without pedaling. I was floored when he told me they had no rooms - the hotel looked no where near full based on the parking lot, I began to shamelessly beg and pull the ‘but we rode here on bikes and have no where to go’ card. The man did not budge. I returned to the campsite office to flat out beg to stay in the field and leave immediately in the morning and pay anything. Flat no. Not even the typical sympathetic “I am sorry face.” Ouch.
Scanning the area in the dark, we headed over towards the ocean next to what was some kind of park or truck stop. We walked our bikes and leaned them against the wooden fence and chose the most inconspicuous, flattest place to pitch the tent in the tall grass and shadows and called it good. We were 75% expecting for one of the unflinching clerks to be watching us and come to kick us out. We walked across the street to the onsen. No bath towels rented and signs everywhere to tell you charging of any kind was forbidden. We returned to eat our dinner squatting on the curb under the light afraid to turn on any lights in our tent and draw attention. Not the relaxing celebration of our first day of riding we’d hoped for. Laying in our sleeping bags, we looked up the place we were staying at on Google as there was on odd statue type thing there. ‘Russian Ship Indigirka Victim Cenotaph.’ Wikipedia informed us that we were sleeping on the site of a memorial where a prisoner transport ship crashed in a blizzard killing most of the 700 prisoners aboard. Creepy.
As if that all wasn’t enough, once we were laying in our bags attempting to fall asleep, out of nowhere a terrifying and insanely loud alarm began to blare. Seconds going by of us partially panicking wondering if there was a tsunami coming when we realized it was 7:00 pm on the dot. A test.
We slept through the night, awoke awkwardly to a few hotel guests walking towards our tent to watch the sunrise over the ocean. A memorable first “wild camping” experience.
We’d pack up our tent and road out several hours later when we were warm. Gorgeous ocean side riding with sun all day and an amazing, small town free campsite, which no doubt was never before appreciated so much.
I was even able to call ahead and book a room in a hotel for the third night with my Japanese and understand that they only had smoking rooms left and agree it was okay. A slow start but we’d hit our stride.
Day 8 - Justin vs. The Rain
Justin likes to play this cocky little game with the weather, thinking he can outsmart it. He gambles with the rain and will only stop to put on a rain coat past a certain point. The storm this day played him PERFECTLY. I stopped after about 15 minutes of light to medium drops and put my shell on as it was too cold to be soaked comfortably (whatever that means). The intensity and frequency landed at whatever the perfect mark in Justin’s brain is - just before it would make him put his coat on. It then rained softer and harder and messed with him until before he knew it…
Rain: 1. Justin: 0.
Day 11 - Wild Camping Lake Shikotsu
The sun was already setting as we rolled in to our intended lodging for the night: a “rider house.” In Japan, there is a type of lodging patronized primarily by the single male motorcycle tourists. From what I can tell it is a warm floor with futons (the Japanese mattress type) and pillows and available showers. Possibly with basic food cooked and communal areas for dining and lounging with other travelers. Very cheap and pretty genius. Nothing about the season, the location or the type of lodging said we’d need advanced reservations so we were more than a little surprised when the keeper of the rider house said they were full. What follows is a classic situation for cycle tourists: he very matter of factly tells us to ride 25 km into the next town to a hotel, either completely unaware of how dangerous/difficult that was (we didn’t have our night riding lights) or not caring. It would be dark in 20 minutes and that would take us around another hour and if it were anything like our experiences so far, no one accepted walk-ins. So we rode our bikes apprehensively down to the nearby lake side. Walked them around a chain barrier to the parking lot which indicated the park was closed and set up our tent in the most discrete location we could find. We were in eyeshot of some type of restaurant, a lone fisherman on the shore, and 15 feet from a worker that pulled up in a truck right next to our tent… We held our breath, sure we were going to be kicked out after we had just set everything up. To our surprise, he got in his truck and drove away, not returning or sending anyone in his place to scold us. To this day we think he turned a blind eye and that he was the same guy who returned in the morning pained at having to tell us to leave. The sunrise was windy, frigid, but gorgeous and all ours. It was the last night we arrived anywhere without reservations.
