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.

Wednesday 30 August 2017

From Wakkanai to Rumoi 稚内から留萌へ , 2 days before start

The flight for the first leg of my travel has been booked. I even had enough ANA miles for a flight to Wakkanai and flying back from Chitose.

On 31st August will be my last working day in Tokyo and on the morning of 1st of September on to Wakkanai, on to my first leg of cycle travel. (Check out here my plan for Hokkaido)

Surprisingly it has been quite difficult to find available rooms both in Enbetsu 遠別 as well as Haboro 羽幌. Both apparently small cities on a far away part of Hokkaido. I would not have expected that finding rooms there on a Sunday and Monday evening would be complicated. So I am happy that I did not just set off and thought on winging it, but actually booked ahead.

So here is the current plan:


  • Day 1, 1 Sep, fly to Wakkanai 稚内, cycle along the coast to the Northern tip of Wakkanai and then stay in Fujimi 富士見, just on the West facing coast behind Wakkanai. The first day we are talking 20 km only, but also only half a day or less.
  • Day 2, 2 Sep, cycle along the coast until a hotel close to the coast and approximately at the same hight as Tokumitsu 徳満 station. Here we are talking 44 km, all of them should be quite flat.
  • Day 3, 3 Sep, continue cycling along the coast until a bit behind Enbetsu 遠別. As I was completely unable to find an accommodation in Enbetsu (3 hotels were closed on that day, 1 was fully booked and the other 2 did not answer the phone) I took the Asahi onsen 旭温泉 hotel. From the map it seemed quite high in some mountains, but actually it is only about 50 m above sealevel. So should be okay. This day will be about 60 km, but still mostly flat
  • Day 4, 4 Sep, onwards to Haboro 羽幌, where I found a room at Cafe&Inn Kirikiri, I vaguely remember that on some of the web pages it was suggested for cyclists. But again, I called main hotels/ryokans in that small town, and even the biggest hotel with 120 + rooms was fully booked, on a Monday in September! This day will be probably the hardest, around 45 km, and with quite some up and down.
  • Day 5, 5 Sep, onwards to Rumoi 留萌. Continuing along the coast on a course that only initially should have some up-and-down and then be nicely flat until a sharp peak just before Rumoi. I have not booked a room at Rumoi, as I think I could get the last train into Sapporo 札幌 from Rumoi in the evening. 20.20. I guess this should be possible after a ride of about 50 km. 
    • This obviously assumes that it is easier to find a hotel in Sapporo... But a quick search on Jalan reveals about 90 possibilities. So that should be fine. 
  • Day 6, 6 Sep, I have the flight back to Tokyo 東京 in the evening, so I think I will go to the open air museum in Sapporo and then cycle on to Chitose 千歳 airport. From the museum to the airport its about 38 km, along a railway line and in flat landscape. 
So that will be my first week of cycling in Japan. Wish me luck!

Sunday 27 August 2017

Garmin trouble shooting

Here the link to the Garmin User Manual: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8I_NrjVpBkOMWRyOWJOZjVQZWs/view?ths=true
But still I somehow don't manage to connect the Garmin through Bluetooth...

What however works is the following:

  1. Connect Garmin and iPad to the same Wifi (e.g. iPhone personal wifi)
  2. Open connect.garmin.com in Safari on iPad
  3. Go to courses and select the course to be transferred to the Garmin device
  4. Select "Send to device"
    • This will result in a pop up asking "Open this page in "Connect"
    • Click "Open"
  5. Then the iPad automatically open Connect app and shortly after the course is uploaded to the Garmin device.
It should also be possible from the Connect app directly, but apparently not without properly connecting it to Bluetooth... 

Yamanote Line Sotomawari with Night Pedal Cruising 山手線外回り

Yesterday night the probably last ride with the friends from Night Pedal Cruising. In August we do a night long ride starting at midnight. Also this time we gathered in front of the NHK building at Yoyogi and then shortly after midnight took off on a ride along Yamanote line.

I had thought that we would go "vaguely" along Yamanote line, but we tried in most places to go really totally along Yamanote line and definitely made a point of taking a photo of each station.

We started at Harajuku (Sotomawari melody starting at 30 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Di43RnR-3U) and then took off for Yoyogi, Shinjuku, Shin-Okubo, Takatanobaba (first rest), Mejiro, Ikebukuro, Otsuka (approximately from that time no trains passed anymore... 終電), Sugamo, Komagome (second rest), Tabata, Nishi Nippori, Nippori, Uguisudani (third very brief rest), Ueno, Okachimachi, Akihabara (forth rest), Kanda, Tokyo, Yurakucho, Shinbashi, Hamamatsucho (then a longer rest at Shiba Koen, at this time it was probably around 4:30 am), Tamachi (approximately here I saw the first train again in circulation), Shinagawa, Osaki, Gotanda,  Meguru, Ebisu... (Sotomawari melody from 10 sec: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K3rIwihVow)

At this point I was very tired, it had become daylight already and it was shortly before 6 am. So I decided to "call it a night" here and leave the others to complete the ride until Shibuya and Harajuku.

