This blog is about travelling through Japan on a bicycle. Initially on a foldable bicycle (Brompton) and more recently mostly by road bike (Spezialized)... but also by train, ferry, plane, bus or any other transport, if sea, weather, mountains or the like come between me and my desire to ride.
I have tried to summarise information that could be potentially helpful also for other bicycle travellers through Japan, such as list of bicycle roads, helpful web pages etc.

Monday 17 July 2017

Night Pedal Cruising - To Skytree

This week Saturday was again the 3rd in the month and this meant again a ride with the friends from the Night Pedal Cruising.

We got started at 18:00 at United Nations University at Aoyama as always and rode all the way through Tokyo (Roppongi, Shiba Koen, Ginza, Asakusa) to the Skytree. To take a foto (which didn't turn out to be very good ;-)


But the ride itself was a lot of fun. Quite long (Shibuya to Skytree and obviously back again, so that finally I only got back at 2:30 am. But we had a nice dinner in a Chinese restaurant close to Asakusa, then some drinks in a bicycle bar close by (and a bit of Tour de France on the TV), before stopping on the way back in Shinbashi at an old school yard and then at the McDonalds in Roppongi for a last cool drink (and more importantly air conditioned stop) before separating and heading home. 

Although we rode through the night, it was really hot and the air condition highly appreciated.




This time unfortunately no map of the ride, as my Garmin did somehow run out of battery. No idea why, because it was at 100% when I left home, it recorded well the ride until Shibuya, but once I had stopped it there to record the actual ride, I was no longer able to switch it on again.

At home giving it some new electricity, it returned back to the living world. Maybe it was busy trying to search for a Wifi, Bluetooth and/or satellite? Now I have turned off all these features, but that was a bit disappointing.

However the ride was very nice.

Next month we have Firefly ride on the 19h of August and the Mid-Night Pedal Cruising on the 26th.

San'yo - possible routes

Ferry Excursion to Inushima ⇒ 2 days, 50 km
  • Access: 
    • With Shinkansen to Okayama Station
  • Day 1: Okayama to Hoden Port and on to the ferry ⇒ 1 day, 25 km
    • See Garmin OKA Okayama - HodenPort
      • flat with 1 hill of 50 m just before arriving to the port
    • Ferry  from Hoden port to Inushima
    • Attractions
    • Accommodation:
      • Inushima (there seem to be 3 possibilities)
  • Day 2: Return to Okayama ⇒ 1 day, 25 km
    • See Garmin OKA Okayama - HodenPort
      • flat with 1 hill of 50 m just before arriving to the port
    • Ferry from Inushima to Hoden port
    • Attractions:
      • Garden in Okayama, one of the 3 best in Japan
      • Reconstructed castle
    • Accommodation:
      • Okayama

Okayama, Kibi Plain and Kurashiki ⇒ 1 day, 40 or 58 km

Before Shimanami Kaido,  Fukuyama - Tomonoura - Onomichi  ⇒ 1 day,  43 km (or less)
  • Access
    • Shinkansen Fukuyama
  • See Garmin HIR Fukuyama - Tomonoura - Onomichi
    • essentially flat, except one steep 100 m hill right after Tomonoura
  • Attractions:
  • Accommodation:
    • Onomichi
    • Mukoujima
  • Access:
    • Either by bike on to Onomichi and from there on the Shimanami Kaido
    • Or with a ferry either to Onomichi or directly to Mukoujima, first island on the Shimanami Kaido
      • From Tomonoura to Onomichi (weekend only, expensive, 2 boots per day)
      • From Tsuneishi to Utaura (4 per day)
      • From Tosaki to Utaura (daily, apparently many)

Onomichi to Takehara  ⇒ 1 day,  38 km 

Miyajima and Iwakuni ⇒ 2 days,  35 km 
  • Access: 
    • Onomichi - Miyajima Guchi Station: 2h (1 transfer)
    • Shin-Onomichi - Miyajima Guchi Station: 1:20 h (1 transfer)
  • Day 1: Miyajima ⇒ 1 day,  0 km 
    • Arrival by train and ferry
    • Attractions:
      • Miyajima (UNESCO World Heritage) island with tori in the sea
      • Festivals 23/Oct, 3/Nov, 8/Nov, 15/Nov, 18 - 26/Nov, 23/Nov
    • Accommodation:
      • Ideally on Miyajima or back on land
  • Day 2: Miyajima to Iwakuni (Shinkansen Station) ⇒ 1 day,  35 km 
    • See Garmin HIR Miyajima - Iwakuni
      • some slight up and down, max 25 m
      • potentially the traffic along the coast could be quite heavy
    • Attractions:
    • Accommodation
      • Iwakuni or next destination
  • Access
    • Shin-Iwakuni to Kitakyushu (Kokura): 1:10 h, direct Shinkansen

