GW2025 D7 Rain on Shodoshima

Route: Ikeda to Tonosho and back
Walking: 3,5 km
Bus: 15 km
Total ascent: 84 m
Walking time: 1 h
Weather: rainy and very windy, but warmer thab expected , 29C

After the brilliant day yesterday, today was a rainy and windy day. I had reserved a ticket for the museum on Teshima a few days ago, but I actually canceled it today out of fear that the ferry might stop running. The weather forecast and reality, had winds of up to strength 8. Now I don’t really know what the unit of this wind measurement is, but I do remember that strength 10 I experienced a few months ago on Boso Peninsula was scary strong. So taking a boat to another island and needing to return back to Sadoshima didn’t seem like the safest choice. Instead, I walked down to the small village around the port of Ikeda and took a bus from there to Tonosho, the next village over. Around the port there are a few exhibits from the art triennial. Nothing really to write home about. 

At the tourist information center I got a recommendation for a local speciality restaurant: Soumen. Very thin noodles. Frankly, I don’t know what is so special about these. They tasted OK but also nothing that I would consider extremely special. But it is the recognizing local speciality.

When I had finished lunch, it had started to rain a little bit harder and the wind was getting stronger so I decided to take the next possible bus back to my home village. And was in big luck that the next bus was leaving just within a few minutes from me arriving at the bus terminal. The bus only left me down in the village because the other route that goes up here, where my hotel is outside the village overlooking the bay, only runs every now and then. But luckily, the rain was kind of OK and the wind wasn’t too much of a problem either.

I spent the afternoon first in the lobby, trying to read a local manga that seems to be famous on this island. I just read the first chapter, and it was quite simply about some school friends. Not really sure how you can write many volumes about them. 

Later on, I moved to the communal bath, relax there a little bit then to my room watch some Netflix and now I have just come back from dinner, which luckily I managed to reserve yesterday.

Tomorrow will be my last day on the island and the weather will be fine again. I’m planning on a bit more art and a ride along the coast to a port from where I can take a ship back to Honshu.

GW2025 D6 The beauty of Shodoshima

Route: around (not all of it) Shodoshima

Bicycle: 69 km (marking finally 3000 km this year) 
Ferry: 25 km
Total ascent: 1190 m
Average speed: 13 km/h
Riding time: 5:10 h
Weather: sunny and again great temperature, 20C

Today I left the big island of Shikoku and went to the second largest, Shodoshima. The island is famous for its olive trees. Also here are parts of the art triennial. But no art museum. My initial plan was very ambitious to see art and ride to the top of the island. I realized when I was at the first art valley, that my plan was not achievable. So I replanned. Actually I replanned later an other 2 times adding more kilometers, more elevation, more views and more art. 

This first valley I went to is famous for its rice paddies. I cycled up through them until I reached the well that feeds these paddies to enjoy the view over the entire valley.

Down in the valley there are a few more art installations. Including this bamboo dome built by a Taiwanese artist which integrates perfectly into the landscape and is extremely relaxing to sit inside. Hear the noises of the forest and fields around you while being in this semi closed space completely constructed with bamboo.

From there were indications downstream to another artwork reachable by a pleasant walk at the border of the forest. This artwork was in an old mill where machines were playing old wooden utensils, including old soumen (the famous noodles of this region) boxes.

After recovering my bicycle, I continued further downstream And came by this kabuki theatre in the middle of fields.

In the next village, there was some more art exhibits, including this rather disturbing house half filled with water and with creatures that could rival any ghost train. One can even write through it on a small boat, within the house. As the boat master was on lunch break when I arrived. I also went to lunch in a close by and now closed school. But the Charon never arrived , so I just had a look and then continued on my way. 

My replanned route took me now over to the other side of the island where this egg is standing. To get there I needed to get over a small pass on the top of which there was this wonderful bus waiting room was probably the nicest view of any bus stop I’ve seen in a long time.

The place where the egg stands doubles also has a view point for the sunset.

I continued down to the coast and he replied my ride again to take in more of the coast and a small road running along that coast with a little traffic.

As I hadn’t managed to reserve dinner for today, I bought some dinner at a convenience store a few kilometers before my hotel. Stuffed the dinner into my pockets and my T-shirt and then proceeded to the check-in. But the day was so nice that I wanted to continue riding and there’s another peninsula with more art closeby so I replanned again my ride.

I was too late for the artworks indoors, but the outdoors could be enjoyed. After a lot of up and down I pretty much felt like this statue.

I managed to return to my hotel right in time for the sunset view.