We took a last farewell picture and then I rode down to Meguro river and along it back home, where I arrive probably around 6:30, very tired (and with pains in my butt and hands... forgot my gloves...)


I also took this ride as a test ride for my travel. So i went with my fully packed bag. This makes the bicycle heavy and more tiring to ride than normally... but doable. I also found what looks like a good place for the spare tire. Simply attached below the saddle. Surprisingly it does not interfer with the riding and it even serves as a backwards reflector, as the white stripe on the tire is reflective.

For further reflection I also added some reflection stripes to my helmet.

And here the map of the ride along Yamanote line:





Monday 21 August 2017

Packing List

Okay, now the fun part thinking about the routes is over and the boring part, thinking about what to bring starts...

As I don't plan ever to camp or to cook I can safely reduce the number of items to bring. I also have no idea how to repair a bicycle, so I wont bring a tool kit, just two new tubes and a tire, so that a bicycle repair shop can fit them on the bicycle. I realise this sounds totally stupid, but as I can't repair a bicycle, what should I be doing with a repair kit or tools? Essentially if the bike breaks down, I need to call a taxi (or walk to the next bus/train stop) and then on to the next city/town with a bicycle shop. Good thing, in Japan there are a lot of bicycle shops. Bad thing, not so many sell Bromptons and while the front wheel apparently is changed like for any other bike, the back wheel isn't, or so I was told by my local Brompton dealer. So right now, I am going to take the risk. I also don't really plan to cycle in very remote areas. And quite often there is a train line not too far, as I am mainly going to cycle in flat landscapes.

For packing I checked the following pages, which however are for touring including camping & cooking:

I plan to only bring my T-bag plus the small bag at the saddle for the bike cover. 

So here my personal packing list (including a few changes after the first six days):


On the woman (summer & early autumn configuration) : 
  • inner bicycle trouser with padding
  • bra
  • T-shirt
    • Some extra money & 1 credit card & 1 ATM card (e.g. in a money bag)
  • skirt (or the short trousers in the list below)
    • For the very last part of my trip, Kyushu, I also added one pair of jeans. Which came in handy, as it got quite cold (coldest around 6 C) at end of November.
  • helmet
  • sandals
  • half-gloves

Clothes (for summer and autumn in Japan):
  • 3 pairs of underwear
  • 1 tank top
  • 1 bra
  • 2 tights
  • 1 pair of socks → Added a second pair of socks from Day 38
  • 1 T-shirt
  • 1 no sleeves shirt
  • 1 short trousers
  • 2 long sleeved cardigans
  • 1 fleece jacket
  • bicycle shoes (as long as it is warm enough, I will ride in sandals, but when it gets colder, closed shoes will be needed, I guess)
  • Rain wear: 
    • rain trousers
    • rain jacket
    • helmet cover
    • rain cover for shoes
    • rain cover for T-bag

Personal items
  • Lightweight handbag
    • Keys
    • Money& purse & the like
      • 2 -3 credit cards
      • 2 ATM cards
      • residence card
      • driving license
      • student card
      • health insurance card
      • ANA mileage card
      • JAL mileage card
      • PASMO card
    • handheld fan
    • pen with iPhone tip writer
    • handkerchiefs
    • emergency contact details

Toiletries
  • Handkerchiefs 
  • Suncream
  • Insect repellent 
  • Nail file
  • Foldable hairbrush with mirror
  • Q-tips
  • Cloth line and clamps →  From Day 38 cloth line removed, clamps only
  • Eye mask
  • Extreme light weight towel 
    • okay, I know, a lot of my other stuff isn't specially light weight at all. But I didn't have a small towel anyway so needed to buy one if I didn't want to bring just a totally normal towel. So at that point I thought I could go for the 42 g M sized towel
  • Medicines
    • Frenadol
    • Asprin
    • Ibuprofen
    • Labello
    • Kamilosan
    • Baby powder
    • Pulmoll
  • First aid kit
    • band-aids in different sizes
    • medical tape
    • blister bandages
    • disinfectant
    • sterile cotton
    • plastic gloves
  • Emergency foil cover
Now, you will miss such obvious stuff as soap, toothpaste and toothbrush here, but I just think that the hotels, ryokans, minshuku's where I will stay will provide those. If not, a toothbrush & toothpaste shouldn't be hard to come by. 


