| Day |
Location |
Dist. |
Total |
Sleep |
Leg Map |
| 56 |
Tokyo |
45 |
2151 |
Hostel |
Map |
Sat. 06/20. FINISHED! See final panoramic for closing statement.
(I didn't know how difficult it was going to be, but it took me 4 hours to find a hostel that would take me!) |
| 55 |
Tamagawa River |
64 |
2106 |
Camp Free |
Map |
Fri. 06/19. I visited Enoshima in the morning. It was alright but not really worth it if you don't have much time to spend. I had a few hours so I walked around slowly. I didn't bother visiting the main temple because I was too lazy and tired of temples.
Then I headed north. Someone on JC forum routed an entire path to the Imperial Palace going up along a river and then east to go along the Tama River, but I spent too much time on Enoshima and decided to skip all the river riding and head instead on R246 which was more direct and would save me 25km, but it was just concrete and high rises and a really hilly ride, just going up down up down up down up down up down up down up down up down up down up down. I reached the Tamagawa River crossing where I had planned to camp. I picked out a spot that I liked but there was a strange man shuffling back and forth in the grass making an indentation in the ground and mumbling to himself. I waited until he left before setting up camp. When I got into my tent I heard loud music behind me and that was when I noticed that I had setup my tent only 3 meters from a homeless guy's campsite which was hidden from my view by dense bush. I put up with the noise because I was a guest here. |
| 54 |
West of Enoshiima |
102 |
2042 |
Camp Free |
Map |
| Thurs. 06/18. Downhill! Well, after an hour of a hard climb. But the rest of the way down for 50km was downhill from the 5th lake. It rained a little bit in the morning. In the afternoon too. Again with the dead ends! I kept riding along the bike path along a river, but then it just suddenly dead ended 2km into a little island out in the river and I had to backtrack. Most of the Pacific Ocean was just highway, but starting west of Enoshima was a whole lot of beach and fenced off wildlife regrowth areas. I camped in one of those tonight because the campsite I was hoping to reach was shut when I got there. |
| 53 |
Fuji Kawaguchiko |
0 |
|
Hostel |
|
| Wed. 06/17. I finally finished working on my photos today! and just uploaded them in the evening. I felt a fever today. Hope I'm fine for the ride tomorrow. |
| 52 |
Fuji Kawaguchiko |
0 |
|
Hostel |
|
| Tues. 06/16. Another photo working day. Today it rained like crazy with thunder. I started feeling sick today. Must have been the sick girl in my room the previous day who was coughing everywhere at everything. |
| 51 |
Fuji Kawaguchiko |
0 |
|
Hostel |
|
| Mon. 06/15. I worked on photos the entire day. |
| 50 |
Fuji Kawaguchiko |
0 |
|
Hostel |
|
| Sun. 06/14. I worked on my resume and portfolio today it's now updated after not being touched for 9 months. |
| 49 |
Fuji Kawaguchiko |
0 |
|
Hostel |
|
| Sat. 06/13. I had to decide if I wanted to stay longer or head down to Tokyo which would take 3 days to reach. The weather forecast said it would rain on me on the way to Tokyo, but I wanted my last 3 day of cycling to be perfect weather, so I decided to wait it out. Today was a day to do absolutely nothing, although I did take a long detailed look at the rest of the route. |
| 48 |
Mt. Fuji |
32 |
1940 |
Hostel |
Map |
Fri. 06/12. This morning I was very nervous about the climb because of the death stories I was told. It was very cloudy. I headed to the bus station on my bike early at 9am and successfully bought 2 tickets, one for my bike, after presenting a little note that the Fuji Center wrote for me about the 50% deal for the bike. I waited for the bus which came at 9:50. I was able to take my bike on the bus and put it in the isle. The bus got to the 5th station at 10:40 at an elevation of 2300m up from 850m at the start of the Fuji-Subaru Line toll road. The summit and the ground below was not visible at all through the thick clouds.
I got off and left my bike near the bus stop and started off on the trail. The French couple went ahead as I stopped to satisfy my hunger. I eventually caught up with them. We climbed up to the 7th station where the path was covered in snow. They went up while I diverted to the tractor trail which was mostly dry but was very wet and icey at some places. The sky started clearing and eventually got super blue. I eventually met back with the French at the below the 8th station where the tractor trail ended, and had to climb through some snow. We got to the 1st hut after the 8th station about about 3070m in about 3 hours, where it got very steep and the snow was a foot deep. The French put on crampons on their boots and I tried following in their footprints but it was too dangerous so I turned back while they went ahead. I sat for a while to eat my lunch and take photos, then headed back down at 2:30pm. I took my time to take in the view and reached the 5th station bus stop at about 5pm, when most of the tourist buses had already gone, making the trip downhill a lot safer. I took more photos and then got on my bike for the long trip down.
