Planning

It was time to embark on an epic bicycle ride across Japan.  I had done day trips outside Tokyo, and wondered what existed beyond the concrete and steel structures that seemed to continue on forever. Callum, my buddy from work, and I, decided to spend two weeks biking from Tokyo to Fukuoka.  The trip would be roughly 1200 KM over 13 days, with a day of rest in Osaka to heal our bodies from the ride. I did some research on different routes we could take, considering this one but ultimately deciding it was too long.  I stumbled across this website,created for Korean riders by a fine fellow and fellow bicycling enthusiast named Sora.  More on him later. Critical about this route was the GPX file that Sora made available, allowing Callum to load the GPS coordinates onto his handlebar mounted navigation unit, allowing us to follow the course and gauge elevation changes.  Conveniently, the track was very simple.  For the first 540km,  the course follows national highway 1.  For the next 540km, it follows national highway 2.  For the next 85km, it’s national highway 3.  Some things make a lot of sense in Japan.  Some make no sense at all.  This is a case of the former.PreparationCallum and I spent a day ensuring that all of our ducks were in a row before setting off on this journey.  We photocopied dozens of pages from a road atlas, as well as lonely planet for each of the cities we planned on visiting.  The course was to be as follows:Tokyo->Hakone -> Shizuoka ->Hammamatsu ->Nagoya->Kameyama->Osaka->Naruto->Okayama->Hiroshima->Tokuyama->Shizuoka->Fukuoka A GPX file is available here of all the stops. We packed as light as possible and brought only necessities.  Energy bars and dextrose goo for the first days, cycling shorts and jersey, pants and shirt for going out at night, camping towels, first aide kit, toiletries, extra innertubes, bicycle pump, combination lock, sunscreen, flip-flops, business cards, cash, sportsdrink mix, iphones and iphone chargers, ipod nano and shuffle, Garmin GPS navigation unit, a notepad, pen, Japanese phrasebook, AsiaWheeling stickers for the hell of it, rain poncho, and lights for the bicycle. We reviewed the course and inventoried our materials over breakfast at Dennys, and prepared to meet at Johnathan’s Restaurant in Gotanda the next morning at 6AM.  The meal marked the first of many high-calorie breakfasts at western Chain restaurants across Japan.  

 DAY ONE

Callum and I both love coffee, so we had a few cups and then took this photo in Gotanda before cycling to Yokohama.

 It was early enough that we were both reverse commuting AND beating whatever traffic there was, which made for a splendid ride ending at the Yokohama train station Starbucks for another espresso.   I wanted to see Toyo Ito’s tower of winds, which is pictured right below in back of me.  At night, it lights up based on the heat and sound caused by the Yokohama subway.

Next, we began the long wheel to Hakone.  We continued past Yokohama in the kind of indescribable mental state one enters when riding a bicycle over long distances.  I began to contemplate and consider Japan in the global socio-culutral-economic context.  I couldn’t help but try to wrap my mind around all the signs, people, vehicles, industries, and business I was riding past.  We took a break at a McDonalds and, famished, indulged in a cinnamon roll.

Breaking Down the Pins and Get Hot Communication While we were eating the cinnamon roll, we saw one of the many signs that caused us to giggle along the way:

We motored on and descended to Enoshima beach, where we took another break, ate some energy bars, and chatted with the locals.

Here we are at the beach

Callum practicing his Japanese.

 We would have been lost without the GPS.

 We continued on, passing town after town.

And we stopped at a delicious Italian style bakery and pasta restaurant for lunch.

Local beer was to be an important consumption habit on this journey.  This brew was both dark and sparkling.

She served us a fresh and delicious caesar salad with reggiano cheese.  Look at her tie!

Mushroom and bacon pizza.

Caramel banana pie and two more espressos!

From there, we continued on to the base of Hakone.  Hakone is a tourist hot-spot and 900 meter high mountain pass 100km from Tokyo.  We were hoping to make it up the mountain the first day, but Callum and I decided to take it easy and assault the summit in the morning.  Plus, there was an excellent Ryokan (Traditional Japanese Inn) and Onsen (Natural Hotspring) at the base of the mountains.We decided to stay in the Ryokan, and this was our view:

 Inside our room:

We let our devices feast on power:

And visited Tenzan onsen.  Below is a photo of the post-bath relaxation room.

Then, we had a drink at the Fujiya Hotel because it had elevators that belonged in a James Bond movie, and visited a garishly decorated yakisoba joint pictured below.  The proprietor looked like Carlos Santana.

Then, we visited a convenience store to drink water, stock up on energy bars, and gawk at large plastic bottles of Japanese Sake.  Then we passed out early in our bedding.