Cycle Touring the Length of Japan - Part 3 of 3

Read time: Approximately 30 minutes (8600 words, not including photo captions & handful of short videos).

The Last Blog Post from Japan (… for the time being)

Here she is. I had planned to finish this before the holidays while in Missouri. When I got there I suddenly felt like doing nothing in the mornings except chilling with coffee and watching the sunrise or lazily Christmas shopping. Once I returned to Sweden, it occurred to me this is the last I will be writing about Japan for the foreseeable future. We’ve spent the last 6 months (January 25th was our 6 month mark in Sweden) getting settled in Gothenburg but also reflecting on the incredible years we spent in Japan. Even now everything below and the past 5 years in general seems like a complete dream. I don’t know how the time vanished so quickly. I decided to write this post slowly and savor writing each part and all the captions to the photos. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did when we experienced it and as I did again as I wrote it all out for you. It is divided into the most prominent experiences in a loose time line. All of the photo galleries have captions when you click onto one of the photos. Instructions to read those are below if you are interested.

Organization of Length of Japan Tour Blog Posts

Our Length of Japan Cycling tour is divided into three parts:

Length of Japan Cycling Tour, Part 1 - The Beginning - Read the first portion of our journey here. Covers roughly Day 0 - Day 33 of 75.

Length of Japan Cycling Tour, Part 2 - The Middle - Covers roughly Day 34 - Day 45 of 75. Read it here.

Length of Japan Cycling Tour, Part 3 - The End - You’re reading it! Covers roughly the last third of the trip.

How to View Photos and Captions Below

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This blog post covers Hyogo to Sata Misaki - the southernmost point of the four major islands of Japan. The last ~700 miles (and 55,000 ft of elevation) of riding. April 11 - May 9, 2021.

Day 50 - 53 - Iya Onsen Hotel

We treated ourselves to three fancy ryokans/hotels throughout the whole length of Japan trip. Our reasoning (… not that you need a reason to be fancy) was that this ride would be a celebration of one of the most wonderful times of our life; Justin was ending a fantastic and successful work experience despite being immersed in a culture very different than our own, and our fifth wedding anniversary was right around the corner.

Of all countries, I must note that in Japan the budget hotels and the teeny guest houses in the middle of nowhere are quite often amazing - due to the food, the room, the amenities, the character, great service, or all of the above. A huge percentage of the fun of a trip like this is cheaping out on the hotels and ending up loving our stay.

The first 'fancy place' was on Honshu (the biggest of 4 main islands in Japan) - Sowaka in Kyoto (see blog post #2). The second was Iya Onsen Hotel on Shikoku (the smallest of the 4 main islands in Japan) in the Iya Valley. We had been to Shikoku before (driving from Nagoya in May of 2019). Justin had scoped out a loop cycle route but we were unable to make it there that trip. So this time it was a must-see/do. Justin did all of the investigations into lodgings and I can't remember if I knew what I was walking into or not. There are few options in the valley and it was an obvious choice on Justin's part as we were leaving Japan and it felt like an excuse to do something special. The Cloud Top Suite couldn't be more appropriately named as I literally felt like we were in the sky. Another killer view for sipping whisky and coffee. The second attraction besides the view is that there is an open air onsen a short cable car ride down the cliff side - the bath is directly above the rapids of the Iya Valley River and is gorgeous. After one night we transferred to a cheaper room overlooking the parking lot. It was from this hotel that Justin did a Zoom interview with the CEO of the company he now works for in a yukata and haori jacket. It looks formal enough by western/startup standards from the waist up these days but in Japan it is essentially nice pajamas.

We dropped our heavy panniers and did a loop around the Iya Valley and Oboke Gorge before returning to bathe in the balcony soaking tub, enjoy our customary night cap and a tasty kaiseki dinner.

Riding in to this hotel we had the sweetest little old park ranger/rest stop attendant approach us wanting to take our photo with the view in the back ground. He was so smiley and seemed to just live to make other people happy. Out of nowhere a touching experience. This is Japan. Riding out of the hotel, several of the hotel clerks came out to stand and bow as we left. With our bikes and gear it takes awhile for us to get situated before we can ride off. It was raining when we left. They stood anyway in the rain, hiding any discomfort completely from us, waited til we fully left and bowed and waved with huge smiles. Again, this is Japan.

(1:38 long) Day 50 - Iya Onsen Hotel Room Tour (#505 Kumo No Ue Suite Tamayura AKA Cloud Top Suite Tamayura). One of our three favorite lodgings while on our Length of Japan Tour (the other two are Sowaka in Kyoto and Yamamizuki in Kyushu).

(0:19 long) A quick view of our first kaiseki dinner at Iya Onsen Hotel. A little sake, chicken, and wagyu.

(0:16 long) A quick video of the inside of the cable car descending into the steep river gorge where the open air baths are at Iya Onsen Hotel.