It took me 55 minutes of almost nonstop downhill to get to the start of the road which is 28km long. I rarely had to brake exept around turns because the wind resistance kept me at a terminal velocity of about 40-45km/h, with a max speed of 56km/h. My average speed overall was 38km/h. I was yawning at times! Just wondering when it would end. I got back to the hostel at 6:30. It was a good day. |
| 47 |
Fuji Kawaguchiko |
0 |
|
Hostel |
|
| Thurs. 06/11. The sky was perfectly clear for most of the day today. I went across the lake to sit and watch the view and take photos. Then I headed over to the cableway to find the start of the climbing trail next to it. I went up the trail but the view at the top wasn't as great as it was at Panorama-dai, although Fuji was a lot bigger from there. I talked to a French couple in my room who had climbing gear and had done a 14 day snow hike through Nepal. They wanted to go to the summit but since it's off-season the bus started late and ended early, but they didn't want to pay for an expensive taxi. They said they would climb to the top and either camp overnight at the 5th station on the way down, or walk the rest of the way down from the 5th station bus stop. I told them I would go with them until it got too difficult. |
| 46 |
Fuji Kawaguchiko |
25 |
1908 |
Hostel |
Map |
Wed. 06/10. I didn't have food, so I rode a little along Saiko and then Kawaguchiko, and stopped at a fancy hostel for a 1575yen buffet breakfast. It was pretty good! I tried to stuff myself as much as possible to get my money's worth. I continued along the lake and sat on the shore at noon to just relax with a cloudy view of Mt. Fuji. Then I crossed the bridge into Fuji-Kawaguchiko city and headed to the tourist information center for information about climbing Fuji. I tried asking the bus station if I could bring my bike on the bus to the 5th station but they didn't understand what I was talking about, so I went over to the Fuji Tourist Center where I asked about the summit. A rep implied that I would die and told me the story about how 5 spanish climbers came to her last winter for info and only 4 came back because one fell 1000m to his death. She said I could just go up to the 6th station where the snow starts and then come back. I also asked her if she could call the bus station to ask again if I could take my bike. She called and someone told her I could take it if I paid 50% of the 1500yen one way ticket, so another 750yen for the bike.
I then went to a hostel to check in. |
| 45 |
Saiko |
34 |
1883 |
Camp Free |
Map |
Tues. 06/09. This morning was cloudy and cold. I saw another waterfall but this one was really small compared to the one yesterday, but I thought it was nicer and more peaceful. The road was just as steep as yesterday and eventually merged with R139. At around noon I eventually arrived at the first of the 5 Fuji lakes at an elevation of 900m. Here, the ground varies between 800 and 900m but was a lot easier than having to constantly go uphill. Whenever it went up, I would sweat a lot and have to take off layers of clothing, but then when I went downhill the wind was cold and I had to put everything back on. I wasted a lot of time changing clothes.
At the first lake, I caught my first hazy glimps of Mt. Fuji through the clouds, and decided to go up a trail to a peak called Panorama-Dai next to Mt. Eboshi. After a 1.25 hour hike I was rewarded with a temporary 20 min parting of the clouds to get a nice 180 degree view of the valley below with 2 lakes clearly to the sides and a 3rd in the distance, with Mt. Fuji towering in front. The clouds came back in force so I went back down. It was too late in the day to ride long this lake, and I also skipped the 2nd lake. I headed to the 3rd, but before that I stopped at a lava cave that was disappointing and a waste of 280yen. I got to the beginning of lake Saiko at 6pm and was very hungry. I didn't have any food and there were no supermarkets or convenience stores in this area. There was a small resaurant/hotel at the north point of the lake that was shut for the day, but the lady opened the kitchen again just to cook me a dinner. Afterwards I went across the street to a small rest stop with a pergola where I camped for the night. I had a short glance of Mt. Fuji again until the fog(clouds?) descended and covered everything. It was strange walking through this misty haze. |
| 44 |
Near Tanukiko |
66 |
1849 |
Camp Pay |
Map |
Mon. 06/08. North of the cape was all highway and big trucks, not pretty at all. The Japanese always make their sidewalks confusing by making you cross to the other side of the road several times in a few km, and sometimes takes you somewhere where it dead-ends. This was the case this morning when the sidewalk I was on veered away from the road and dead ended in some parking lot. I was still moving slowly and tried to do a U-turn but I slipped on some fine gravel that looked exactly like pavement and fell on my left palm and leg. It hurt for 10 minutes and I just stood there waiting for the pain to go away. There was some scrapes so I washed the dirt off with water and wipped off with disinfecting wipe. This was the 3rd time in a roll that I injured my hands. I wondered what I would do next to them. It was painful gripping the handle bar but there was no alternative.