GW2025 D5 a bit of everything

Route 1: small round of Naoshima
Route 2: Takamatsu - temple 82 - 81- back to Takamatsu 
Bicycle: 63 km
Ferry: 32 km
Total ascent: 907 m
Riding time: 4:54 h
Weather: sunny but not hot, 20C

With everything ongoing at work, and with building the house, I didn’t have a lot of time to organize this Golden Week trip. I reserved the hotels a few weeks ago, but that was about it. So I didn’t realize that for the museums in Naoshima, one now needs a reservation. So when I finally checked yesterday evening, I saw that there was no more reservations possible for the entire week. Luckily I didn’t go yesterday in the rain, hoping to be able to see museums. It is likely I wouldn’t have been able to access them. There are a few that during the art triennial are accessible without reservation, but they also run a reservation program at the same time, so probably if you turn up without a reservation you’re just stuck in a long queue waiting. In the rain.

So I went today in perfect weather conditions, however, my bicycle wasn’t in perfect conditions. I noticed in the morning that the rear tire had only a little bit of air left in. Luckily, there was a bike shop right in front of my hotel which left the pump outside on the pavement. So I filled the tube there, cycled to the port, took the ferry over to Naoshima, but by the time I arrived on the island, the tire was very soft again. I got a pump at one of the bicycle rental shops in the harbor, but also had a look at the tire and it was clear that this tire hadn’t a hole, rather it lacked the rubber from too much riding.

So I just did a quick round of Naoshima, to the few pieces of art that are actually accessible on a day where all the museums are closed. These were the same pieces of art I already saw back in 2016 when I was here for the first time. Back then no reservation for any of the museums was needed. I just remember that we were waiting in a small queue in front of one art exhibit, but that was about it. And that was also in the middle of golden week. So clearly this art triennial has taken off in popularity, plus there are many more international visitors to Japan and this area.

Naoshima is probably best known for its “pumpkins” designed by Kusama Yayoi.

Pumpkin 1:

Pumpkin 2: 

And even a “traffic” sign for the pumpkin:

Next time I come to Naoshima I must be better prepared with reservations for some of the museums. Probably it is better to visit the island outside of the triennial.

While on the island, I called a bicycle shop in the harbor of Takamatsu and confirmed that they would be able to replace the tire. After my quick round of the island, I took back an early ship to Takamatsu got the bicycle repaired while I was having lunch at the station.

This left me with the entire afternoon free for another ride. On Shikoku there’s a pilgrimage to 88 temples that are spread around the entire island.When I came to Takamatsu yesterday, I saw that there were two on a mountain just outside of the city, so I planned a ride there.These were temples, 82 and 81.

There was even another pumpkin.

I had actually been to both of these temples nine years ago on my very first trip to Shikoku. Back then we were traveling by car. Actually, I remember letting my ex-husband out at the bottom of a path up to temple number 81, so that he could hike up, while I was driving up. I would not have imagined to ride up this mountain by bicycle back then.

I was actually surprised how many meters of elevation this mountain/hill was. 

On the way down back to the plains, I was rewarded with the spectacular view over towards Sakaide. 

On the ride back to the city, I tried finding smaller roads. In some places I succeeded, in others, not so much.Japan simply outside of the major megalopolis like Tokyo, Osaka, etc., is a car country. We forget that living in Tokyo.

GW2025 D3 Setouchi Art Triennial around the Seto-Ohashi bridge

Route: Okayama - Seto Ohashi - Takamatsu
Bicycle: 66 km
Train: 53 km
Total ascent: 565 m
Average speed: 13,4 km/h
Riding time: 4:54 h
Weather: sunny a few clouds but not THAT warm, 18C

Today was another perfect day, that didn’t go to plan. I got up relatively early and took a train from Okayama over to Shikoku. It passes over a long bridge going through the Setonaikai dotted with islands. I got off at the first stop on Shikoku, assembled the bicycle, and then set out to the art exhibits around the bridge.

The first piece of art I saw was this small hill, which wasn’t a tomb, like the slightly bigger hill I saw a few days ago in Kibi plain.

From there, I followed the signs for some other pieces of art around it, none of which really impressed me.

In the small village of Seicho, they were three abandoned schools. The kindergarten, elementary school and junior high school.well now closed and used as temporary exhibition sites for this art festival. However, the artists didn’t seem to have a lot of ideas, so most of the exhibits in all three schools were kind of just stuff that was already in those school buildings abandoned, put together and reclaimed as art.

