Day 9 - Tono roundtrip 遠野周り

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 9

This post describes the first of two days in the Tono valley, which is a very bicycle friendly region in Iwate prefecture. 

Bicycle: 25 km

Route: Sightseeing in Tono

Riding time: 2 h

Weather: cloudy and rainy plus occasional sun shine.  12 - 17 C, average 14 C


Well, looking at a 5 day weather forecast doesn't always give the right prognosis... The day started out fine, cool but with some sun and clouds, but quite rapidly the clouds got the better of it. And before lunch it started raining. Luckily I did not NEED to go anywhere today, just (!) sightseeing. Ultimately I did not get too wet, thanks to rain radar, lunch at the right moment and an ugly but very welcome roofed way up to a temple. And, well, some rain gear.

I was however unlucky enough to have chosen the only region of Japan with rain today:

If you wonder what app I used: Tenki.jp

The day started with a solitary breakfast in the big room:

Then I left my ryokan, here still in the sunshine and headed to the Furosato village.

Yesterday in the tourism information office, I also picked up a bicycle map of Tono with some suggestions about rides. Interestingly these rides did not use the Tono-Towa cycling road, but normal (smaller) roads. I however wanted to test the Tono-Towa cycling road so took that along the river. 

It is one of the typical Japanese cycling roads along a fortified river. Nothing terribly special. Actually as it is on the inner side of the river reinforcement, I did not have a great view over the plain of Tono. But there were still some kilometers to go, so some nice views were still available. And even the sun was - briefly - shining:

My first goal of the day was the Furosato village. This is an open air museum with traditional houses of the Tono valley transported there. Actually in the valley one can still see a good number of traditional houses, that are generally in better shape than in other regions in Japan, where often older houses are in desperate disrepair. Here I have seen both today as well as yesterday, in the ride up from Shin-Hanamaki station, a number of older houses that do not seem to fall apart immediately. Some are reasonably maintained. None are as well maintained as in the open air museum though... 

The typical house in this region is L-shaped and, importantly, has horses living in the same house:

For fertility (supposedly of the rice paddies) horse and men statues were being prepared out of straw and left in the fields:

While I was walking through the museum the clouds got darker and darker and at a certain moment it even started to rain, very lightly. At this moment luckily I had already finished seeing all the houses that were there. There aren't actually too many, just the right amount. So I went back to the main building in the hope that the rain would stop soon... however on the contrary it started to rain more heavily. So I decided on an early (11:45) lunch with some hot soba-soup. Supposedly soba is the thing to eat here. Well, unless you eat Jingisukan, which I didn't (see below dinner though). 

The soup gave me back some warmth and although it had stopped raining while I was eating, it also  had started again... So I changed into rain gear, the first time since nearly a year. I also have the strong impression that the rain cover that comes with the brompton T-bag is not going to fit over the full T-bag. It fitted today, as I took only a few of my luggage items with me on the round trip, but even with that it was hard. Will need to check that out... otherwise I need a new rain cover. Maybe just some kind of plastic sack could be fine... 

So once clad in rain gear I retook to the street back down towards Tono with a stop at the Fukusenji temple. Right when I arrived there the mild rain started to evolve into a more fierce rain, but there was a temple umbrella and this very ugly looking, but in this case very useful, roofed way up the hill to the temple and pagoda all coming to my rescue. 

5 storied pagoda in the rain

The main attraction is actually a 17 m high Kannon statue (or so the guide book claims), which I also went to see, but no photos allowed there. 

I also waited out a bit the rain under the roof, so that when I came back from the hill the rain had gotten lighter and finally stopped. Just in time to allow a quick visit to the Kappa pond. 

Kappa are strange (mythological) creatures in Japan. On one hand side they like to eat small children, but on the other hand side, children are fishing for them. They are actually quite loved in Japan, both Kappa (and children). It seems that in Tono valley there is a rich tradition of story telling, involving among others Kappa's. Actually there is even a "story telling" museum in Tono city, but only in Japanese, so I skipped that one. With all those Kappa stories, there is obviously a place where they live and where you can try to catch one. Apparently apart from small children, they also like peppers and cucumber:

Which are used in the attempt to fish for them. I was lucky enough that when I came to the Kappa pond there were some families around, trying to fish for them. I think without that the pond would have looked just like any other small pond in a river. 