Yamaguchi

Saturday 15 July 2017

Yamagata - possible routes

Yamadera and the valley around Tendo ⇒ 2 days, 65 km (or less)
  • Access:
    • Ichinoseki to Yamadera: 2 h, 1 change
  • Day 1: Yamadera & hotel ⇒  1 day, 18 km (but a lot of stair climbing)
  • See Garmin YGA Yamadera - Tendo - Yamagata
  • Attractions
  • Accommodation
    • In Yamadera apparently only one Ryokan
    • Hotels in Tendo
  • Day 2: Tendo to Yamagata ⇒  1 day, 47 km (or 25 km)
  • See Garmin YGA Yamadera - Tendo - Yamagata
    • This includes an excursion up into a valley, one can also just go straight to Yamagata
  • Attractions:
    • Valley ?
  • Accommodation
    • Yamagata or Niigata or Aizu-Wakamatsu
  • See here for a link to the actual ride in Yamagata 

  • Link to other courses
  • Access:
    • Yamadera to Niigata: 4:30 - 6 h either 3 train changes or to Sendai and by bus to Niigata
    • Yamagata to Niigata: 3:40 h, either direct bus or train 1 or 2 changes
    • Yamagata to Aizu-Wakamatsu: 2:50 h, 1 change of train


Monday 10 July 2017

San'in - possible routes

A long tour along the entire San'in coast from Miyazu to Hagi ⇒ 7-10 days, ~ 300 km (+ train)
  • Access:
    • From Kyoto: Direct express train from Kyoto station to Miyazu (1:45 h)
    • From Fukui: Fastest through Kyoto (3:40 h), one change. There are other options with more changes / more time including options along the San'in coast.
  • See Garmin  SAN Tottori - Hagi overview
    • max 200 m elevation, but some up and down
    • Along the entire coast there are train lines that can "fast forward" you to the next place to visit. The trains are slow and often local trains. 
  • Day 1: Amanohashidate beach & Ine ⇒ 1 day,  50 km, round course
  • Day 2: Miyazu through Kinosakionsen to Tottori  by train ⇒ 1 day,  0 km
    • Train: 
      • Miyazu - Kinosakionsen: 1:45 h - 2 h, at least one change of trains
      • Kinosakionsen - Tottori: 2 h, direct or one change
    • Attractions
    • Accommodation:
      • Tottori
  • Day 3 - 5/6 : Tottori to Izumo Taisha ⇒ 3 - 4 days,  190 km
  • Day 7 - 10: Izumo to Hagi, with possible stops in Iwami Ginzan and Tsuwano ⇒ 2 - 3 days, 60  km or 0 km (by train/bus)
    • By bike quite some up and down ... 
    • ... so probably better by train
      • By train one can also pass through Tsuwano 
      • Izumooshi - Hagi, 3 - 5 h, 1 change
      • Izumooshi - Tsuwano, 2:20 h, direct train
      • Tsuwano - Hagi
      • From Odashi Station, there is also a bus up to Iwami Ginzan
    • Attractions
      • Iwami Ginzan, silver mines (UNESCO World Heritage)
      • Tsuwano (nice town in the mountains)
      • Hagi (UNESCO World Heritage)
        • Old Town
        • Temples
        • Shrines
    • Accommodations
      • Odashi
      • Tsuwano
      • Hagi
  • Access
    • Hagi to Fukuoka, 2 h, bus & shinkansen
    • Hagi to Shin-Iwakuni, 2:30 h, bus & shinkansen
    • Hagi to Hiroshima, 2:40 h, bus & shinkansen

Sunday 9 July 2017

Shikoku - possible routes

Shimanami Bridge ⇒ 2 days, ~ 100 km

Shimanami Bridge onwards to Matsuyama ⇒ 1 day, 44 km

Tobishima Kaido ⇒ This is an alternative how to continue on from the Shimanami Kaido, back to Honshu



Matsuyama by train to Iyo Nakayama and then by bike on to Ozu and by train down to Uwa-cho and Uwajima ⇒ 1 day, 30 km (+ train)
  • Access:
    • Train from Matsuyama until Iyo Nakayama, 30 min
  • See Garmin SKO Iyo Nakayama - Ozu
    • Gradually descending from 200 m to 0 m
  • Attractions:
  • Accommodation
    • Ozu or directly on by train to Uwajima
  • Access
    • Train from Iyo Ozu to Uno Machi, 30 min
    • Train from Iyo Ozu to Uwajima, 45 min
    • Train from Uno Machi to Uwajima, 20 min