Accessories & Miscellaneous
  • Swiss knife
  • Small bell (probably more as a memory of past travels than really to ward of bears)
  • Bike chain lock
  • Leg reflector
  • Sitting cushion
  • →  Small umbrella from Day 30 onwards

Electronics
  • iPad 
  • iPad keyboard
  • → From Day 7 instead I brought a small computer 
  • iPhone
  • → Waterproof case added from Day 38 onwards
  • iPhone lens set → removed from Day 38 onwards
  • Garmin
  • replacement Garmin holder
  • bicycle light
  • quick charger (can be used with all the above)
  • 1 USB plug with two USB slots 
  • 2 iPhone cables
  • 3 other cables (for Garmin etc)
    • Maybe these are too many cables... specially if I only bring one USB plug with two slots... So essentially 1 iPhone and 1 other cable should be all I need as I can't use more with 1 USB plug only... Unless obviously I use to charge two items from the quick charger and simultaneously 2 other items from the plug. At which point 4 cables would be enough... Well I think I will try with all cables initially and see if they all fit in.
  • bank pin device
  • 4 spare batteries for rear light

Bicycle stuff 
  • 2 replacement tubes
  • 1 replacement tire
  • lube

Here we are off to test packing. This is how it looks now:


... obviously the small piece of furniture and the stapler is NOT coming along.

Hopefully this will all fit into the T-bag... 

Here we go:
  • socks and tights in the left shoe, spare tubes in the right shoe
  • iPad in double zip lock --> from Day 7 onwards I used instead a small laptop, as on the iPad Garmin Connect does not work very well, nor does blogger.
  • Electrical supplies (in the inner zip locked compartment of the T-bag)

  • Assorted toiletries
  • First Aid kit & bag rain cover (after some tests I saw that it should go in the big bag rather than  the small side bag, because otherwise it is really difficult to get the handbag out)
  • Handbag (in the outer part of the rear right hand side outer bag)

  • Lube
  • Rainwear (in a compression bag)


  • Clothes (in a compression bag)



  • Fleece jacket (in a compression bag)

  • Isolated sitting cushion (probably unnecessary... but what else to put in the outer open front bag?)

Well, it all fitted in and it does not even seem to be too crowded. Both side bags are still empty (I plan to put some "emergency food" there and the bottle bag is also empty, where I plan to put the bike chain and a bottle of water/drink. The only piece of equipment that does not yet have good place is the replacement tyre. I don't think that just strapping it on top of the bag is really a good idea (it would be impractical if it rains and I want to cover the bag and I think even during riding it will probably slide over and just be a nuisance). So I will need to make some tests where to best append it. Currently I am thinking of maybe below the saddle... but that might be also uncomfortable if one hits against it with each turn... But there will be solutions to it.

So currently that's what the bag looks like:



In this configuration it weights 9.7 kg!

Here a review of what I used in the first part of my travel (and what I did NOT use). 

Post ride note: 
In summary my packing was perfect. There were very few things I never used (e.g. first aid kit, spare tire and tubes). All the rest I practically used on a daily basis. 
The one big disappointment was the rain wear. I only had two rain rides (Day 19 and Day 34) , but both times I got really SOAKED nonetheless I was wearing my full rain attire. I guess that the quality wasn't up to Japanese rain. I wouldn't say however that it was a specially bad rain. Just normal, persisting rain. 
The compression bags were also a really good idea. They kept everything nicely in order, packed in plastic so I didn't need to worry even on the rainy days. 
The red small handbag was also very comfortable. Normally (well, actually nearly always), when I parked somewhere during the day, I left the T-bag on the bicycle and just brought the handbag with me, with my money and smartphone. Everything else, including computer, clothes etc. just stayed on the bike in the bags. This is Japan after all. 

Wednesday 2 August 2017

Okinawa - possible routes

I am not really sure if I will make it all the way down to Okinawa... If yes, here are some ideas for routes:

Attractions in Okinawa
  • http://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1247.html
  • Attractions (Okinawa Honto)
    • Naha (Shuri-jo castle) (UNESCO World Heritage)
    • Ryukyu mura (open air museum)
  • Attractions (Other islands
    • Zamami-jima (island)
    • Taketomi-jima (island)
    • Iriomote-jima (island)

Kyushu - possible routes

In Kyushu there are a few major events with limited days availability:
  • Sumo in Fukuoka
  • Yokagura in Takachiho
    • Starting mid November, but not every day (at least not the "real thing")
  • Tanegashima Art festival
  • Nagasaki Gunkanjima may require upfront booking (but no limitation on available days)