I continued and eventually found the road that diverted from the coast and started heading north around Mt. Fuji. I stopped at a rest stop that supposedly had a view of Mt. Fuji, but it was covered in thick clouds. The road went through Fujinomiya and then started getting steep. I took a small road 414 instead of busy R139. I had to walk my bike several times when it got too difficult for me. I stopped to see a waterfall along 414. I rode into the dark and tried to find a campsite that was listed on my map in the pitch black. It started getting cold and drizzly. I eventually found the site I was looking for, but the gate was locked and I was afraid that I would have to camp in the ditch at the side of the road. I stood there for a while feeling disappointed then I heard someone cough loudly so I decided to walk around the gate to see if I could find someone, and saw the site manager who let me in for 1000yen. He let me set my tent up under a roofed area and i took a coin shower. |
| 43 |
Shimizu |
88 |
1783 |
Camp Free |
Map |
Sun. 06/07. In the morning I stopped at a toilet to lubricate my chain again, and afterwards took out my garbage bag to put the used rag in, but I stupidly didn't put a sharp tuna lid into its can, and cut my right index finger pretty painfully. This was the second time in a roll that I injured my hands. Today was a really sunny day, and because it was a sunday, there was another 1000 surfers out in the ocean. I also saw some paragliders, windsurfers, and model airplane flyers. It was really crowded in the south, but near Yaizu there was an area completely empty of human activity where only bicycles or motorcycles could go. I only saw a few people, and 3 surfers who modified their bicycles/scooters to carry their boards, which is a nice idea.
Someone on the JC forum warned me to not take R1 or R150 through the tunnel north of Yaizu, but I saw a little road next to the tunnel that I thought went to the steep coastal road that I was told to use, that I thought I could go to after checking out the tunnel for myself. I saw another cycler along the way who was coming back from the tunnel and told me the same thing, bicycles not allowed. So I headed to that little road I saw on the map, but after wasting effort going uphill on it, it turned out to be a dead-end to a fancy hotel on the hill. I had to ride all the way back down and around. The coastal pass was really narrow with lots of traffic but I got through it. I rode all the way until 7:30 to get to the northernmost tip of the little cape at Shizuoka/Shimizu, and setup my tent back from the beach where people were fishing into the night. An annoying family was setting off fireworks while I was trying to sleep. |
| 42 |
Omaezaki |
68 |
1695 |
Hostel |
Map |
Sat. 06/06. More riding along the Pacific Ocean Cycling Road through on/off light rain. most of the path was behind the dike and I couldn't see the ocean so I stared riding on top of the dike which was dirt/plants/gravel and very slow but at least I could see the ocean. A whole lot of surfers were out trying to catch the stormy waves. I must have seen at least 800 surfers today, and they all bring their giant vans and SUVs. Surfers are idiots at parking. They like to block every possible path, making you have to get off and walk/squeeze/scrape through or find another way around. It stopped raining at about noon, and I found an outdoor shower next to a beach that I used to wash off the sand from my bike, and relubricated again. Soon it got super sunny and hot. I rode the rest of the way to Cape Omaezaki in search for a campsite. I stopped at the marine park and tried going through a very dangerous children's slide (the Japanese like to make really dangerous playgrounds for kids) and I jammed my left ring finger against the side of the slide, which made my left hand cramp a lot the next few days.
I couldn't find any suitable campsite except for an expensive 2500yen site, so decided to go to the also expensive JY Hostel for 4000, but at least I get to shower. I was the only guest for the night! Had the whole building to myself and the staff family. |
| 41 |
South of Iwata |
50 |
1627 |
Camp Free |
Map |
| Fri. 06/05. It just kept raining today and didn't stop at all except for a hour at night. I rode into Hamamatsu and asked for things to see at the tourist info. They told me that the McDonald's and Tulley's Coffee had free wifi but it turned out to be pay, and wasted an hour looking for them. I headed to the JSDF Airbase museum up north, free! There were some cool planes you could sit in and a flight simulator, but most of the displays was just propaganda. I was sad to have to ride in the pouring rain again. I rode south to the sand dunes but didn't really spend too much time there. I found the Pacific Ocean Cycling road and rode across the big river in search of the campsite I saw on my map. It was really windy and difficult going against it. Also the water and sand wasn't good for my chain/gears. At one point it got so bad that the chain was starting to jump, so I relubricated it twice while in the rain. The coast was pretty void of people and was separated from human habitation by a thick forest. I found the site in the dark, but you had to pay for it, and I found a park next to it where I camped. There was sento right nextdoor so I took a much needed shower. I setup my tent under a pergola and used some tie string to tie down my points instead of normally using my stakes. It stopped raining for an hour or 2 but picked up again when I went to sleep. |
| 40 |
Kazanji |
83 |
1577 |
Camp Free |
Map |
Thurs. 06/04. I headed to Hamamatsu. This stretch of highway 1 wasn't pretty, just urban sprawl and cars/trucks. Just as I was getting tired of it, the road went into a tunnel that I couldn't get into. Instead I went up and around the hill and caught a glimps of the giant Pacific ocean. I road downhill in anticipation of finally getting back to the coast, and spent a lot of time just pausing along the beach. At Bentenjima there was a cheap 200yen bath but I wanted to wait for later because I didn't want to wash away expensive sunscreen while it was still sunny. I decided to head north to Kazanji, which is west of Hamamatsu, and had an onsen on the map. When I got there though, the doorman took one look at my bike shorts and said "We do not accept!" and rejected my request for a bath. Angry, I went looking for a suitable camping spot, which I found behind a public toilet along the lake. I also found a cold outdoor shower next to a beach and washed my limbs and hair.