The only kappa in sight:

The rain radar (see above) also ultimately helped me to arrive back to my ryokan just minutes prior to the next rain. But still with the time to get my tires filled up with air in a local bicycle shop and take these two pictures of old buildings remaining in central Tono... alongside their not so old / nice neighbouring buildings.

I was back at the ryokan only minutes before heavy rain came pouring down. But at that moment I was already in my room, putting in order today's gear and getting ready for my afternoon bath. 

Speaking (see above) about jingisukan... there was it for dinner:

It's the meat plate (yet to be cooked) in the upper left corner. It however only served to confirm that I don't like lamb. The taste is not for me. 

The white drink in the middle is not milk but rather a local variation of sake, Doboruko (or Dobekko in local dialect). It's actually quite tasty and full of rice corns. 

Tono is also famous as a hop growing place. I saw some hop poles during the day, but the hop has already been harvested. And presumably made into the local variation of Kirin beer. 

Of the sightseeing spots I had planned for today, there are two where I didn't go, because of the rain:

• Takamuro Suikoen Park
• Aragami Shrine

The weather tomorrow however seems to be absolutely perfect, no rain, no clouds. So I need to think about the plan for tomorrow. Maybe some more exploring in Tono valley and then on with the train to Hiraizumi, where I have my next accommodation.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Iwate, checkout the below maps:

Day 8 - Morioka to Tono 盛岡から遠野へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 8

The second big part of my bicycle tour through Japan started today in Morioka from where I rode down the Kitakami valley and (after some train ride over the hills) made it to Tono. 

Bicycle: 59 km

Train: 25 km

Route: Morioka to Iwanebashi by bicycle and Iwanebashi to Tono by train

Riding time: 4:50 h

Total ascent: 371 m (not sure if Garmin did calculate that correctly, as I stopped the device in Iwanebashi and then restarted in Tono after arriving)

Weather: cloudy with a bit of sunshine and also a bit of rain, 10 - 19 C, average 13 C

Today week 2 proper started. After a night in a business hotel in Morioka I hopped on the bike and followed my previously planned route down Kitakami valley. 

From Morioka city center until where road 36 crosses the river, there is a bicycle lane right along the river. I had hoped that it would continue on, but it didn't, or at least I did not find it. Thus some searching around at km 6.7.

Leaving Morioka was quite quick and after a few kilometers one is already in the countryside:

Here the sun was still shining, but as the day went on, more and more, partially very dark clouds appeared. At some point, shortly before lunch, it even started to rain just very slightly. At that point I was anyway hungry and needed to find a place for lunch. After a quick look at Google maps, I decided to go to Shin-Hanamaki station, assuming that around a Shinkansen station there must be a lot of restaurants. Well, not around Shin-Hanamaki station. This enourmous Shinkansen station, where most of the Shinkansen actually just speed through, is like a spaceship fallen from heaven. There is an enourmous road (with no traffic) leading to it, a very tiny local train station just below, a Toyota rental car and one Omiyage shop. But, on the second floor of the Omiyage shop there was a restaurant, where I got a hot bowl of ramen. Very warming... Which was good, because it was actually quite cold today. So cold that at some point I needed to get out one of my cardigans. (Still riding though in sandals, short skirt and no tights...) 

Apparently not only the valley around Nagano is famous for its apples, but also the Kitakami valley. As often in Japan, freshly produced crop is being sold along the street. I bought 3 enormous apples along the way for 100 Yen ! And the lady (this was a manned stand, not as others where there is just a box to put your money in) even wanted to give me two more... but there was literally no further space in my bike pack. 

Apart from apples the region is dominated by rice paddies. Some already harvested...

Here with some Cosmos flowers in the foreground

Already bundled ready (?) for being hung for drying (?) over the racks on the right hand side of the picture.

 (A lot of question marks in the caption above, as I really don't have the slightest idea about rice and rice harvesting.)

Looking very traditional

... and others still growing:

In the photo above one can also appreciate the dark clouds, which eventually did lead to some rain prior to lunch. 

After lunch however the weather was much better and even the sun was shining again, while I followed the tracks of the Kamaishi Line into Tono valley. As there is a huge (at least for me) mountain between the Kitakami valley and the Tono valley, I had always planned to do the mountain part by train. Which was a good decision not only because of the mountain but also because of the rain, which started (slightly) again just prior to me reaching Iwanebashi station (at km 58).

I originally had planned to ride only to Kashiwagidaira from Iwanebashi, i.e. only across the mountains and then to take a bicycle lane that supposedly exists in Tono valley down to Tono city. However it rained...