Day 13 - Halloween Night
Day 15 - Christmas Season in Japan / Chilling at Starbucks
We really enjoyed chilling at a local Starbucks on rest/weather days for some coffee/journaling/route planning when there was one. I remember palpably the day I walked into one on this trip after being on the road for a couple weeks and they had Christmas music on and all the decorations out. I felt a huge surge of familiar warmth and joy walking in to the Starbucks in a random city in north Japan only to hear Sam Smith's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
A little overview of the Hokkaido portion of our ride (Day 0 - 16). Enjoy!
Day 17 - USA Election Day
I’ll never forget walking into the teeny tiniest little mom and pop magurodon (tuna sashimi on a bowl of rice) restaurant to be seated only to look up at the TV behind the counter to see the US election on the news. No escape! After all the riding through Japanese countryside it was hard to remember the USA even existed and yet out in the middle of nowhere, there she blows.
Day 19 - Our First Bear Sighting
After all the time we spent in Hokkaido and Shiretoko Park specifically (one of the most dense brown bear populations in the world, who knew) we finally had our first bear siting. 'll never forget the way Justin said, "uh… Mare….." in the most unusual tone… I immediately new something was very wrong. Up on the road ahead about 300 meters was a quite large black bear moseying from the road into the nearby brush. Needless to say we forgot to take a photo! We allowed about 10 minutes to pass before proceeding yelling our “Hey bear! Hooooo bear!” over and over.
Day 29 - Post-Onsen Yukatas, Seaside, Whiskey Sipping Vibes
Upon pulling into Misaki Hotel in Asahi Town, Justin informed me that he thought I’d like this place he had chosen. When we opened the door to the room we’d been given the first thing I heard was a wave crashing on the beach! Delight! I’d dump all my gear, jaunt down the hall to the bath overlooking the farm fields adjacent and return to sip whiskey in our yukatas (Japanese robe-type pajamas) in thick puffy socks while gazing out at the pine trees and the ocean views. Completely unexpected and bone deep delight.
Day 29 - 30 - Visiting My Friend Chika & Her Family in Her Home Town
One of my very first friends in Japan was a Japanese girl I met named Chika. She was new to Nagoya also (from Tokyo for her job). She and her husband Alex moved back home to the area she is from in Toyama when she was pregnant in the fall of 2019. Our route took us right past her house and we were so lucky to pay her a visit, meet her son Luka for the first time, see the traditional Japanese house that she grew up in and now lives in with her family. We enjoyed yakitori and were treated to the bottle of sake her dad and his friend keep on the regulars shelf in their local yakitori place. Seeing familiar faces after a few weeks on the road was a delight.
The Ups
Fall Leaves | “Koyou” 紅葉
We timed the beginning of the ride as much as possible to follow the changing of the leaves from north to south.
Japanese Ryokan & Hotel Breakfasts
Japanese breakfast felt more like dinner when we first arrived to Japan than breakfast. My American taste buds acclimatized and grew to love it over the years. Shosanbetsu Onsen Hotel in Hokkaido had the most humble and yet delicious breakfast of the first part of the ride. Natto (fermented soybeans) on rice, octopus sashimi with wasabi, grilled fish, pickled vegetables, roasted vegetables, and a type of seaweed paste. If I can imagine what good Japanese home-style cooking is, it was this.
Convenience Mart Food (AKA Conbini Food)
One of the most enduring loves of cycle tours in Japan is the incredible selection of really good food available at convenience marts. I see by our scant photos of what consisted of about 60% of our total diet that I had begun to take it for granted!
This trip we discovered a new favorite rice ball (“onigiri”oh-knee-gee-di) after 4 years in Japan – the big size grilled salmon wrapped in nori (seaweed).As compared to our standing favorite, the smaller version, in the photos.All convenience marts are stocked with a variety of the perfect size whisky for post-ride consumption which we enjoyed usually with chips – a Pringles “Fish n Chips” flavor shown here…
Post Ride Whiskey & Yakitori
Of my favorite things in Japan, I’ve often said I don’t know how I’ll survive without yakitori outside of Japan. It feels SO GOOD to get all clean and warm, stroll over in street shoes to the neighborhood yakitori joint and just order butabara (pork rib), momo (chicken thigh), hatsu (hearts), bacon wrapped mochi (rice cake), and yakionigiri (grilled rice ball)… Salty grilled chicken is the perfect way to restore electrolytes lost through riding (and whiskey consumption).