After dinner at a Circle K, I went back to my campsite for the night. It started raining as I slept. |
| 39 |
Okazaki |
62 |
1494 |
Camp Free |
Map |
| Wed. 06/03. I left at 730am to get to the Toyota factory tour 38km away in Toyota City. I was afraid that I was going to be late. I got there at 10:40 and the website said it started at 10:30 but it turned out that there was a 30 minute buffer time before the actual start. I took the tour with a group of other visitors to a plant that made the Prius, Camry, Scion tC and another. It was pretty impressive. The bus took us back to the museum and I had a look around for a few hours. There were some interesting displays. At 4 I started heading south. I skipped the Toyota Art Museum because I didn't have time. I got to a city called Okazaki at 6pm and decided to camp along a river. |
| 38 |
Nagoya |
0 |
|
Couch |
|
| Tues. 06/02. I was going to go down to the industrial port to have a look, but I was tired today and decided to stay inside to look up my route. I didn't really get much done. Did my laundry though. |
| 37 |
Nagoya |
38 |
1432 |
Couch |
|
| Mon. 06/01. I rode to the city from the north, about 45 minutes, and hung around in the center. I saw a really nice building called the Spiral Tower, which is home to 3 schools, 3D graphics, fashion, and medical. I also took a free elevator up the Midland building but it cost money to get into the observatory so instead I went across the street to the JR station where there is a huge atrium on the 15th floor with a good view. I went back later in the evening to see the sunset. There was a strange couple, the lady in a wheelchair, and they were groaping each other for an hour. |
| 36 |
Nagoya |
18 |
1394 |
Couch |
Map |
| Sun. 05/31. Rode to Kita Nagoya to meet couchsurfer. It rained heavily the entire morning and my shoes were soaked. This time I wore plastic bags around my feet before putting them in shoes, which kept my feet dry. For some reasons the insides of my raincoat arms were wet. Not sure if it's sweat or vapor flowing the wrong way through the fabric. I had the wrong number though, so I walked around the station looking for free wireless connection for my laptop. Checked my email and was sent the correct number, and found my couchsurfer host. Rain stopped but I stayed inside to work on photos and website. Have so many photos to work on and only halfway done today! |
| 35 |
Kiso R Sansen Park |
42 |
1376 |
Toilet |
Map |
Sat. 05/30. Started riding to Gifu which was just across the river, but I was curious about how to adjust my gears because the chain kept scraping the derailers, so I took out my manuals and spent 2 hours learning about the adjustment screws. The scraping is reduced, but now the chain rubs adjacent sprockets on the back sometimes in low gear. Rode around the city. Decided not to go up to the castle. Found a nice looking convention center that had a cube and an egg shaped rooms.
Returned to Kiso Sansen Park to camp in toilet. I think I'm going to have to make it a habit to camp in toilets! Disabled ones are made so nicely in Japan. It's just that they always use motion sensors to activate the lights so you can't sleep. The first toilet I slept in had a high ceiling so i couldn't stick tape on it, so i used spit balls and threw them up at the sensor but I kept missing so I used my air pump to get it up there. Yesterday, the ceiling was low enough so I climbed on the disabled arm next to the toilet and stuck some of the duct tape i had patching my bag onto the sensor. But there was an annoying mosquito. Used half my mosquito spray to get it to stop biting me for the night, and found and killed it in the morning. |
| 34 |
Kiso R Sansen Park |
55 |
1334 |
Toilet |
Map |
Fri. 05/29. Today was a really sunny day. Decided to skip Gifu for tomorrow, and head straight to Inuyama Castle. Along the way I saw the a strange looking tower, so I headed over and it turned out to be a sort of obervation tower in a park called Kiso Sansen Park (I think that's how it's spelled). Went up for a view.
Then rode along a nice bike path along the Kiso River to the castle (not shown on Google Map). I paid to get in, but as I was going to take off my shoes, I stepped onto a wooden platform and the attendents yelled "NO NO NO!" at me because they wanted me to take my shoes off on the dirt and stones before stepping onto the platform, which seemed a little stupid. They should have had a mat out on the ground. They spoiled my otherwise peaceful day. Didn't enjoy the castle because of them, although it is one of the few remaining original castles. I went to a sento to shower, and then headed back to the park to find a place to camp. I wanted to try to pitch my tent under a pergola, but found a nice diabled toilet to sleep in. |
| 33 |
Hashima |
53 |
1279 |
Hostel |
Map |
Thurs. 05/28. It rained in the morning. I was eating at a convenience store and another cycler rode up to me and it turned out that he had the same stock bike that I had, except he changed his tires to ones with more grip and had a handlebar bag. He was carrying a little more weight than me. He gave me a can of gas in exchange for a banana but I ended up not using it at all. He was riding from Kanagawa to Okinawa and had taken 10 days to get to where we met. He said he only used his tent one time because he was staying in hotels. 30 minutes later I met another cycler. This guy only had a tiny 10L bag with him and was going 200km a day and sleeping in hotels.