  

So I took the train all the way to Tono, where it was still raining, but luckily the ryokan I booked is quite close to the station.

It is actually a very traditional building, but I haven't taken yet any pictures from outside (rain) nor other pictures inside... But dinner is up soon and then into the hot tub!

In the two maps below, the very straight part between Iwanebashi station and Tono station was not a ride... I had actually stopped Garmin for the train ride and then resumed the ride at Tono station... but instead of separating it from the first part of the ride, Garmin just assumed that I teletransported myself to Tono station... which I unfortunately am unable to do.

So learning for the next time... stop the ride before taking a train!

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Iwate, checkout the below maps:

Day 7 - Tokyo to Morioka 東京から盛岡へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 7

In preparation of my next leg of bicycle touring in Japan, on Day 7 I took the shinkansen up to Morioka. 

Bicycle: 400 m

Train: 540 km

Route: Tokyo to Morioka

Riding time: 0 h

Weather: rainy in Tokyo

I was having some discussions with myself, whether to call today Day 7 or Day 7 minus 1, but finally opted for Day 7 anyway, although it did not really involve any riding... only TRAIN riding to the starting point of Day 8 tomorrow. But as the blog is called "Japan by bike (train, bus...)" the train ride will count ;-)

I spent the day in Tokyo recovering from the jet lag of the flight back from Europe yesterday and buying some last minute supplies for the ride. At 19:20 I then took the Hayabusa shinkansen from Tokyo station to the North, Morioka. I plan to do the Iwate ride starting from tomorrow, going down the Kitakami river valley, with a side trip to Tono valley and then down to Hiraizumi for some sightseeing.

I decided on this piece of Tohoku riding, as it seemed (when I looked on Monday this week) that weather more to the North would be rainy. Looking now it seems that tomorrow there could be actually some rain, at least in Morioka... but not in Tono, where I am heading. So let's hope that it is not too bad... The rest of the week looks reasonably fine.

Also this time I reserved all the hotels upfront, until Hiraizumi. No problem finding accommodation in Morioka, but much more challanging in Hiraizumi. Actually I didn't find anything at Hiraizumi, but a bit outside of town (about 4 km) at a state run Ryokan. I was curious anyway to get to know them. I have heard good things and bad things. But only good things about their food... So I reserved with dinner & breakfast! But that will need to wait until day 10.

Although I had specifically reserved a seat at the END of a car, in order to have some space to store the bicycle behind the seat... the lady at JR reservation instead gave the the seat at the FRONT of the car... with obviously no space for the bike. So now it is standing halfway in the aisle and each time the lady with the drinks and snacks comes through we need to carefully move snack wagon and bicycle to fit them both in the narrow aisle. Well, at least Japanese are nicely ignoring my bicycle and the trouble I cause. 大変ご迷惑をかけ、申し訳ございません ... seems to the be the right feeling.

Very Japanese I had my ekiben (bento box bought at a train station, train station = eki = 駅) in the train. I kind of always buy Tonkatsu bento, but actually never really like it... Should maybe reconsider my bento choices...

New bike

I know, this sounds strange, why would I change the bicycle practically prior to starting my real ride around Japan... and well, I have to admit that the headline of this blog is totally misleading. There is though a new bike in my life:



The Dutch version of a mamachari!

And being Dutch, it will stay in the Netherlands, awaiting my return to the Netherlands later this year. Nothing to fear, dear brompton ;-)

Part 1 (Day 1 - 6) - Hokkaido - 北海道 Summary

Bicycle touring Japan - Hokkaido - Part 1

In this post I review my first week of bicycle touring in Japan, riding down from the very North of Hokkaido along the Sea of Japan to the South, then skipping on (by bus) to Sapporo and discovering there a very nice bicycle road. 

Bicycle: 271 km

Other transport: 2670 km

Region: Hokkaido

Total riding time: 18:15 h

Total ascent: 1,043 m

This first week of bicycle travelling in Hokkaido was also the first time for me to be on the road for more than 2 days, probably since I was a child and did some 3-4 day trips with my father.

Below an approximate (!) map of the rides ...

...  the detailed maps of the rides and more description for each day can be found here:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6

And here for an overview of the costs.