While this blog post is about planning a travel by bicycle, JR Kyushu is specially famous for their nice trains and rhe following trains are specially recommended (as per the Rough Guide) most of them require reservation:
  • Hakata - Yufuin - Beppu: Yufuin-no-mori
  • Hakata- Nagasaki: Kamome
  • Hakata - Beppu - Saiki: Sonic (see below travel to Takachiho)
  • Aso Boy
  • Kagoshima - Ibusuki: Ibusuki-no-tamatebako (see below Kagoshima)

Saiki to Takachiho ⇒ 2 days, 0 km
  • Access
  • Train Saiki to Nobeoka, 1 h 
    • Sonic train? 
  • Nobeoka - Takachiho, rental car, 1.5 h
  • Attractions
  • Accommodation
    • Takachiho (or driving down after performance to Miyazaki ?, 2h)
  • Handing car back either at Nobeoka, Miyazaki or Miyakonojo
    • If handing back at Miyazaki, cycle trip to Udo Shrine can be done

Miyazaki - Udo Shrine - Ibii ⇒ 1 day, 60 km (or shorter)
  • See Garmin KYU Miyazaki - Ibii - Udo Jingu
    • Along the coast, according to KANCycling, quite a nice coastal strip
    • relatively flat, with two sharp peaks at about 100m 
    • Train until Ibii is available, so ride can be cut short, about 1 train every hour
      • Ibii - Minami Miyazaki, direct, 40 min, last train 22:21 
      • Ibii - Kagoshima, 1 change, 3 - 4 h, last train 19:51
  • Attractions
  • Accommodation
    • Miyazaki or Kagoshima

Kagoshima - Sakurajima - Ibusuki - Chiran - Ichiki (or Sendai) ⇒  3 days, 106  - 114 km
  • Day 1 - Sakurajima  ⇒ 1 day, 36 km
    • Access 
      • Ferry from Kagoshima
        • runs every 15 min in daytime, 24/7
    • See Garmin KYU Sakurajima
      • Quite some up and down, 1 x 100 m, 3 x 80 m, 5 x 50 m
      • Last 8 km are flat
    • Attractions
    • Accommodation
      • Kagoshima
  • Day 2 & 3 (or 3/4 depending on excursion to Tanegashima, see below) - Kagoshima - Ibusuki - Chiran - Ichiki (or until Sendai shinkansen station) ⇒ 2 days,  90 km (or more/less)
    • Access
      • Ibusuki-no-tamatebako train, 3 daily, all reserved seats, 1 h 
    • See Garmin KYKYU Ibusuki - Ichiki
      • Quite some up and down
      • highest about 200 m
      • could be cut slightly short by taking train from Ibusuki to Ishikaki (50 - 60 min)
      • could also be extended from Ichiki to Sendai (18 km)
    • Attractions
      • Train ride to Ibusuki
      • Ibusuki (onsen & sand baths)
      • Chiran (samurai village)
    • Accommodation
      • Chiran ??? (not sure that there is one, but there seems to be one Airbnb not too far)
    • Access
      • Ichiki to Kumamoto, 1 change, 1:15 h, including Shinkansen
      • Sendai to Kumamoto, direct, 45 min, shinkansen

Excursion from Kagoshima to Tanegashima ⇒ 1 - 2 days, 120 km (possibly better to find a bus or car)
  • Access
  • See Garmin KYU Tanegashima 
    • From 0 to 300 m and also more hills
  • Attractions 
  • Accommodation
    • Kagoshima
      • If by car, possibly as a day trip from Kagoshima by jet foil
    • Or Tanegashima

Kumamoto - Nagasaki ⇒ 1 + 2 days,  85 km (or less)
  • Access
    • e.g. by Shinkansen from Kagoshima, Fukuoka or Sendai
  • See Garmin KYU Kumamoto station - harbour, 13 km
    • flat
    • By ferry to Shimabara, 30 min, 6 - 7 per day
  • See Garmin KYU Shimabara - Nagasaki, 71 km 
    • one peak at 300 m just prior to Nagasaki (can be avoided by train), 1 x 50 m, the rest is flat
    • multiple possibilities to cut short 
  • Attractions (Nagasaki)
    • Landscape around Shimabara
    • Nagasaki
      • A-bomb museum
      • Dejima
      • Gunkanjima (may require ahead booking)  (UNESCO World Heritage)
  • Accommodation
    • Nagasaki, 3 nights?

Nagasaki - Fukuoka ⇒ 3 + 1 days, 177 km (or less)
  • See Garmin KYU Nagasaki - Fukuoka 
    • 300 m right after Nagasaki, afterwards practically flat
    • Can be shortened in multiple locations taking a train
  • Attractions
  • Accommodation
    • multiple cities on the route

North of Fukuoka ⇒ 2 - 3 days, 85 km (or less)

Here the link to the actual rides I did in Kyushu.

Other possible cycle routes in Kyushu



Other possible attractions in Kyushu 
  • Attractions (Oita)