Shimanto Gawa ⇒ 2 days, 106 km
  • Access: Train to Iejigawa
    • Matsuyama - Iejigawa 3:20 h, 1 change of trains
    • Iyo Ozu - Iejigawa 2:45 h, 1 change of trains
    • Uwajima - Iejigawa 2 h, direct
  • See Garmin SKO Shimanto Gawa
    • Descending from 200 m to 0 m
    • Close to Nakamura there are also bits and pieces of cycle road
  • Attractions
    • Shimanto Gawa and its bridges
  • Accommodation
    • Along the river there are some Minshoku's 
  • Access: 
    • Nakamura - Matsuyama (5 - 5:30 h), multiple train changes
    • Nakamura - Sukumo (17 - 30 min) and then on with the ferry to Saiki in Kyushu

Awaji Island ⇒ 2 days, 120 km



Other attractions



Tuesday 4 July 2017

Shiga - possible routes

Around lake Biwa ⇒ 3 days, 190 km



Monday 3 July 2017

Kyoto / Nara - possible routes

The temple valley around Nara ⇒ 2 - 3 days, 72 km

  • Access: Train from Ise or Matsusaka to Hasedera Station (1:30 h)

From Nara to tea plantation and Uji to Kyoto  ⇒ 2 - 3 days, 92 km

General cycling information for Nara

  • Nara province seems to be interested in attracting cycling tourists. There is a network of well indicated cycling routes. The only thing I have not yet been able to find is a printed version of the maps, here is a pdf which has (I think) all of the different routes: http://nara-cycling.com/map/narakuru/pdf/2015/map.pdf
  • Here a screen shot of a part of it, for my use, as sometimes it is hard to open the pdf above on the mobile phone


Notes for Nara & Kyoto

Other possibilities:



Sunday 2 July 2017

Mie - possible routes

Toba to Ise and on to Nara ⇒ 2 - 3  days,  53 km 


Click here for a summary of the actual ride.




  • Alternative Access: 

    • From Kamoyama by train through Iga to Nara (about 2 h, one change of trains)
    • From Ise to Nara (1:50h) or from Matsusaka to Nara (1:30 h)






    Ibaraki - Notes

    I currently do not plan to go to Ibaraki, but there are some tips anyway:


    I can also recommend Sawara and Katori Jinja.


    Shizuoka & Aichi - possible routes

    Webpage of Shizuoka prefecture with several recommended routes: https://shizuoka-guide.com/english/cycling/#tmp_area_cours_03 some of which I tried out here and here

    Shizuoka to Irago, along the pacific coast ⇒ 2-3 days, 182 km
    • Access by Ferry to Ise, about 8 ferries per day, last ferry 17:40, 1 h 

    If one goes to Inuyama, there is also a suggested tour around the city

    Here a link to a summary of the actual ride, which was pretty similar to plan. As said above however the Pacific Coast Cycling Route however needs some important improvements. There are good and great parts:

     ...but then there are also parts that are not passible at all:


    Minamikamo & Inujima

    Here a possible way how to incorporate it into a long ride from Yamanashi to Lake Biwa. With a bus ride between Iida and Magome (which seems to be relatively frequent).


    Niigata - possible routes

    Sado Island ⇒ 2 days, 70 km 

    • Access: Ferry/jetfoil from Niigata, 1 - 2.5 h
    • Day 1: Ryotsu to Mano ⇒ 1 day, 34 km
    • Day 2: Mano to Ogi ⇒ 1 day, 36 km, including ride along the coast West of Ogi (Mano - Ogi only, about 25 km)
      •  See Garmin NII Mano - Ogi
        • 2 hills in 25 km from 0 to 100 m, 1 hill 0 to 130 m
        • Some up-and-down along the coast
      • Attractions:
        • Coast West of Ogi
        • Shukunegi village
      • Accommodation: Ogi
    • Access: Ferry to Naoetsu, 1:40 h, 2 ferries per day until end October

    Onwards from Naoetsu and Jyoetsumyoko (Shinkansen Station) to either Karuizawa (1 h) or to Kurobe Unazukionsen (30 min)

    There are also other suggested routes in Niigata:

    Iwate - possible routes (also includes a bit Akita, Fukushima and Niigata, but by train / car)

    Relaxing Onsen  ⇒ 2 days, no riding

    • Shinkansen from Hachinohe through Morioka to Tazawako, 1:15 h
    • Rental car from Tazawako and into the onsen area → Actually bus turned out to be totally okay. 
    Here a link to the actual stay and ride on Tazawako and on to Kakunodate. 


    Route Morioka - Tono - Hiraizumi  ⇒ 4 days, 185 km

    Here the link to the actual ride done.