From the stuff I brought (see here), I did not use:

• any of the rain gear
• the shoes
• any of the bicycle repair stuff
• 1 of the two cardigans
• the fleece jacket

Now obviously rain gear seems to be important, as well as the bicycle repair stuff. I hope that I will continue to bring it only along without ever needing to use it. The cardigan and fleece jacket would have been handy had the weather been colder, so as I will restart riding late Sep/early Oct, I think I will still bring them. I have more doubts about the shoes. I definitely prefer riding in sandals and last year was riding in sandals until November... But if it rains, wouldn't closed shoes be better? Also off the bicycle... But those shoes are heavy... Difficult decision, but I think I will continue to bring them along. Although I "fear" that I will only rarely / never use them. 

In general I enjoyed the week quite a lot, the weather was absolutely ideal for cycling and also the region of Hokkaido I picked, I think was great for cycling, at least for me. There was really only 1 day with some up and down, but in the end I managed without needing to ever to push the bike or without giving up and hopping on a bus. So that was great. I noticed however that I need every now and then a day "off". And either do something not so much on a bicycle, e.g. some cultural activities, or simply just a relaxing day. I think specially once I will set out for the longer trip around Japan, I will need every now and then (maybe at least once a week) a rest day and also some time in the same location. That should assure that I can either rest that day or visit something local (and thus also spend less time on the bike, or no time) and it would also make washing clothes easier, if they can dry an entire day in one place. 

I am however definitely still very much motivated to continue my travel re-starting from end September, once I am back from Europe. I kind of have the feeling that 2 months will not be enough to do all the travelling I had hoped to do, so will need to choose wisely, but also according to weather, as this really influences a lot how much I can enjoy a day on the bike. No cycling in rain, I hope! 

Pre-booking the accommodation in Hokkaido was a good idea, as the coast between Wakkanai and Rumoi is not very densely populated and I could have easily got stuck somewhere. I however still hope that in other, more populated areas, pre-booking, at least so many days ahead will not be needed. But I also think that I am not the type of person to just ride the entire day and then search for an accommodation once I have arrived somewhere, even in a big city. At latest around lunch, I should have found my accommodation for the night (via internet) and then ride towards it.

The best cycling in Hokkaido was probably the first part from the Northern peak off Wakkanai (Noshappu) down the coast to about Teshio. Specially the first kilometers on the 無事カエル road were great.

Further down the road, after Haboro, traffic became more intense, and the landscape didn't change so much compared to the previous days, so nothing new. I could probably also have avoided to ride into Rumoi, which is a more or less industrial city and as such not very nice. Well, none of the cities / villages I came through was nice as such, but Rumoi was also industrial. So maybe taking the bus already from Obira would have been a good idea... but well, my self established goal was Rumoi and I made it until there.

The other cycling highlight was the cycling road from Sapporo to Kitahiroshima. Unfortunately I only road about half of it. I should have researched better and maybe I could have used it also for a part of the road to the museum. 

In summary, I am happy to have started the ride of Japan! More to come at end of September / early October.

Money, money, money, makes Japan go round

Bicycle touring Japan - What does it cost?

In this blog post I list the approximate expenses I had for each part of my bicycle tour through Japan. 

Total costs for 57 days of travelling through Japan: 906,500 Yen, or around 16,000 Yen per day, including internal flights, shinkansen, hotels etc. I am sure it is possible to travel through Japan much more economically, specially if you use less train/plane and stay in cheaper accommodation or directly camp. But I had no intention to suffer and really dislike camping or cheap accommodation. I never used shared bed rooms and had mostly good dinners.

Costs for the first week (Day 1 - Day 6) of bicycle touring in Hokkaido:

• Total: 77,000 Yen for these 6 days, including transportation, accommodation and eating:
• Transportation: 17,990 Yen
• Flights: 0 Yen (ANA mileage)
• Taxi: 7,360 Yen home to Haneda and 7,730 Yen from Haneda back home
• Bus from Rumoi to Sapporo: around 2,300 Yen
• Train from Kitahiroshima to Chitose airport: around 600 Yen
• Accommodation: around 40,000 Yen
• well, I didn't note it down in detail, but it was something between 9,000 and maybe around 6,000 Yen per night, but including dinner and breakfast (except in Sapporo, where only breakfast was included). 
• Onsen: Somewhere between 500 Yen and 1,500 Yen per onsen visit.