There was really only one piece of art that I thought was interesting. It was a still life photographed over several weeks in a style similar to Caravaggio. It started with a very abundant display of fruit and vegetables, very colorful and apparently full of life in front of a dark background. Initially, you didn’t notice anything, but looking at it for some time, one could appreciate the change from this fresh, full of vitality, display of fruits and vegetables, to the decay.on the wall behind, there was still a clock from the school, which every minute was the change of the hand gave a loud noise. So you could hear the passing of time, while seeing it reflected in the unstoppable decay of rotting fruits, and vegetables.

With all this art time flew by. At one of the schools, there was even a service for some lunchboxes, and freshly fried fish, so I had lunch there, and it was clearly too late to ride to Kotohira shrine and make it up there.It’s already the second time I’m here in this area of Shikoku and do not manage to get to this famous shrine. So a good reason to come back sometime in the future.

Instead, I saw that there was one piece of art that still belongs to this area, which was between the area around the bridge and Takamatsu. So I replant the ride to get to also this piece of art. Which essentially was a small village park with a bench and a place to light a bonfire.

It was however, early enough to make it to Takamatsu and still have more than sufficient time to see again the superb Ritsurin garden.this is definitely the best Japanese garden that I have seen. Although it didn’t make it on the official list of the three best gardens. What I really like about it how it incorporates the nature around it into the garden. It offers so many different view points that you could easily spend an entire day in this garden discovering new views.

Day 51 - Sakurajima roundtrip 桜島巡り

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 51

This post describes the cycle touring on Sakurajima, an island with the most active volcano in Japan. 

Bicycle: 42 km
Ferry: 8 km
Riding time: 3:00 h
Total ascent: 456 m 

Route: One complete round of Sakurajima

Weather: Overcast, later a bit of sun and clouds, 13 C

After seeing Sakurajima yesterday (Day 50) from the coast, today I took the ferry over to the island and circled it completely by bicycle. On the ferry I had a front row seat: 

I had decided to do the South coast first, because there is more up and down, so that I could do the more tiring part in the morning. The first stop was on top of an old island, that was completely covered by a large eruption in 1914 and now has become part of Sakurajima. There biologists observe how the nature slowly but steadily grows and makes the lava fields their home. In only 100 years it has gone from hot lava to these pine trees:

Further along the road, at about 1/3 of today's ride was an other view point of lava, vegetation, volcano and smoke from the ongoing eruptions. With the overcast sky it was however difficult to see and even more difficult to catch on a picture. 

Sakurajima was an island until 29th of January 1914, when the lava connected it to the Osumi peninsula, which is opposite of Kagoshima. But I stayed on Sakurajima turning left and continuing on my round trip. After a while I arrived at the nearly completely submerged torii of a local shrine that was buried more than 2 meters deep in debris from the 1914 eruption and was left like this to remind future generations of the volcano.

Everywhere across the island are also these shelters, where one can hide in the case of an eruption accompanied by volcanic debris flying around. 

Today that wasn't needed, but the volcano is in constant eruption since more than 60 years, some years have seen more than 500 eruptions. This year we were at about 70 so far. And volcanic ashes are being expelled frequently, as I could witness on the Northern half of the island (well, no longer island, but calling Sakurajima peninsula also somehow feels incorrect).

See the red bricks on the side walk?

I washed a small part of this leave, just to see the difference in colour

And no, this is not a volcanic explosion in the middle of the street, but volcanic ashes.

Thus I returned to the port of Sakurajima, but close to it is an onsen, Magma onsen, where I washed away all the ashes and fatigue of the day before returning with a ferry to Kagoshima. 

Tomorrow weather forecast has rain in the prediction, so I am moving by train, further up North to Yanagawa. 

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

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

Day 50 - Tokyo to Kagoshima 東京から鹿児島へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 50

Day 50!!! And today from Kagoshima airport to Kagoshima city, the last week of my bicycle tour has started in the very South of Kyushu.

Bicycle: 37  km
Plane: 960 km 
Taxi: 30 km
Riding time: 2:15 h
Total ascent: 100 m 

Route: Tokyo to Kagoshima airport by plane, on by bicycle to Kagoshima city.

Weather: Sunny and a few clouds, 16 C

After less than 24 h in Tokyo I am back on the road on my final week of cycle touring through  Japan. On to the Southern tip of Kyushu, Kagoshima.

When I decided yesterday where and when to restart my cycle tour (after a brief stay in Tokyo to meet a relocation company) I decided to re-start in Kagoshima immediately, as today and tomorrow weather forecast is still good, but forecasting rain for the weekend. When I reserved the flight for Kagoshima I did not realize that the airport isn't really close to the city. But all the better, thus I perfectly knew where to cycle today. And then tomorrow the entire day to explore Sakurajima.

During my 21 h in Tokyo I loaded up on fruits, cereals and very tasty French cheese. So I am ready for more Washoku. While in Tokyo I not only met the relocation company, but even had time to de-register my residence. So ever more ready to move to the Netherlands at the end of this cycle tour. Probably cycle touring is the best introduction possible to the Netherlands...

Here my poor brompton taking its second flight in a few hours. It will need to get used to it, as more flights next week (back from Fukuoka to Tokyo) and the following week (from Tokyo to Amsterdam). So far it is not complaining. 

Here a view of the mountains in Southern Kyushu ...

... and one of many photos I took of Sakurajima:

I arrived around 12:00 and about half an hour later set off on my ride into Kagoshima. Close to the airport there were some very accurate cut tea plantations:

The airport itself is on a high plateau, so the first 9 km were spent rolling down hill and a bit of breaking. But not too bad. At one point a saw a sign for an onsen at a waterfall, and as it was only 1 km, decided to have a look. But it was just a normal onsen building close to a waterfall. A nice waterfall though:

No bathing in the pool of the waterfall.

When I had planned the ride for Garmin today in the morning while waiting for my airplane, there seemed two possibilities how to ride into the city one over some mountains and one down at the coast. I decided for the coast thinking that the view would be nice. It was nice, BUT there was also a lot of traffic on the one and only road. So from about km 19 to 31 the ride was not terribly enjoyable.

I tried to ride on the pedestrian walkway, but often it had too much vegetation to be safe to ride, so back to the street...

When I planned the ride on Garmin connect, it had a total ascent of nearly 400 m (see here KYU99), but there were again, as in some previous rides some mysterious very steep hills, that on the ground did not exist at all. In the ride tomorrow on Sakurajima there is the same problem. Looking at the map with elevation profile, there are no such steep mountains, but in the Garmin elevation profile there are... Very inconvenient.

When that stretch ended, there was a big parking lot and a lot of people walking around. I wanted a stop anyway (actually for lunch), so I decided to stop there. It was a place with surprisingly many people and even tourist buses aplenty. So I had a better look, and discovered that I had just "run" into an UNESCO world heritage site and a famous Japanese garden: Senganen Garden.

So I decided to skip lunch and be a tourist. The garden itself is not among the best in Japan, but one has to admit that the local daimyo found a good way how to incorporate the obligatory "small pond" and "hill" into his garden:

I had taken a full access ticket, that also included a guided tour of the main building and a matcha, which came with a special sweet, that if I understood correctly among others contained shitake (a mushroom) and yuzu (a citric).

In the garden, as in so many others there was an exhibition of flowers. I normally always walk by these flowers just looking at them from far, but here there were detailed descriptions of what was the specific beauty of these flowers:

I think it is hard to guess, but these flowers here are admired for being a set of 6 pots (each pot has 3 flowers), with 6 varieties of chrysanthemum with at least 3 colours, where the front flowers must be shorter and taller flowers to the rear. Also the colour arrangement is decided BEFORE growing the flowers, so while they are growing height control is important (which apparently is achieved by some grow controller). And I always thought that these were simply flowers.

There were different displays. From 1 pot (always with 3 flowers) at maximum 40 cm height to arrangement of 12 different pots, all arranged per height both within the same pot and across the row of pots. And then there was this unruly flower explosion in the form of two daimyos:

The garden is part of UNESCO world heritage as part of the Meiji Industrialization heritage sites, because it belonged to the Shimadzu clan, a very powerful and apparently forward looking Daimyo who controlled the South of Kyushu and Okinawa. Through Okinawa even during the Japanese isolation centuries they were trading with foreign countries and acquired Western weapons and technology. Once Western countries were lurking ever closer to Japan, the daimyo decided that it was time to produce similar weapons and that he needed large industrial plants for that. So a number of plants were built, this building here being the oldest survivor or a industry plant in Japan:

In this building is a nice and partially English explained exhibition about the Shimadzu clan and the Shuseikan project, an industrialization project at the end of Edo and beginning of Meiji period, initially started in order to produce weapons to potentially withstand Western powers. But then also developped glass and porcelain manufacturing among many other technologies, including learning how to built steam machines.

There was also an interesting description of trade in the period of Japan's closure to all external contacts. Per the museum some trade still continued, by pirates, who as you could not BUY something in foreign countries, raided the coasts for goods to sell. Not sure if one could order a specific item from them...

It was getting colder, so I put on my cardigan and the fleece jacket for the final ride into town. During the ride I also passed close to this monument for the arrival of Francisco Javier in Japan: 

And thus I arrived to my hotel, which is in a very lively place of downtown Kagoshima, but my room is probably quiet and I had a good dinner of Satsuma cuisine in a restaurant suggested by the hotel. 

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

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