I rode to a town called Anpachi where there is the Sanyo Solar Ark, southwest of Gifu. I thought it was supposed to be a solar plant, but it turned out to be a "musuem", more like a propoganda piece to promote their type of solar panel product line. Although it does produce a good amount of power, 690kW at the peak (only 9 on this rainy day). The sides were only around 15 degree tilt which is not at all optimal to collect sun light. But it was a cool shape. The museum was actually only a little space wedged in the lower cavity of the giant structure.
I had my 3rd flat tire. I actually discovered it before arriving at the Ark, but pumped more air so I wouldn't arrive too late. I patched it when I came out of the Ark.
During a pause in the rain, I decided to check into a hostel I saw on Hostelworld in Hashima which was just across the river. It was really cheap! For only 2400yen I got a single room with new furniture, and a hot steamy public bath in the basement. It rained more at night as I went to the supermarket, but all the bentos were sold out! Got rained on for nothing. Went to the convenience store instead and got a big bento. |
| 32 |
Hikone |
48 |
1226 |
Couch |
Map |
| Wed. 05/27. Saw the tiny Hikone Castle, which is one of the remaining few original castles in Japan. Maybe a little tired of looking at castles. Then I rode north to Nagahama just to ride a little bit more on the lake, and to see the Springtecture B house that I saw in the Phaidon Wolrd Atlas of Contemporary Architecture. Took me a while to find, but I found it. It was actually a really nice little house. Rode back to Hikone. Really dark clouds again, but didn't rain. |
| 31 |
Hikone |
88 |
1178 |
Couch |
Map |
| Tues. 05/26. Rode through R367 and Ohara but the temple there was also over 500 yen so I didn't go in. I went over the longer of the 2 bridges crossing over Lake Biwako. As I went across, I heard a strange sound coming from the cars passing me by and I noticed a huge musical note painted at the end of one of the lanes. Looking closer I saw that someone had installed grits in the concrete spaced apart so that the car tires would play musical notes of a melody as the car drove across the bridge. Also saw a giant rusty ferris wheel and a giant crab before crossing the bridge. The lake was a pretty nice ride. Met couchsurfing host. |
| 30 |
Kyoto |
0 |
|
Hostel |
|
| Mon. 05/25. Went to Arashimaya area on bike, but all the temples charged fees so I didn't enter any of them. Instead I spent my time hiking up the hill behind the "Bamboo Forest" and got a really nice view near the top where there was a clearing. |
| 29 |
Kyoto |
0 |
|
Hostel |
|
| Sun. 05/24. Very cloudy. Started late on my bike, visited the Fushimiinari hill with lots of gates. Cloudy again. Don't remember if it rained. |
| 28 |
Kyoto |
0 |
|
Hostel |
|
| Sat. 05/23. I took my bike and rode around the Higashiyama area. Some shrines/temples were free. I really liked the graveyards on the hillside. In Asia many graves are on hills that houses cannot be built on, which results in nice views of the city below. Very cloudly at the end of the day although it didn't rain. I thought not to record the distance I ride in cities, but now I think I should have after the fact since I've recorded it for Nagoya. |
| 27 |
Kyoto |
0 |
|
Hostel |
|
| Fri. 05/22. It rained most of the day so I stayed inside and worked on my website. It took me an entire day to code the vertical scrolling, fix the full screen mode, and add a download link. |
| 26 |
Kyoto |
56 |
1090 |
Hostel |
Map |
Thurs. 05/21. In the morning I visited all the touristy sites in Nara including the most popular, Todaiji, the largest wooden structure in the world, which I paid for. The other temples I didn't enter because of entrance fees. I met two other cyclers outside one of the temples. One was Japanese and was at 4000km and wanted to do 10000km by zigzaging around the entire country. The other guy was Korean and was going from Sapporo to Okinawa and was at 2000km and probably will do 4000km. I seem to be the only one doing less than 2000km! The Japanese guy was carrying about the same amount of weight I was, but the Korean guy surprisingly only had 2 bags mounted directly on top of the back rack and looked really light.
We had lunch together and then I saw a few more things, like a "reconstructed" traditional house that looked amazingly nice to live in. At 3pm I started riding to Kyoto. I didn't think I would be able to make it all the way before dark, but I took a cycling road and was able to sustain an average speed above 20km/h. I was supposed to ride to Arashimaya west of Kyoto but I somehow took a branching river and ended up in central Kyoto. (Google maps doesn't show the cycling road, R24 is for reference only).