Day 54 - UFO Line

Over the years of living in Japan and the years of cycling – we have learned to balance various risks based not just on our physical abilities but also based upon the most likely truthful interpretation of a facet of Japanese culture called “shinpai.” Japanese people will err on the side of expecting the worst case scenario. They want you to be safe and prepared and will literally speak to you as if the worst case is the likely outcome. Culturally speaking, as Americans we have only been prepared for the exact opposite – people talking things up or down according to which fits them best with little to no regard for others. And so it took us a few years and typhoon experiences living in Japan to gradually began to interpret not just linguistically but culturally what the true situation might be beyond the “shinpai” and make our various judgment calls accordingly.

The single most anticipated section of our entire ride beyond the fall leaves and the cherry blossoms was something called the “UFO Line.” It is a short yet extremely steep section of ridge line road in Shikoku (the least populated island in Japan). We were really curious how it became known as the “UFO Line.” Our hotel keeper had told us something that translated into English as “vehicles from other stars.” Creepy! It came with an ‘eye brows up’ recommendation by Vincent Flanagan, an ex-pro cyclist who guides cycling tours in Japan. With over 6000 ft of elevation gain in just over 30 miles I like to leave ample time to enjoy it and take photographs but also as buffer for weather and in case something happens. I was only a couple of months after being cleared for physical activity after breaking my pubic bone and heavy loads and elevation resulted in me feeling slight pains the broken place…

We were graced with sunny but cool weather that morning. We were the only guests staying at Ryokan Tsutsui, a small, humble place in a teeny town. Catching us completely off guard, the inn keeper informed us over breakfast casually that owner of the hotel in Ishizuchi (where we’d be staying that night on the other side of the UFO Line) had called him to let him know that the UFO Line road was closed and we’d need to find another route. There was no other way on bicycle, nothing that didn’t require SEVERAL days at least – something non-cyclists always fail to appreciate. The level of attention we managed to catch never ceased to shock me… No one in any hotel in America would ever know or care how you’d arrive much less monitor conditions and alert you to anything. I excused myself to call my friend on Shikoku and ask her knowledge and thoughts… Slightly awkwardly we mentioned we’d be trying it anyway and possibly something about returning if it were not passable.

We set out for the ride. It was sunny and gorgeous and maybe 10 miles in there was a very good “soba” place according to Justin we’d stop in to fuel up just before we started the more serious climbing. Soba is a very quick Japanese noodle dish. The restaurant Justin found was not actually soba, but some sort of lengthy production of shabu shabu and tofu where you tend your own fire by blowing through a pipe they provide to you. It was a destination and an experience in and of itself – a gorgeous place overlooking a flowing river. Worth every bit of the two hours we really didn’t have to spend eating. But you know, that is how these things go.

Justin cooking our lunch. Japanese food can be lightning fast or a huge production. This was the latter. We’d been in Japan long enough to know better. We didn’t have the time to spare this day as we had a massive pass to climb and uncertain weather.

The sun was replaced with clouds. The winds started to pick up. We climbed switchback after switchback on a narrow mountain road. Some of it bearable, some of it almost impossible to keep the pedal cranks turning as it was so steep. I don’t like being rushed and Justin was doing his best to not rush me while being frank about the reality of how much we had left to climb. As we climbed higher and higher the number of cars dwindled to almost none. With still a significant level of climbing left, we were delighted to see another cyclist heading down our way… delighted until he said he was turning around because it was not passable with snow and ice. He shared pictures of snow at the top but it was from a distance and not a photo showing an impassible road by our definitions. As this was all in Japanese it was impossible for me to decipher absolutely physically impassable vs. what we will call “where there’s a will there’s a way” passable. We thanked him and decided we must continue on to see for ourselves – we’d barely have time to turn around with daylight and dropping temperatures would equal ice. We’d decided we’d walk our bikes if necessary along the top but descending in ice is a deal breaker and… well…

The views from the top of the UFO Line in Shikoku, Japan are some of the best we’ve seen if not THE best.