    Onwards to Aizuwakamatsu & Ouchijuku by train ⇒ 2 days, 9 km
    • Day 1: Hiraizumi to Aizuwakamatsu ⇒ 9 km 
      • Part 1: By bicycle: Hiraizumi - Ichinoseki station
      • Part 2: By train: Ichinoseki station to Aizuwakamatsu, by train, about 3 hours, one change of trains
    • Accommodation: Aizuwakamatsu (2 days)
    • Day 2: Aizuwakamatsu and Ouchijuku

    Excusion to Tashirojima

    • Possible excursion from Hiraizumi to Ishinomaki (either by train or bike) and then on the ferry to Tashirojima (cat island)


    Onwards to Niigata and Sado Island by bus and ferry ⇒ 1 day, no riding
    • Aizuwakamatsu to Niigata, by bus about 2 h 
    • Niigata to Sado Island per ferry or jet foil, about 1  - 2.5 h

    Toyama/Gifu/Ishikawa/Fukui - possible routes

    Kurobe gorge, No cycling, just enjoying the gorge ⇒ 1 - 2 days, 0 km
    • Day 1 - 2: Nagano to Unazuki Onsen 
      • Access: Shinkansen from Nagano to Kurobe Unazukionsen and then on with local train to Unazukionsen Station
      • Bicycle: probably just leave it at a bicycle parking at Kuroba Unazukionsen station 
      • Attractions: 
      • Accommodation: in a ryokan in the valley

    Takayama & Hida Furukawa, Limited cycling, or no cycling ⇒ 2 days, 16 km
    • Day 1: Toyama to Takayama ⇒ 1 day, 0 km
      • Access: Train from Toyama, about 2:30 h, often one change of trains
      • Attractions:  Takayama
        • Old town
        • Temples
        • Open air museum
      • Accommodation: Takayama (2 nights?)
    • Day 2: Takayama to Hida Furukawa and back down to Toyama ⇒ 1 day,  16 km

    Excursion out to Noto Peninsula

    Kurobe Unazukionsen to Fukui ⇒ 4- 5 days, 250 km (2 - 3 days,  125 km, if one starts in Kanazawa) (see also below alternative access to Fukui from Kyoto / Biwako area)
    • Day 1: Kurobe to approx. Tonami ⇒ 1 day, 70 - 80 km
    • Day 2: Tonami to approx. Kanazawa ⇒ 1 day, 60 km (or shorter, some train ride is also possible)
      • See Garmin FUK Kurobe - Fukui
        • Elevation between Tonami and Kanazawa from 50 m to 200m, rest flat
        • Bicycle lane  until Oyabe
      • Attractions: Kanazawa
        • Kanazawa castle
        • Kenrokuen (Park)
        • Temples & Shrines
        • Art Museum
      • Accomodation: Kanazawa
    • Day 3 (or Day 1): Kanazawa to approx. Kaga ⇒ 1 day, 50 - 60 km (or more if Natadera is included)
      • Access: potentially by Shinkansen directly from Kurobe Unazukionsen to Kanazawa and start tour in Kanazawa
      • See Garmin FUK Kurobe - Fukui
        • mainly flat, along the coast. 
        • There is a bicycle lane all the way from Noto peninsula to Kaga
          • This route only takes it from Kanazawa to Kaga.
        • Part of this bike lane is also described here
      • See Garmin ISH Kaga - Natadera for excursion between Komatsu and Kaga to Natadera
        • 26 km Kaga - Natadera - Kaga, but it can be made along the way. 
      • See here for a tour in & around Kaga
      • Attractions: 
        • long bicycle lane along the sea
        • Natadera
        • Onsen area
      • Accommodation: Kaga
    • Day 4 &5 ? (or Day 2 &3 ?): Kaga to Fukui  ⇒ 1 or 2 days, 70 km
    • Access: Kyoto - Fukui, direct train, 1:30 h or Fukui - Lake Biwa, about 1 h

    Tsuruga to Fukui 2 days, 140 km 
    • Access: 
      • Kyoto - Tsuruga, 50 min, direct train
      • Nagahama (Lake Biwa) - Tsuruga, 40 min, direct train
      • Alternatively also tour from Fukui to Tsuruga: Kyoto - Fukui, direct train, 1:30 h
    • Tour recommended by KANCycling: http://www.kancycling.com/Echizen/Echizen_Route.html this page also contains suggestions for accommodation and other places to visit along the route. 
    Other cycling recommendations

    Saturday 1 July 2017

    Nagano - possible routes

    Route Karuizawa - Bessho Onsen - Nagano ⇒ 3 days, 110 km

    Chino