It was going to rain so I decided to check into a hostel. I tried K House but it was full, so I went to J hoppers, which was also full. I decided to camp a day and comeback tomorrow but the lady at the reception offered me a backup private room for the same dorm price after I rejected a higher price so I took it, but had to move into a dorm the next day. |
| 25 |
Nara |
57 |
1034 |
Camp Free |
Map |
| Wed. 05/20. I rode along route 25 to Nara. Along the way I passed through Ikaruga which has many culturally important temples/shrines but they all had over 500 yen entrance fees, prohibitively expensive for me so I just stood outside them but couldn't see much. I stopped in the Heijokyo-Ato ruins, the first capital of Japan. It was a huge open site converted into a park and I camped in an alcove formed by a reconstructed concrete foundation of an inner gate. |
| 24 |
Osaka |
0 |
|
Homestay |
|
| Tues. 05/19. I went to a bicycle shop to have my gears looked at because I kept feeling friction. The shop said there was nothing wrong, so I bought a 2-in-1 cleaner/lubricant spray to clean/lubricate, but I didn't know you were only supposed to lubricate the gears only, and I sprayed everything excessively including the gears, although I did clean off the black gunk from the other shop in Imabari. Today I also proposed to the homestay couple an idea I had on how to fix their sliding paper doors that their kids liked to poke holes through. I told them they could print images onto replacement square paper to patch individual squares in the door instead of replacing the entire sheet of paper. They wanted to replace the paper only after the kids were older but I thought that printing images would make it more valuable and maybe the kids wouldn't break it anymore (doubtfully), so I converted two of their favorite photos of their kids into vector images and printed them out, which the wife liked a lot. I told her I could print out a 4 square panoramic of Osaka from Umeda Sky and she liked the vectorized black ink drawings of Osaka, so I printed that out too. |
| 23 |
Osaka |
0 |
|
Homestay |
|
| Mon. 05/18. I went to several sights, including Osaka Castle, Osaka History Museum, WTC Observatory, and Umeda Sky Tower Floating Garden. Today was a really nice day and I took nice cityscape photos. I passed by a nice looking building with a facade made completely of glass blocks and sunshade and went inside to see what it was, but it turned out to just be another 10 story shopping mall and most of the glass was fake. Only about 5% of it could be looked through, the rest was just to cover up concrete walls. It was disappointing to see all that glass wasted. It seems that Japanese consumerism pushes excessive spending and extravagance through their elaborately expensive malls. See below for ferris wheel on mall. |
| 22 |
Osaka |
0 |
|
Homestay |
|
| Sun. 05/17. I bought a 2-day tourist pass. Rained parts of the day so I didn't have sunlight to take nice photos. Decided to skip most of the sights and wait for tomorrow. Saw the maritime museum, which has a full scale seaworthy replica of a Japanese junk ship inside a giant glass dome building, and walked a little around the shopping districts. I saw a 10 story shopping mall that had a ferris wheel on the roof. What extravagance. |
| 21 |
Osaka |
0 |
|
Homestay |
|
| Sat. 05/16. Stayed inside the whole day and worked on updating my website. It rained a little. |
| 20 |
Osaka |
78 |
977 |
Homestay |
Map |
| Fri. 05/15. I started halfway between Akashi and Kobe, but I had a very long way to go to get to the homestay in the suburbs of Osaka. I arrived in central Kobe at around 8am. I visited the "harborland" area and then tried to get to the "foreigners village" where there were some old western homes for foreign traders a couple hundred years old, but I didn't see any and wasn't too interested incontinuing riding uphill. at 2pm I rode towards the Kobe City Art Museum which I was told was designed by Tado-Ando which could be correct. It was a huge concrete structure with 3 towers encased in glass. I wanted to go inside but I didn't really have much time left to get myself to Osaka and I didn't feel like paying 600-400yen for a ticket, so instead at 3pm I rode in the direction of Osaka. I took route 43 but it is really bad for bicycles because it has a ground and elevated section. When crossing train tracks or rivers I had to often divert to a different bridge to cross over or push my bike up and down narrow, steep ramps to get over, which ate up a lot of time. I arrived in central Osaka at 7pm, but I had planned to be at the homestay at 7 too. Traffic was really slow and difficult to navigate. Osaka is not bicycle friendly because of all the sidewalk barriers preventing anyone crossing the street and instead making people go over on padestrian crossings, which were very steep and difficult to get my loaded bike on top. I eventually got to the homestay at 9pm. |
| 19 |
Akashi |
68 |
899 |
Park |
Map |
Thurs. 05/14. I woke up at 5am and left the toliet at 7am. I saw someone with a bicycle who looked homeless parked outside the toilet drinking tea. I hope I didn't steal his home for the night. I rode to the castle and went to meet the other cycler. He was sitting in his tent while surounded by lots of old people doing exercises to music which was a strange scenario but they didn't seem bothered by the presence of his tent. He turned out to be a 57 year old Japanese man who spent an entire year riding around Japan slowly, visiting many of the southern islands. He was from near Yokohama and was on his last leg of his long journey. I went away to eat breakfast and setup my stove near the admissions office but some old ladies tried to tell me that fire wasn't allowed and reported me to a security guard who came over to tell me to shut it off. I moved to behind a toilet building and ate my noodles there.