Long story short the ridge line was gorgeous. The wind was howling. There was snow, but none on the roads. There was another man up there photographing and he yelled a hearty ‘ganbatte’ to us (‘work hard’ or the Japanese equivalent of ‘go get em’). It felt like we were on another planet after the sunny gorgeous weather that morning. We were exceedingly grateful to have our new bikes and their disc brakes for the long, frigid descent. At some point there was a black Toyota wagon stopped suspiciously on the road… I yelled ahead to Justin, “What do you think he’s doing?! That’s so weird!” My American spidey senses are always overly suspicious/cautious but do not serve me well in Japan. Just as we were about to roll by, the driver side window rolls down and think I’ve lost it because I swear I hear the man yelling “Justin-san!” I nearly crashed into Justin when he slammed on the brakes because he heard it too. It was none other than the Ishizuchi Hotel owner driving to check on the two gaijin who don’t listen to sensible Japanese people. Not what he actually said, but what he was thinking no doubt. We laughed and continued on. We were mostly to the hotel when we saw the car ahead again in the middle of the road. We almost pedaled on by thinking he was just going to stop along the way like this and continue on when we caught up. This time, the door flung open and he leapt out of the car, wildly flagging us down, NASCAR-style, holding a little yellow notepad. I was about to bust a gut laughing when he stopped us to check on my food sensitivities. He sited off, “Tamago to miruku to komugi desu ka?” (Is it egg, milk, wheat?). I confirmed. Into his car and off he went. Somewhere again further down, we spotted him again and he flagged us down with an arm out the window to double check my food sensitivities. I appreciated the dedication and we both smiled and giggled a bit. He then climbed out of his car, his face growing serious and he flattened his hand at a steep, almost vertical angle and motioned saying emphatically “HADDO hill climb!!” (Hard hill climb in thi-i-ick Japanese accent). We smiled and nodded, realizing he didn’t understand where we had just come from and hoping it couldn’t possibly be WORSE. He jumped back in his car and sped off. As we were almost to the hotel, we saw his car pulled over yet again, this time next to a surprising Mont Bell and coffee shop combination (Mont Bell is a fancy Japanese outdoor gear chain store/brand and we were in the middle of nowhere…). He was inside and they served us hot tea and we sat in the warmth next to a kerosene heater and relaxed only to find they had already closed but would not allow us to leave. After awhile we saddled back up and he arranged for the woman in the shop to chauffeur us in her car to the location of the hotel – another 10 minutes or so of riding. We arrived to the huge, older hotel likely upwards of 100 rooms or so. We appeared to be the only ones staying there. They had us bring our bikes into what was once a busy entry way and park them inside. We slippered up and they showed us through the cold, dark hallways into a cozy tatami room already fully toasty with the heater, the windows with the view of Mount Ishizuchi completely fogged over with condensation. A boiling hot onsen had been run just for us, in an otherwise icy bath room. We cleaned up and arranged our soaking gear to dry and headed to dinner in an empty café with only the woman who had chauffeured us and a man in the kitchen. She spoke pretty good English and was able to tell us that UFO (pronounced “yuu-foe” in Japanese) means majestic mountain and is a play on words the way it is written. The man who had flagged us down appeared during dinner and we shared that we were headed to our friend’s house in Shikoku after. Calling up a friend he determined with great excitement that he did know the Japanese husband of my friend. It is a small world. We enjoyed our dinner before heading back to the room and sleeping. The next morning we’d awake to a little bag filled with treats and a note from the woman wishing us a safe journey and apologizing for not being able to come and send us off. We’d have coffee and visit with the man at the Mont Bell shop (Shiraishi-san AKA “Super Mario” as he resembled the Nintendo character) before heading off.

(0:13 long) Day 54 - UFO Line Views.

Day 55 - 57

We routed ourselves though Niyodogawacho to meet up with my friend, Zoé and her husband Hiro. The only thing to make an awesome adventure even more special is to spend time with friends! Zoé and Hiro own Niyodogawa Adventures and take clients canyoning and rafting in Shikoku. It affords them the chance to live in the awesomest small town in true Japanese inaka (countryside). We were able to stay in their cabin on a mountainside with a kerosene heater and no electricity. It was SO cozy. We visited the neighborhood onsen which was gorgeous. The next day we got a ‘morning set’ (typical breakfast with egg, rice, toast, salad, miso and coffee at the local restaurant before heading out to raft for the day. It was AMAZING!

(1:14 long) Day 56 - Niyodogawa Adventures Pack Rafting !! Amazing day and a nice change up from the bikes.

Day 58 - Dogo Onsen

Onsen are an essential part of life in Japan. I have not experienced anything like it anywhere else in the world. For the unfamiliar or uninitiated, an 'onsen' is a public bath which has freshly flowing water from underground springs. The water is not modified or treated (it is not a 'hot tub' as you'd know in America). There are strict rules for thorough washing off prior to soaking in the onsen as well as conduct while in the onsen. It was very intimidating the first few times we used them but once we learned the ropes it became an indispensable part of all of our bike trips. Soaking after a long day on the bike - often with the option for a cold tub - before heading off to dinner is an excellent way to soothe achy muscles.

Dogo Onsen, one of the oldest hot springs in Japan, is located in Matsuyama, Ehime on Shikoku (the smallest of the four main islands in Japan). References to it exist back to the 500s (as in the year 500). The public bath house in one of Justin's favorite movies "Spirited Away" is based on Dogo Onsen. As we were passing through the area, it was a must-see. As it turns out, the main bath house had been closed for renovations and so we used the Annex bath house instead. Immediately upon entering, there were a lot more factors to consider than the average onsen we'd ever visited (we've been to dozens). Usually there is a place for shoes and a 'vending machine' for towel rental if it is a community (non-hotel) onsen. If you pay for admission, almost always there is free soap and shampoo inside. We put our shoes in the lockers outside and purchased tickets for shampoo, conditioner, and a towel and received them at the desk before entering the female and male bathing areas. I had entirely peeled off all of my sweaty bike clothing and placed all my belongings in a locker when I realized I could not lock the locker without a 10 yen coin. Usually belongings are left in baskets. I grabbed my wallet and had no 10-yen coin. 2 5-yen coins, a 100-yen coin, a 500-yen coin and even a 50-yen coin. In the USA I wouldn't leave my belongings unattended. In Japan, although no one would steal anything, the lack of security of your belongings would make THEM uncomfortable for you. In a place where I am so much the outsider it is especially important to me to follow all of their rules with respect…