Cost for part 2 (Days 7 - 11) of bicycle touring in Iwate:

• Total 78,500 Yen for these 5 days, including transportation, accommodation and eating.
• Transportation: 16,540 Yen
• Shinkansen Tokyo - Morioka: 14,540 Yen
• Other trains: probably around 2,000 Yen in total
• Accommodation: 
• Hotel Morioka: 5000 Yen
• Ryokan Tono: 15,120 Yen (2 nights, including dinner & breakfast)
• Ryokan Hiraizumi: 27,780 Yen (2 nights, including dinner & breakfast)
• Entry fees: probably around 3,000 Yen in total

Cost for part 3 (Days 12 - 15), bicycle tour in Aomori:

• Total 55,500 Yen for these 4 days, including transportation, accommodation and eating.
• Transportation: 
• Shinkansen Ichinoseki - Shin-Hakodate: 14,940 Yen
• Ferry Hakodate - Oma: 2,630 Yen
• Taxi Osorezan: 3,900 Yen
• Bus Osorezan: 750 Yen
• Accommodation:
• Hotel Hakodate: 4,000 Yen
• Hotel Osorezan: 12,000 Yen (including dinner & breakfast)
• Hotel Noheji: 5,400 Yen
• Entry fees: 500 Yen

Costs for part 4 (Days 15 - 21), travelling Akita and Yamagata:

• Total 103,500 Yen for this week, including transportation, accommodation and eating. 
• Transportation:
• Shinkansen Shichinohe - Tazawako: 7,020 Yen
• Local buses in Tazawako: 1,120 Yen
• Train Omagari - Yamagata: 2,600 Yen 
• Train Yamagata - Yamadera: 480 Yen
• Accommodation:
• Hotel Nyuto Onsen: 43,574 Yen (3 nights, including breakfast and 2 dinners)
• Hotel Kakunodate: 9,300 Yen (1 night, including breakfast and onsen)
• Hotel Yamagata: 9,644 Yen (2 nights, including breakfast)
• Dinner (if not included in accommodation):
• BBQ dinner in Nyuto Onsen: 1,900 Yen
• Kakunodate: 3,800 Yen
• Yamagata: 4,190 Yen
• Meat lunch in Yonezawa: 6,500 Yen
• Onsen: 2,200 Yen
• Entry fees: 1,100 Yen

Costs for part 5 (Days 21 - 25), bicycle riding on Sado island:

• Total 51,000 Yen for these days, including transportation, accommodation and eating. 
• Transportation:
• Train Kaminoyama to Niigata: 4,100 Yen
• Ferry Niigata to Ryotsu: 6,770 Yen
• Ferry Ogi to Naoetsu: 4,190 Yen
• Accommodation:
• Hotel Niigata: 4,101 Yen
• B&B Mano: 22,700 Yen (3 nights, including breakfast and 2 dinners)
• Lunch & Dinner (if not included in accommodation): 5,640 Yen
• Onsen: 1,370 Yen
• Entry fees: 700 Yen

Costs for part 6 (Day 25 - 32), travelling through Toyama and Gifu:

• Total 104,500 Yen for these days, including transportation, accommodation and eating. 
• Transportation:
• Train Omi to Ikuji: 700 Yen
• Train Shin-Kurobe into Kurobe gorge and back: 6,240 Yen
• Train Shin-Kurobe to Toyama: 1,450 Yen
• Train Toyama - Takayama: 3,360 Yen
• Bus Takayama to Hirayu onsen and back: 3,120 Yen
• Bus Takayama to Nagoya: 2,980 Yen
• Accommodation:
• Hotel Naoetsu: 8,100 Yen (including breakfast & onsen)
• Hotel Kurobe: 5,940 Yen
• Kuronagi ryokan: 12,030 Yen (including dinner, breakfast & onsen)
• Hotel Toyama: 8,000 Yen
• Hotel Takayama: 6,000 Yen (including breakfast)
• Hotel Hirayu Onsen: 20,660 Yen (including breakfast, dinner & onsen, 2 nights)
• Lunch & Dinner (if not included in accommodation): 10,200 Yen
• Entry fees: 2,130 Yen

Cost for part 7 (Day 32 - 37), riding from Shizuoka to Ise:

• Total 89,500 Yen for these days, including transportation, accommodation and eating. 
• Transportation:
• Shinkansen Nagoya - Shizuoka: 6,350 Yen
• Taxi Aeon to Iwata: 4,300 Yen
• Train Iwata - Bentenjima: 410 Yen
• Ferry Irago - Toba: 1,550 Yen
• Train Ise - Tokyo: 14,424 Yen
• Accommodation:
• Hotel Shizuoka: 5,200 Yen
• Hotel Omaezaki: 2,500 Yen plus Jalan points
• Hotel Bentenjima: 14,150 Yen (including dinner & breakfast)
• Hotel Cape Irago: 11,770 Yen (including dinner & breakfast)
• Hotel Ise: 8,700 Yen (including breakfast)
• Lunch & Dinner (if not included in accommodation): 9,056 Yen
• Entry fees: 1,500 Yen

Cost for part 8 (Day 38 - 43), riding from Maibara through Nara to Osaka:

• Total 97,000 Yen for these days, including transportation, accommodation and eating. 
• Transportation:
• Shinkansen Tokyo - Maibara: 12,540 Yen
• Accommodation:
• Hotel Omi Hachiman: 6,100 Yen
• Ryokan Uji: 7,600 Yen
• Hostel Nara: 8,640 Yen
• Hostel Yamatoyagi: 8,000 Yen (2 nights, including breakfast)
• Hotel Osaka: 9,610 Yen
• Lunch & Dinner (if not included in accommodation): 16,645 Yen
• Onsen: 3,400 Yen
• Entry fees: 7,600 Yen

Cost for part 9 (Day 44 - 47), Okayama and around:

• Total 52,500 Yen for these days, including transportation, accommodation and eating. 
• Transportation:
• Shinkansen Osaka - Okayama: 6,030 Yen
• Train Kurashiki - Okayama: 320 Yen
• Train Okayama - Takahashi and back: 3,180 Yen
• Taxi Takahashi to castle: 3,160 Yen
• Bus Okayama - Hoden: 1,500 Yen
• Ferry Hoden - Inujima: 600 Yen
• Accommodation:
• Hotel Okayama hill: 16,000 Yen (2 nights)
• Hotel Okayama city: 5,643 Yen (1 night)
• Lunch & Dinner (if not included in accommodation): 3,500  Yen
• Entry fees: 3,260 Yen

Cost for part 10 (Day 47 - 49), Shimanami Kaido:

• Total 41,500 Yen for these days, including transportation, accommodation and eating. 
• Transportation:
• Train Okayama - Onomichi: 1,320 Yen
• Train Imabari - Matsuyama: 950 Yen
• Taxi Matsuyama airport: 3,050 Yen
• Accommodation:
• Hotel Onomichi: 10,920 Yen (including breakfast)
• Hotel Omishima: 7,000 Yen (including breakfast)
• Hotel Matsuyama: 6,450 Yen plus 1,500 Yen Jalan points
• Lunch & Dinner (if not included in accommodation):  3,700 Yen
• Entry fees:  1,000 Yen
• Onsen: 1,000 Yen
• Additionally about 45,000 Yen for flight back to Tokyo.

Costs for part 11 (Day 50 - 57), Kyushu:

• Total  156,000 Yen for these days, including transportation, accommodation and eating. 
• Transportation:
• Taxi to Haneda: 7,730 Yen
• Flight Tokyo - Kagoshima: 16,390 Yen
• Ferry Kagoshima - Sakurajima and back: 540 Yen
• Train Kagoshima - Chikugo-Funagoya: 10,480 Yen
• Bus Fukuoka: 500 Yen
• Taxi Fukuoka: 1,970 Yen
• Flight Fukuoka - Tokyo: 0 Yen (ANA points)
• Taxi Haneda to home: 6,900 Yen
• Accommodation:
• Hotel Kagoshima: 20,800 Yen (2 nights)
• Hotel Yanagawa: 5000 Yen (including onsen)
• Hotel Saga: 10,800 Yen
• Hotel Dazaifu: 13,176 Yen (including dinner & breakfast)
• Hotel Fukuoka: 12,012 Yen (2 nights)
• Lunch & Dinner (if not included in accommodation): 16,000 Yen
• Entry fees:   
• Garden Kagoshima: 1,600 Yen
• Aquarium Kagoshima: 1,500 Yen
• Yoshinogari: 430 Yen
• Museum Dazaifu: 2,120 Yen
• Sumo Ticket: 5,224 Yen
• Museum Fukuoka: 800 Yen
• Onsen: 6,130 Yen

Day 6 - Sapporo to Kitahiroshima and back to Tokyo

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 6

This post describes my bicycle tour of Japan, today around Sapporo including a visit to an open air museum and then back home to Tokyo by plane. It also includes one of the best bicycle roads I have seen so far in Japan. 