At 9am I went to the castle and the other cycler was there too. We both went and got a free english guide with some Canadians and took a 3 hour tour. The genuine, giant castle was really nice to see and worth the time but we finished really late at 12pm and I was worried about how much distance I could cover. We both rode towards Akashi but he rode slowly so I went ahead first. I arrived at Akashi around 5:15pm and the castle there was closed although there wasn't much to see, only 2 watchtowers that looked like replicas only. I was also worried about finding a campsite as this was also a very urbanized area. I rode past the long Akashi-kaikyo bridge while the sun went down. I rode through many of the parks along the coast but many of them had barriers to block motorcycles which prevented me getting through with my bicycle. At one park I was able to enter but couldn't get out the other side. I tried lifting my bike over the barrier but I'm not sure if I damaged my gears which rubbed against the barriers. Nothing seemed wrong though except the annoying crunching problem with my gears when pedaling. Eventually at 9pm I found a secluded park with a dark spot to camp, although it was very near the train line and I could hear trains the entire night. |
| 18 |
Himeji |
54 |
831 |
Toilet |
Map |
Wed. 05/13. I decided to try to get up to the "skyline road" that follows the highest ridge of the island at 600-800 meters. The easiest route would be from Tonosho but also the longest. I was at Ikeda where there was a ropeway nearby. I rode/pushed my bike up about 250-300m and then bought 2x700 yen tickets to take my bicycle on the ropeway to the top. I had the entire cabin to my bike and myself! From there I had a very windy downhill 800m descent to Fukuda where I took the 1:15pm ferry to Himeji for a very expensive 1900 yen. From the ferry I saw an entire island strip mined. One side was a village for the workers and the other side was completely being demoilshed by big machines and stone was being loaded onto ships. I arrived at 3pm but it took me 2 hours to get to and find the information center at the central station. I was told the castle admissions closed at 5pm and I got there at 5:05pm and was very disappointed. I had planned to see the castle today so I could ride partway to Akashi to a free campsite to save time. I had to change my plans completely and decided to stay the night near the castle so I could see it tomrrow when it opened at 9am. I went to a public bath to shower first and then had trouble finding a place to camp.
I eventually found a very nice public toilet at a small park east of the castle grounds. I decided to ride around the castle to see what it was like at night. Inside the castle grounds I saw another cycler who had setup his tent under a pergola, but he had a 2 pole tent that didn't need to be staked. He was already asleep inside so I didn't talk to him. I considered setting up my tent here too but I have a 1 pole tent that needs to stake into soft ground and all the grass areas were too visible, and I was worried about police. I went back to the public toilet and slept inside the large handicap compartment. When I was in Darwin, Australia there was a backpacker who used to sneak in and sleep in the toilets in my hostel. I thought it was very wrong because he could probably easily get a job and pay for a bed. I felt a little bad about sleeping in a public toilet in Himeji, but maybe my situation was different. I had a sudden change of plans and had nowhere else to stay in the very urbanized area, and the free campsite was an hour away from the castle. I kept waking up between 12am and 5am when people would constantly use the toilets next door at odd hours of the night. I was afraid that maybe cleaners or police would come and kick me out but nothing happened. |
| 17 |
Shodoshima |
60 |
777 |
Playground |
Map |
| Tues. 05/12. Started late at 10:30am. Went to Kotohira to visit temple complex. Rode to Takamatsu, wanted to visit garden and castle ruins but arrived at 6pm and everything closes at 5pm. I took a 7:30pm ferry to Shodoshima Island (about 1000 yen) but cheated; I went to Ikeda instead of Tonosho which saved me about 10km of riding in the dark. I also chose Ikeda because there is a campsite near there, but the man tried to charge me 825 yen so I ended up going to a secluded children's playground. It rained the whole night after I went into my tent. It was difficult to sleep with the noise from the rain striking my tent. |
| 16 |
Kanonji |
0 |
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Couch |
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| Mon. 05/11. Today went to the beach with the girls. Saw the sand coin. |
| 15 |
Kanonji |
50 |
717 |
Couch |
Map |
| Sun. 05/10. Had my 2nd flat tire, this time in the back. Patched it. Today was the hottest day. Getting very very tan. Gears were very smooth with the added oil. Had trouble with a big hill on Route 13. Pushed my bike up the hill for 2/3rd of the climb. Arrived at couch surf in Kanonji. Today I also noticed that the gears or chain was not completely rotating smoothly. When pedaling slowly it would be a little "crunchy" or bumpy. When pedaling fast I wouldn't notice it. Not sure if it's sign of damage. |
| 14 |
Niihara |
90 |
667 |
Camp Free |
Map |
| Sat. 05/09. Crossed all 7 bridges in the morning. After 7th bridge, stopped at the Sunrise bike center and a man put a lot of oil on the gears and chain and squeaking stopped. I had ridden 200km with unlubricated gears. Wonder how much damage I did. Took a bath in a public sento. Continued and camped at marine park in Nihara. Camp office closed too so didn't pay again. |
| 13 |
4th island |
95 |
577 |
Camp Free |
Map |
| Fri. 05/08. Rode to Onomichi. Had my first flat tire in the front, patched it. Started crossing network of 7 bridges that goes to Imabari, Shikoku. After crossing 1st bridge scarily (no cycling lane, just really fast trucks) I noticed a cycling information board showing a ferry crossing instead. Crossed 4 bridges and camped next to the bridge. Camp office was closed so I didn't pay. Squeaking in gears was worse today. |
| 12 |
Takehara |
74 |
482 |
Parking Lot |
Map |
| Thurs. 05/07. Rode through Kure, Yamato battleship museum was closed. First rain day. It rained and rained and rained some more. Everything stayed dry except for my shoes, which were wet for 2 days. Gears started squeaking all today after the rain last night. Had trouble finding a good camp site, ended up stopping in a parking lot. The rain stopped long enough for me to cook dinner and setup tent, then it rained more when I went to sleep. Lost one of my watch springs. |
| 11 |
Hiroshima |
0 |
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Hostel |
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| Wed. 05/06. Just rode my bike around a litlte in the city, visited a really nice park up on a hill where the Museum of Contemporary Art is located. There are some really nice views up there, especially at a strange little military grave site overlooking the entire south side of Hiroshima. There are a whole lot of cats everywhere. They shed a lot of hair. Today was just a lazy day, but the weather was really nice. |
| 10 |
Hiroshima |
0 |
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Hostel |
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| Tues. 05/05. Visited Hiroshima Castle, A-Bomb site, A-Bomb Victims Memorial. |
| 9 |
Hiroshima |
37 km |
408 km |
Hostel |
Map |
| Mon. 05/04. Went back to the main shrine, Itsukushima. Climbed Mt. Misen to summit at 535m. Took a diverting path near top to visit Miyamajinja Shrine with spectacular views. A must do. Climbed down and crossed over to mainland on ferry. Continued to Hiroshima and passed through the Flower Festival at the Peace Memorial. Passed by the A-Bomb site. Checked into hostel. Noticed a big tear in front right pannier, patched it with borrowed duct tape. |
| 8 |
Miyajima Island |
38 km |
371 km |
Camp Pay |
Map |
| Sun. 05/03. Rode to Iwakuni Air Base where Americans stationed, to look for jets after roommate recommended jet spotting. Saw roommate at the end of the runway and waited an hour for jets but only saw some landing in the far end. Continued to Miyajima. Roads at standstill with cars trying to reach parking and ferry across to Miyajima. Had an easy ride on the road going past hundreds of stalled cars. Got on the ferry and crossed over to the island. Miyajima super crowded with Golden Week tourists. Visited a few temples/shrines but decided to skip the main one for the next morning. Rode to campsite on the northeastern side. |
| 7 |
Iwakuni |
0 |
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Hostel |
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| Sat. 05/02. Overcrowded area with Golden Week tourists. Spent the day climbing mountain to see Iwakuni Castle, a replication. Climbed back down and visited historic Kintaikyo Bridge. Very nice place to visit. |
| 6 |
Iwakuni |
62 km |
333 km |
Hostel |
Map |
| Fri. 05/01. Almost got run over by big truck while trying to climb narrow road uphill. Took a break to catch my nerves. Arrived in Iwakuni but took a hill road that changed direction since map's publication and ended up on the other side of the valley. Rode extra 10 km to get back to main historic area. Checked into JYHA hostel and did laundry for the first time and showered. |
| 5 |
Hikari |
61 km |
271 km |
Camp Free |
Map |
| Thurs. 04/30. In the morning visited Tenmangu Shrine in Hofu before continuing. Purchased thermal underwear along the way. Hikari is on the map's 100 top beaches to visit in Japan. Arrived at 5pm and went to a public bath for 500 yen to shower and sit in hot bath. Went to the beach to setup camp. |
| 4 |
Hofu |
68 km |
210 km |
Camp Free |
Map |
| Wed. 04/29. Woke up at 5am. Continued along coast through Shunan and stopped early at Hofu. Last leg of the route I followed a very nice bicycle path through the countryside instead of Route 2. Had time to checkout possible camp sites and use internet. Decided to camp on riverbank. Very very cold night. |
| 3 |
Onoda |
69 km |
142 km |
Camp Free |
Map |
| Tues. 04/28. Purchased a generic foam mat to replace heavy air mattress and pump. Rode through Wakamatsu and up to Mojiko. Posed at Kamon Bridge before crossing from Kyushu to Honshu Islands through underground padestrian bridge. After crossing, continued and stopped at Sanyo Onoda at a closed campsite but camped anyway. |
| 2 |
Yahatanishiku |
8 km |
73 km |
Couch |
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| Mon. 04/27. Spent the day using internet in the cafe to replan my coastal route. In the evening rode a short distance to a couch at Yuji's. |
| 1 |
Ashiya |
65km |
65km |
Cafe |
Map |
| Sun. 04/26. Left Ruth's couch from Fukuoka. Very cold day. Tiny hill gave me lots of difficulty. Decided to abandon "Japan Cycling" route in favor of a beginner course of flat coastal roads. Discovered unbalance problems and unstability at high speed. Decide to reload bags and get rid of weight along the way. Wasn't able to reach Kitakyushu as planned, stopped in a cafe and the kind owner, Kendo let me sleep the night. |
| 0 |
Fukuoka |
0 |
0 |
Couch |
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