I am usually hungry and tired when we finish riding. This day was no different - I wanted to bathe and eat asap. I am almost always the only foreigner in an onsen and by the looks of it, the clientele at this particular onsen (very elderly people, locals all chatting with each other) didn't see foreigners very often. I could feel many eyes discretely noticing me. One lady in particular had been staring at me as I got undressed and I was beginning to get really irritated and in my fatigue and shorter temper may have even let that be visible in my face/body language. Japanese people don't realize the country is closed to foreign travelers often and they don't assume we live there. During COVID we got a few cold shoulders due to this. So I assumed…

The realization that I’d have to get dressed again in my bike clothes to go ask for change was enough to make me let out a sigh and hang my head. This is when the lady who had been staring at me walked up to me (both of us completely naked). She was maybe not even 5 feet tall, and had the biggest, warmest, sweetest old Japanese lady smile on her face as she extended a wrinkly arm to offer me a ten yen coin. I gasped out loud - caught in the middle of my poor judgment of her staring and completely touched at the same time. My eyes even watered a bit - she had been watching me, likely knowing I might need help and just waiting for a chance. If this isn't the truth, with Japanese people it SEEMS like the truth and I love that about them more than I can say. I tried to give her my two five-yen coins and she absolutely wouldn't take it. Again, another Japanese person who found complete delight in the smallest opportunity to offer help to someone. This is Japan. And I absolutely love it. Helping me seemed to make her day and she'll never know she's in a blog, but she made my YEAR.

Justin and I outside the who-knows-how-old main building of Dogo Onsen. Sadly it was closed for renovations. We bathed at the Annex.

Day 58 - Dormy Inn Hack!

As Justin's contract was due to end at the end of June (2021) we were doing our cycle tour while Justin was job hunting and interviewing in the evenings. He was concerned about the challenge of toting interview attire in our bike panniers and the fact that he didn't have his beard clippers with him (heavy and impractical to bring). Pressed to be dressy he could have likely bought a white button-down shirt at a convenience mart (yes they often sell them… it's amazing). He made it work in the end, however. While at the Dormy Inn in Matsuyama the room was so tiny and there were no other private and quiet places available and so I needed to leave the room for 1-1.5 hours for one of his interviews.

Looking for amusement, I wondered up to the onsen for a bath. Dormy Inn is an amazing budget hotel chain with great, tiny rooms and actual onsen in every hotel (usually on the rooftop). I cannot kill hours in the onsen unlike most Japanese people. This particular Dormy Inn had massage chairs in a separate room. I have as a rule ignored all of the massage chairs I have ever seen in Japan until this night. Adjacent to the massage chairs was also a vending machine with beer and highballs (they sell whisky highballs in cans in Japan) which I had also ignored assuming they'd be overly sugary or watery. This time I got a Suntory 9% Highball for something like 250 yen (slightly less than $2.50 USD). I got a cup and some ice from the free drink happy hour room next door and parked in the massage chair. Fifteen minutes for again something like $2. It took a bit of squinting and scanning with Google translate, but once I had the settings figured out… DANG. Four years wasted missing out on the massage chairs at every ryokan. Four years missing out on the AMAZING canned highballs. I was KICKING myself. I was on my second highball when Justin texted he was done with his interview.

Day 60 - Irritating Dinner Experience

Bad experiences were so incredibly few and far between the whole time we were in Japan. The level of care they take is 99% of the time enough to make any bad situation better, or at least make you feel better even if the original problem can’t be fixed. I have a handful of things I try not to eat (foods I am sensitive to) and I always called the hotel and/or added the 3-4 things in the notes on the reservation. This hotel said they cannot alter the meal but would let me know which items contained my sensitive foods. I was more than happy with that - I understand larger hotels cannot afford to go to the trouble. It all sounded good on paper. Fast forward to dinner - each course came out slowly. We were pretty dang hungry after a long day riding and it was hard to wait. Something like seven courses came out. What I didn’t anticipate was the amount of foods I would not be able to eat - compared to the USA, it is almost always easy to avoid gluten, egg, and milk in Japan, but for some reason most of the food at this hotel contained these things. The waitress would put a warm plate of food in front of each of us and then point at nearly everything she served me leaving almost nothing to eat but leaving the dish of food right in front of me. I’d push it across to Justin and sit there. A few courses came and went and by the fifth or sixth I was getting angry. The final straw was that she served me the bowl of ice cream for dessert and pointed at it saying I couldn’t eat it. I was tired and it just felt ridiculous and cruel. I poured my tea on my ice cream and left dinner in tears to eat protein bars back in the hotel room. I completely appreciate how it is sometimes cultural that they adhere unflinchingly to set protocol and Japanese people don’t make requests. I have heard stories about school children being forced to eat things with gluten at school when they are celiac, it is just expected you fall in line. I know that and yet it was still just awful. The next morning at check out the hotel staff attempted to give us some giant and heavy bag of food and fruit as an apology. The first and only time we’ve refused any gift in Japan.

I was smiling because I thought I’d be eating dinner soon… or at least part of a dinner.

Day 61 - 64 - Returning to Yufuin, Aso Kuju National Park, and Yamamizuki Ryokan Again After Four Years

We had planned rough ideas of the route we wanted to ride ahead of actually riding there. As the ride unfolded, we had new ideas and route changes due to weather, and as we rode through Shikoku, towards Kyushu there were 3 main options for ferries. Almost exactly four years prior (May 2017) we had taken the Shinkansen from Nagoya to Fukuoka and a train to Yufuin Station to start our very first ever bike tour (and also our first bike tour in Japan - link to the original blog post is here - “A Vending Machine and a Volcano - Tour de Kyushu”). We did not make the point of going through Beppu and, as that is a top destination in Kyushu, this time we routed ourselves there. We'd stay one night in a hotel there and continue on, stopping at Yufuin Station again, retracing much of our ride through Aso Kuju National Park. Being newbies to bike touring 4 years prior we didn't allot enough time and were rushing to beat sunset and arrive at our first ever ryokan stay. Also the weather wasn't very clear. Four years later it was clear blue skies and we planned for ample time to take photos, meander and reminisce, savor the sweeping views of the park. We’d have a leisurely lunch and arrive plenty early to have tea and bean paste in the room, an unrushed onsen soak, and head to dinner relaxed. Four years ago we were completely uninitiated to the ways of the country and still felt as if we were walking on the moon. This time, however we were seasoned expats in Japan and 100% comfortable. I love new things but there is something very special about knowing what to expect and enjoying the anticipation all along the way.

In 2017 we had to call to delay our dinner time at the ryokan having absolutely no idea how special the dinner would be. This time, we arrived with hours to spare. We were greeted by the hotel staff outside. We asked them to take our picture with our bikes in front of the entryway with the beautiful "Yamamizuki" lantern. We parked our bikes and 'slippered up' to check in to the room. We were escorted through the softly lit hallways to our room and were served delicious green tea with red bean jelly. It was exactly the same as we remembered it. Our room looked out onto a bubbling creek maybe ten feet away. We had a private onsen in our room as well. This time, we planned to stay several days and just kick our feet up and enjoy the open air onsen and the delicious breakfasts and dinners.

From our room, Justin would have a follow up interview with Heart Aerospace and review the offer over coffee the morning we would leave. Staying here in 2017 and again in 2021 felt like a very meaningful stitching-together of being new to Japan and what might be next after Japan. On our way out of the ryokan we'd stop at the same road side grilled corn on the cob stand we were so surprised to find in 2017. The owner walked out as we rode up and waved with a huge smile. We'd check into the polar opposite type of lodging the next night - a tired, old, business hotel in a teeny town. Despite the front desk clerk being grumpy and nearly 80 and almost deaf, when I asked him if it were okay to lock the bikes out under the awning, he so warmly insisted we bring them inside the hotel and wheeled his wheelchair with some difficulty out from the micro-sized front desk area to motion where we should park them. This is Japan and we love it. The next morning we'd eat in a tired old second floor breakfast area with big windows overlooking a tree-lined street. The old lady would call our room to remind us about breakfast about 15 minutes before our allotted time (LOL!). Served in decades-old plastic wear bleached by many years of dishwashing was the most humble and tasty breakfast we would never expect. More of Japan and we love it.

Day 66 - Riding Along Ogawa River

It’s funny the things which end up sticking in your memory on trips and in life in general. At this point in the ride, we'd ridden nearly the entire the length of the country already. And of all of those miles (nearly 2000 at this point), the memory of this day is visceral. Most of the rivers in Japan I'd seen had been reinforced structurally - I'd guess this is to withstand the amount of runoff during and after typhoons without washing away the surrounding lands—buildings and homes are usually built directly to their edge. If the river hadn't been reinforced we were likely riding at a distance and elevation away from its waters. The previous days and week the weather had been fine, not particularly amazing but not bad. And on this day, the sun and the breeze were that divine and dreamy combination that hints barely of summer without causing sweat. The kind that makes you want to close your eyes and let the sun warm your face. The road we'd routed to ride along ran next to the river. This river was 'au naturel' and had no concrete reinforcements. It was so wide and lazy and slow, sparkling in the sun. The road was just about as even with the water level as it could be without being under water and it was mesmerizing. Riding in and out of tree cover, warm and cool on your skin from the shade and out into the sun again. It reminded me of the rivers in Missouri. It felt so weird how much we could have easily been riding in Missouri for the scenery and yet we were worlds away in southern, rural Japan. I wish we could have done better to capture the image in a photograph but I am sure you know the feeling.

Day 66 - April 30, 2021 - Instead of heading west to Kumamoto City as we did in 2017, we’d follow the Ogawa River from Takachiho Town to Hyuga on the eastern coast of Kyushu. It was a beautiful, sparkling and lazy river winding all the way out to the sea.

Day 69 - Craziest Road Closure of Part 3

After this much riding, we'd experienced just about every kind of road closure you can have. And very often there is no marking or way to know in advance without checking each municipality’s website in Japanese. A monumental task and something we really only spend the effort to do for the expected closures like seasonal ones in the mountains. We've come to mudslides (depends on how bad they are), earthquake damage where you can no longer even guess where the road used to go (the only time we've actually had to turn around), the crazy accordion gates for road work which are really tough to get around, giant piles of logs, flooded roads, seasonal mountain road closures, road closures/bike trail closures due to increasing brown bear sightings (actually this is also enough to turn us around). However, at the end of this ride, we were introduced to a new one. All of a sudden we rounded a bend and were face to face with a road closure barrier. Many cars were driving along the road and also stopped - there was no signage in advance to warn anyone. One pair of drivers approached us to help us figure out what to do in English and their recommendation was to ride maaaany miles around. We waited for them to leave and rushed around the barrier before the next car came to see us going around the barrier. In hindsight we have fortunately reached a very high percentage of these closures on weekends or holidays when there is no workers to turn us around. Not terribly far down we came across a huge pile of rocks. We were feeling smug and took photos when we made it around fairly easily. There was a brand new tunnel being built and we passed it heading along our intended route only to come to the most ridiculous and massive pile of collapsed trees and brush. We did ride up to it to see if we could bush whack either through, around or somehow over. No telling what wild boars or snakes or animals were inside even if we could climb through. It has been about the length of time in our marriage where I have become a little bit too dissatisfied with myself with the amount I notice myself deferring to Justin on decisions. I suggested we try riding through the tunnel. Justin said no way. I pushed back with what is the worst that can happen and that we should at least try. We turned on our small lights and trepidatiously rolled into complete blackness. 886.1 meters long, the tunnel plaque indicated it had been completed only in March of 2021 - just 2 months earlier. Likely holding our breath the entire way, we realized the tunnel was 99% complete - maybe pending some inspections or installation of lights/electrical. We saw the light at the end of the tunnel - literally. And it was also at this point that we saw a pair of headlights. Uh oh. We whispered back and forth - do we turn around and retreat? Will they chase us or be waiting for us at the other side? Will they fine us? We had to try our luck and keep going at this point. We saw a hand waving from the car to stop us. We pulled up probably looking exceedingly ashamed and guilty just waiting to be scolded. The most unexpected thing -- and it made us feel worse than anything else could have -- was just how incredibly kind and nice the guy was. He was just telling us that it was dangerous and to please be safe in the softest and nicest possible way. As if we couldn't be more endeared to the country than we already were. Out the other side we continued on our way along a beautiful palm-tree lined road. He could have totally grilled us and no one would blame him. He stands in stark contrast to people all over exercising authority for authority's sake. One of the most shocking and inspiring things in my whole life was the kindness and the genuine concern of this man. It reminded me of the exponential increase in the power of kindness in situations where you could most justify otherwise (reminds me of my Dale Carnegie class 10+ years prior).

(0:29 long) Day 69 - Craziest Road Closure of Part 3. Not much prompts me to video myself but this did.

Day 69 - And just like that we were on our way having christened the new tunnel! I wonder if we were the first?

Day 70 - 75 - One Last Challenge and a Wonderful Ending to Our Epic Length of Japan Tour

Towards the final few days of the ride, we were ready to be done and to be back in our house with our belongings eating food made at home. We were still having fun and I was done with riding in any rain or wind or traffic and perhaps the predominant feeling for me of enthusiasm towards the beginning of the ride had been replaced with one of mostly tolerance. We broke 100,000 ft of elevation and met with one of the most insane road closures of the trip (see Day 69 story above). We reached our destination – an old hotel in a wild horse park with freely roaming and grazing ponies. How could this be anything other than awesome?

Cape Toi in Kushima, Miyazaki - the wild horses are so tame you can pretty much walk right up to them… The hub on my bike sounds like a loud hornet and the pony was unphased.

The very next day (day 70 of 75) we had the most bizarre and unpleasant experience of the entire nearly 5 years in Japan occur. People laugh when we tell it (and you should!) but the experience of it wasn’t funny. It was exhausting at a time when we wanted to direct our energy at savoring the last miles as much as possible and most importantly it is completely at odds with the picture we have of Japanese people and their hospitality…

We checked in to a mediocre hotel and showered and were served a mediocre dinner and were totally happy with that, expecting no more in a random place off the beaten path. We were one of only two couples staying in another quite large hotel. Had that been it we would have been on our way, snapping photos with the ponies the next morning as we exited the park. Just after midnight, I awoke from a deep sleep snuggled in my futon and duvet in near complete darkness to Justin sitting up and speaking… I sleep in earplugs and he goes to great lengths to not wake me up because I am such a bad sleeper and so I had no idea what he was saying or why he was talking so loudly… Then I realized he wasn’t talking to me… I was jarred into conscious alertness when I followed his gaze, barely visible in the darkness, towards the window of our room where I realized in horror someone was standing in our curtains after coming in through the sliding door/balcony. I remember blurting out over and over “What the F***!!” He was yelling for them to get out of the room. Even more unbelievable – the dark shape of a person walked towards us. Our futons were taking up the full width of the tatami room and were side by side, lengthwise with maybe 6 inches between us. They walked onto our blankets and between us as we sat upright completely panicked in our beds. I am still shouting “What the F***!!” over and over frozen in complete horror as the shape heads towards the door and goes into the hallway. After a few minutes I jump up and walk into the hallway upon hearing the intruder walking around and making noise – it is some middle aged woman in one of the hotel’s yukata who doesn’t look quite ‘all there.’ The shape of her hair matched the hair we could see in the darkness and otherwise there is no one else awake or in the hotel. Hearing more noises maybe an hour later in the bath and in the room down the hall, I poked my head out to see a single set of slippers a few doors down. She was a guest at the hotel?! We laid awake all night after that level of adrenaline… In the morning before breakfast I walked to let the front desk know what happened. No one was at the front desk, so I turned the corner where I heard voices and peered under the curtains in the kitchen doorway. The woman who broke in to our room was standing in the kitchen talking to the owner. Now I am really lost. She works here? I returned to the room and we got ready and went to our breakfast time upstairs. The owner brought out our breakfast and I shared with him a Google translate of what had occurred last night and indicating that I saw the same woman in the kitchen this morning. His response was that he didn’t know and when pressed he said she is working seasonally at the hotel and did not have her key to come into the hotel last night. He said it must have been scary and no apology or anything. The worst thing for me was that he took no responsibility. Do not ask me why we didn’t insist on a complete refund or a discount. We ate the smallest and worst breakfast we’d had to date in Japan, gathered our belongings and Justin settled the bill as I stood outside in disgust. He billed us the full price of the room at 17,000 JPY and we left. The residue of the fear from the intrusion and the accompanying weight – both from the emotional exhaustion and from not sleeping at all the rest of the night hung so heavy on us for the entire ride the next day. We rode through heavy rain just to get away from that place and on to our next destination.

Day 70 - the site of the crime. I was about to put quotations around the word crime and then I realized it was actually a crime… A low point in our time in Japan, for sure.

(0:22 long) Day 70 - Cape Toi Wild Horse Park. I am so tired from not sleeping the previous night you’ll actually hear me groan in the video !

Arriving at 1 pm as a couple of drenched zombies, hoping against all hopes they’d somehow let us check in early (check in is 3 pm and more often than not, there is no bending the rules on this one in Japan), we leaned our bikes under an awning and entered the lobby apologizing for the unavoidable puddles we left behind us as we walked. Amazingly we were able to check in. I had to dry my fingertip so the automated touch screen would work to check us in. Once in the room I stripped my soggy clothes off my cold body, wrapped in a robe and collapsed in a fog onto the bed, half awake, half asleep. I was saddest of all because I thought this experience would overshadow the completion of our huge trip. We were one day’s ride from the end of our entire Length of Japan Tour (the southern most point of Japan)…

We showered and did everything we could to get our wits back about us. The hotel we’d checked into was the coolest blend of funky old school Japan – think the shiny, thin orange tile “brick” outside from the 70s – and minimalist chic décor inside from a total gut/remodel. Polished concrete and pristine white bedding. Vintage/modern brown glass tea cups on a sleek walnut tray. One of the coolest places we’d stayed and completely unexpected in a small town on one of the least populated islands of Japan. We used our free drink tickets to get some Yamazaki at the attached bar to toast to crossing the 2,000 mile mark – an achievement completely lost in the yuck of the experience of the night prior, but celebrate we would. (See Kotobuki Hotel, Kanoya, Kagoshima)

(0:40) Day 70 - Kotobuki Hotel Room #319 Tour

The next morning we trudged down at our breakfast time and were not prepared to be blown away by one of the best spreads of many small dishes – the same artistic combination of Japanese and Western as the rooms played out in breakfast foods. One of the three best breakfasts we’d had the whole trip. We enjoyed relaxing that day – it was a rest day – and kicking around the hotel and town. There was an extremely friendly woman (Haluka-san) working who spoke surprisingly good English with whom we enjoyed chatting a bit.

Kotobuki Hotel in Kanoya, Miyazaki Japan served one of our three favorite breakfasts of the whole trip. The other two were in Shosanbetsu Onsen Hotel in Hokkaido and Uguisi Restaurant (breakfast included while staying at the Daiwa Roynet Business Hotel in Aomori City).

The morning of our departure for our final push to the southernmost point, we gathered our stuff up and headed down to breakfast. The first words out of Haluka-san’s mouth when she greeted us were an unwittingly (or was it?) powerful declaration: “Today is a BEAUTIFUL day.” I must have been more exhausted and a little heartbroken than I realized over the struggles at the previous hotel because immediately my eyes watered. Haluka-san was being spoken through and I felt that. My hopes were lifted for the day and I knew our epic journey (and our nearly 5 years in Japan) would end on a higher note than that of a few days ago.

After breakfast Haluka-san gave us a tour of the rooftop balcony and showed us the inside of one of their suites – huge with a private bath tub, private patio overlooking the small town, huge windows and sky lights. It was then that we knew we’d complete our ride today and celebrate by returning to stay in one of their rooftop suites the following night before riding the medium distance to the ferry terminal which would take us overnight back to Osaka. We’d had no final plans on how we’d return to Nagoya until this day – whether we’d have our bikes shipped and fly or ride to a key Shinkansen station and carry our bikes… The rest of the trip fell in to place just like that.

As we’d been loading our bikes I was a little miffed at the construction dust covering everything from the nearby construction site. Returning inside to settle the bill – Haluka-san asked if our bikes had dust from the volcano eruption that had happened the day before on our bikes. That’s a first! The nearby volcano erupted and the air quality was terrible. We rode in the masks we were carrying around for COVID in an attempt to not inhale the volcanic dust.

We rode around 35 miles to the hotel closest to the southernmost point of Japan and checked in, dropping our heavy panniers. We would ride the 3 or so miles to the landmark with naked bikes except for some water/celebratory snacks. Riding this last little bit felt so surreal. I was so ready to be done but I was not looking forward to having finished. Nearly 5 years ago we had arrived in Japan. Nearly 1 year before we reached out to set in motion the creation of our new bikes. Nearly 6 months we began the journey and were sidelined for just over 4 months due to my injury. Although we had restarted the second half of the journey only 31 days prior, our physical arrival to the southern most point was truly the culmination of all of these various pieces.

We reached the parking lot of the Sata Misaki park. We were about to ride to the end of the path to the southern most point, when we noticed a sign which said bicycles were forbidden. I ran into the gift shop and asked if we might carry our bikes because it was important that we photograph with them as we had just come from the northern most point to the southern most point of Japan. A nice man nodded and smiled only to have his stickler of a coworker frown and shake her head at me. We have been through so much and it saddened me to not take our bikes to the very end with us and felt incomplete. We relented only because it felt wrong to disrespect the rules of a place we loved so much intentionally in one of our biggest and final celebrations. We put on our regular walking shoes and strolled to the view points and around the various trails taking photos. We celebrated with a mame daifuku (mochi with red bean paste filling) while gazing over the East China Sea from Sata Misaki. We returned to the parking lot area and brought our bikes up next to the sign and the deck overlooking the sea just slightly further north and took more photos. We rode back to the hotel to clean up and bought a bottle of sake they had on hand to toast the occasion in our yukatas as we looked out over the water.

Day 72 - Thursday, May 6, 2021 at about 3:30 pm, arriving at Sata Misaki, Kagoshima, Japan we completed our Length of Japan Tour. It officially began on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 2 pm at the northernmost point - Soya Misaki in Hokkaido. November 21 - April 2, 2021 we’d have an ‘intermission’ for the healing of my broken pubic bone due to a crash in Fukui.

The following day we rode back in the rain to the Kotobuki Hotel to stay in the rooftop suite for a couple nights. We had a 32.1 mile ride just east to the Sunflower Ferry terminal the next day. We had been able to avoid closed and crowded areas the entire trip so far and as a celebration but also for safety we treated ourselves to a private room with a balcony. We arrived with a few hours to kill at the ferry terminal prior to check in. When it came time to start boarding we eagerly got our bikes ready and stood undercover from the rain anxiously waiting to get on, clean up and enjoy our suite. The order of boarding the ferry was all transport trucks first. Then all passenger vehicles. Then every single, last motorcycle. Then the three cyclists. That took about 1.5 hours. I was waiting impatiently behind the motorcycles trying not to choke on the fumes when I saw a Japanese couple approach and speak to Justin who refused to wait in the rain. He waved me over a couple times before I realized it was Haluka-san and her husband!! They had driven the 30 minutes on her day off to wish us a safe journey back to Nagoya and to give us a gift bag with coffee beans from her favorite local coffee place and a couple of the greek yogurts made at the cheese shop next door to the hotel which was served at breakfast! They stayed and chatted with us for the 30 or so minutes until we rode off to board the ferry. We were absolutely delighted and completely surprised.

(0:10 long) Day 73 - Rainy ride from Sata Misaki back to the Kotobuki Hotel in Kanoya.

(0:59 long) Day 73 - Kotobuki Hotel, Kanoya, Kagoshima Suite Room #601 Tour

Haluka-san from the Kotobuki Hotel and her husband drove 30 min to surprise us and say goodbye at the ferry. We were so happy to see them and completely surprised! The best people! I hope one day they visit us in the US or Europe.

Once on the ferry we found our room, I sprinted to use the bath aboard the ferry (because that chance may never happen again!) so that we’d have some daylight left to sip some sake over dinner and take in the view from our private balcony after the ship was under way. I failed to recognize in advance how cool it would be to have our own private balcony off of a ferry! It felt more like a miniature cruise than any ferry I’d ever been on. The next day we’d pull in to Osaka’s port, again have the last priority to deboard after absolutely all the trucks and vehicles (~1 hour), we’d load our panniers one last time and ride about an hour to a rental car place which had a Toyota Hiace waiting for us. We’d drive only 1.5 hours to our house, drop off the stuff, and Justin would return the Hiace to the local rental car branch, grab some Micky D’s for dinner and subway back 2 stops and we were home sweet home just that easy from our most epic adventure to date.

(0:47 long) Day 74 - Boarding the Sunflower Kirishima Ferry by bicycle to ride from Shibushi, Kagoshima to Osaka. Arigatou to Haluka-san for this video <3

(0:30 long) Days 74 - 75 - Sunflower Kirishima Ferry Suite #8003 Tour