Bicycle: 33 km

Train: 26 km

Plane: 1070 km

Taxi: 23 km

Total: 1150 km

Route: Sapporo - "Historical Village of Hokkaido" Museum - Kitahiroshima (until here by bike) - New Chitose Airport - Tokyo

Riding time: 3 h

Total ascent: 209 m

Weather: sunny, 24 C

Today was already the last day of this first week of travelling through Japan by bicycle. Now I am flying back to Tokyo and on the day after tomorrow I will leave for 3 weeks to Europe, no bicycle... Well, probably that's a lie, as I hope to buy a bicycle in the Netherlands, just for use around the city.

My last day started with a breakfast in the hotel room, as the complimentary breakfast at Toyoko Inn did not look very inviting.

With a relatively late start I set out through Sapporo to the "Historical Village of Hokkaido" Museum, which I already had wanted to visit when I was in Sapporo in February this year, but I thought that visiting an open air museum under the snow wasn't a good idea. So I went today.

I had planned out the ride from central Sapporo to the museum on Garmin, while I was preparing for this trip, but I had planned it from Chitose to Sapporo, instead of the other way round. What I discovered today is that it is not possible (or at least I don't know how), to invert the route directly on Garmin. I would have needed to do this on the iPad and then load the course again. However the Garmin planning web page (as well as Blogger) are not working very well on the iPad. And anyway, I only discovered that the route was the other way round, once I was already starting the ride. I could still see which street to take on Garmin, so it was kind of okay.

I also discovered that Sapporo is a city apparently entirely made for cars. Streets are enormous, often 4 lanes or more, and as it is so easy to drive, many people DO drive. Which makes Sapporo not a city that I could enjoy on bicycle. However, read on, because there is actually one of the best bike rides I have ever made in Japan also in Sapporo!

In the open air museum, examples from old (Meiji or Taisho era) buildings from Hokkaido have been reconstructed. While in the real Hokkaido (as elsewhere in Japan), old buildings are barely remaining, in this museum it is old buildings only. Which are all quite nice. Even the old station of Sapporo has been transplanted here (the yellow building at the right of the picture):

One can even take a horse drawn tram through the small - fake - town.

As I had a late start and wasn't very quick in reaching the park, I did not have so much time in the park, but still enough, as only the main explanations are in English, while inside many of the buildings there are more detailed exhibitions, which are Japanese only, and for sure not all of them are interesting anyway.

And I had one more agenda point for today. Actually two: bicycle road from Sapporo to Kitahiroshima and soaking in the Chitose airport onsen. Both accomplished :-)

I had read about this bicycle lane from central Sapporo to Kitahiroshima on this blog, but I still had a hard time finding the road, as I could not find on the internet a real map of it. So once I had finished in the museum, I set out to find this road. Google maps does not know about it, but with some information from the blog above, and Google satellite view, I was able to find it. And this cycle road is GREAT. It was built on the old train tracks from Sapporo to Kitahiroshima, which means that it is quite wide and with gentle slopes. It still has a small hill to get over before reaching Kitahiroshima. Actually on the top of that hill is the "Bicycle station" (自転車の駅). The lane winds gently through a forest and after the busy and polluted streets of Sapporo it was heaven to be on this totally quiet lane.

On the Garmin map below, the ride starts at 2 h 15 min. I also took photos of information boards along the road (which are in contrast to what I could find on the internet) very detailed, and have posted them here.

After taking a lot of pictures of this wonderful bicycle lane, I arrived at Kitahiroshima station in comfortable time for the 15:37 express train to New Chitose Airport.

After checking in the bicycle, I still had enough time to relax in the onsen, which is located right INSIDE the airport. Just go up to the 4th floor. It is not very well indicated downstairs, but if you ask, you will be shown to a specific elevator that leaves you right in front. The onsen is modern and with a lot of amenities, but still at a reasonable price (1500 Yen). Unfortunately it does not have a view over the runway. Actually it does not have any view at all, probably due to the fact that Japanese when in an onsen want to see nature (which is hard if your onsen is located on the top floor of an airport) and one-way windows don't seem to be a frequent feature. But it was still very nice to clean myself after a day in the heat (bearable, but heat) of Hokkaido and before boarding. I relaxed in the rotenburo and timed my departure perfectly so that I did not need to wait anywhere before embarking.

Well, so this was my first week of travelling by bicycle. In the next post I will write a summary of my impressions and lessons learnt.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Hokkaido, checkout the below maps:

Day 5 - From Haboro to Rumoi and Sapporo 羽幌から留萌経由で札幌へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 5

This post describes my bicycle tour of Japan, riding down the West coast of Hokkaido and arriving finally after 5 days in Rumoi, the goal for this leg of the tour. 

Bicycle: 52 km

Bus: 150 km

Route: Haboro to Rumoi (and then on by bus to Sapporo)

Riding time: 4 h

Total ascent: 153 m

Weather: sunny and some clouds, 22C

Today in the morning prior to starting the day, I was not looking too much forward to an other day along the coast. More hills and the same landscape as in the previous 4 days. I was also thinking that I need more things to do apart from cycling. But in this region here there is only landscape to be looked at. Which I do while cycling.

But well, then I got on my bike, got my fluids at a vending machine and set off. The initial kilometres were again full of hills. Not as bad as yesterday but still, up & down. Not something I was looking forward to.

But then after Tomamae the road became flat, so there was "only" the headwind to fight against. Which was quite strong, but doable.

I started the day at around 9:00 and arrived in Rumoi around 15:30, including some breaks along the road.

The accommodation I stayed in tonight, seems to be quite famous in Japan, specially for motorcyclists. The owner also has a booklet with key information of all guests and a photo like this one:

I had a look at the previous bicycle rider guests, and we all stand behind our bikes, as if they were some kind of deer we had just killed by bare hands. Me included. I should have had a look at the motorcyclists, to see what their expression was. The car drivers were more looking like patting a well behaved horse on the back.

Also today the road obviously led along the coast, which is a very windy (and today South - North windy) road. So windy, that many of the villages along the road are protected by high fences against the wind:

The villages did not get nicer and actually I would say that about 30%, if not more, or all houses I saw today, should be torn down. They are abandoned since many years, falling in bits and pieces, and essentially only a heap of rubbish, but as they can be still considered a "house", I guess that the local administration cannot just declare them illegal rubbish.

In a Northern part of Obira, I had a relatively early lunch, which looked good (also by the fact that people were lining up outside at 11:30, in this relatively remote area! But I have to admit, that at least the dish I took, fresh tuna on rice (とろ丼) was actually not as nice as it looked like:

Shortly after the lunch break, I also came by an "Important Cultural Property", the house of a fish merchant family in the trade of herring at the beginning of the century. It seems that herring was mainly fished for use as fertilizers in agriculture, and less for eating the fish as such. These merchants had an enormous building, right on the shore, where they lived, but more importantly where the hired fishermen from all over Japan were staying for the fishing period.

Luckily the street stayed flat even after departing the museum, so that after just an other 2 h probably, I was in Rumoi. I also noticed that Garmin sometimes sees things that don't exist. Per Garmin, at this location a "killer" hill so steep that at least for the descent an elevator would be required, should exist...

And then arrived to Rumoi, an other not nice town in Japan. Not even a decent onsen in town!

So I went up to the JR station and then looked at Google sensei, who proposed to take a bus instead, which, obliging me, I did.

As soon as we were out of Rumoi, and I was looking from the comfortable bus, at the landscape I thought, I should be riding here...

But instead I road by bus to Sapporo to my Toyoko Inn, just outside of the station. No onsen here either, but a bath tub, where I took a bath, short, compared to the previous days of soaking. Then I went off to a shopping mall under Sapporo station in search for something nice to eat (resulted to be sausages, beer and then some pancakes).

Now before dropping to bed, I need to have a quick look at tomorrow. My general plan is to go to the open air museum just outside of Sapporo, visit it and then either ride to New Chitose airport or catch a train somewhere along the road. I also remember that there should be an onsen right inside the airport-shopping-mall-thingy, which constitutes New Chitose Airport. Would be nice to soak off the sweat prior to boarding.

Also today no cyclist in my direction, so either I am the quickest of all (I am 100 % sure, that if anything I am the slowest of all) or probability mandates that I cannot meet any of the cyclists in my direction, if in the opposite direction there are only about 10 cyclists per day (assuming that there would be the same number of cyclists in both direction, at which speed would I need to go in order to meet one???)

I also totally resisted the temptation to jump on a bus along the coast and I even never did push my bicycle up any hill in these first 5 days of solo bike touring :-)

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Hokkaido, checkout the below maps: