4 prefectures, 3 days - Day 3: Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama & Ibaraki ３日間４県〜本日：栃木県、群馬、埼玉、茨城

Bicycle: 63.5 km

Route: Ashikaga - Sugito

Total riding time: 4:31 h 

Total ascent: 133 m 

Average speed: 14.0 km/h

Weather: Very Sunny, no clouds, some wind, perfect weather,  14 C

Todays highlight was probably visiting Gunma, while the bicycle was in Tochigi (front wheel) and Saitama (rear wheel):

Front wheel: Tochigi; rear wheel: Saitama, rider: Gunma

And only 3.5 km later, I was in Ibaraki. And only because I hadn’t planned this ride carefully enough, I missed Chiba, which would have been only an other 4 km from my route today, and actually quite feasible. But well, then I would have needed to change the title of all 3 days’ worth of posts.

The day started in Tochigi city, which to my surprise I found out yesterday evening, still has some old buildings. It is not so nice as e.g. Sawara, where the old buildings are all very much centred around a small channel, but the interest in the old buildings in Tochigi is more that there are also some from Taisho area, clearly influenced by Western architecture, as this hospital (which continues to be a medical center to today)…

… the restaurant where I ate yesterday evening and the old city hall, which however was totally in refurbishment. There were also some more normal old Japanese houses in town:

The one attraction I had found before going to Tochigi was the New Ginger Museum, which was definitely a very pink (and strange) experience. This awaits you at the entrance:

And it is not what it seems to be… or well, actually it kind of is, but by saying that it is a ginger root, it becomes totally acceptable to dedicate a complete, pink museum to a penis.

All possible things one can prepare with New Ginger, which actually isn’t fresh, but pickled ginger. I even took a sweet with ginger and a ginger soda.

But the highlight of this museum, without doubt was this video of the entire company dancing the New Ginger dance:

After these first touristic stops the ride of today could start. When I planned, I had not really found anything else interesting in the area, so set as a goal a super-sento with a convenient train station closeby, at a reasonable distance. For the ride itself I handed over the planning mainly to the komoot app. However I entered a few changes to avoid any major roads, and the ride was really great. Nothing by itself outstanding, but just a nice enjoyable ride through Japanese countryside with some mountains in the far distance. Some, closer to Nikko even with still some snow on the top, but not a lot, for end of February. This year was unseasonally warm in Japan. Mainly I rode on small country lanes and then on the typical Japanese bicycle path along a heavily dammed river. The rivers in that region still show the signs of the flood last year October, and are still being cleaned up from debris (mainly vegetation) lying around.

I finally came to a big water reservoir which has a cycling road right through the middle of it. On the center is a small artificial island, where I hate some cookies I had bought on the first day. Shortly afterwards, and just before the point with the 3 prefectures, there was a Michi-no-eki, where I got the best grilled sweet potato I had in my live. Only grilled, nothing added, but so creamy and sweet.

After the picture of at the prefecture boarders, the ride continued through similar landscape, although become a bit more built up over time, as I was approaching Tokyo.

The super-sento for today, was really nice. With 3 pools inside, and a whooping 5 pools outside and a small forest in which to gaze (although the supersento is in a built up area, there are no houses close or high enough, to warrant a high wall around it. Very nice. I had a long soak in the different waters, followed by dinner and am now sitting in the Tobu express train, back to Tokyo, heading for Otemachi, where I should be arriving in about 5 minutes. Perfect timing for this post. 

4 prefectures, 3 days - Day 2: Tochigi ー３日間４県〜本日：栃木県

Bicycle: 42.9 km

Route: Ashikaga - Tochigi

Total riding time: 2:57 h 

Total ascent:  144 m 

Average speed: 14.5 km/h

Weather: Sunny, some clouds and a cold strong wind (mostly tail wind though), 10 C

Today my explorations of the region around Tone river continued. I started at the Ashikaga Flower Park... but only there realized that actually quite close to my hotel there was the Ashikaga School, the oldest education institute in Japan, founded over 1000 years ago... and thus older than the oldest Bonsai I saw yesterday!

But I started at quite young plants today. So fragile that they need a personal hut for each single plant:

Apart from these flowers only some plums (?) were flowering. The main part of the garden was still pretty bare. But I can't complain. The garden is well known for its wisteria... and well, they don't bloom until about May. Now the wisteria trees were still completely barren and in the process of getting pruned. 

I was lucky though that I had picked up a free entrance ticket at the hotel, so the visit didn't even cost the 300 yen the other visitors paid. This garden uses a very intelligent ticket price policy. The more flowers bloom, the more expensive the ticket. I think 300 yen was the minimum... but even then they realize that they don't get that many people to visit the garden, so they offer free entrance as well with a coupon.

When I planned this ride the other day, I planned it in this region here solely because it seemed the only region with 3 days without rain (and so far, so good). So when I searched for what to do, I started with only two places I had vaguely heard about: Ashikaga Flower Park and Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. But 2 places to do tourism in 3 days, seemed a bit too few, so I looked at Google maps to see if there are any other places suggested to visit. 3 sprung up for today, and I integrated them into the ride. 2 out of 3 were fabulous. And the remaining one a bit deluding, but after 2 very nice discoveries this was not set-back at all.

So the first Google maps discovery was the Kurita Museum. It is very close to the flower park, just on the other side of the rail track and has very large grounds and on those grounds many different buildings, some modern architecture, some traditional...

Lower right corner: Building to the unknown potter!

... but the important part is obviously the art exhibited. It is a vast collection of only 2 types of Japanese porcelain: Imari and Nabeshima pottery. Actually mainly Imari pottery. A type of porcelain manufactured in Kyushu that was vastly popular with the European aristocracy even way before the Meiji restauration. Some of the pieces were of sublime quality. Like a simple dish, decorated to look like the inside of an open umbrella. Others were much more complicate, like a stylized description of the Tokaido invariably arriving at Nihonbashi. But there are also plates with maps of Japan (always excluding Hokkaido which at the time was a faraway island, inhabited by some strange indigenous people), like this one:

And well, slightly too large vases. Possibly made for the booming export sector of Imari pottery.

The museum was also nearly empty. I think in my entire time in the museum, I only saw an other 3 visitors. And this emptiness does really not pay tribute to the wonderful pieces of pottery exhibited. 

After so much museum it was time for lunch, which I had very close by in a restaurant, that must be teeming with people at the time of the wisteria flowering... but now was completely empty. But I got a hot bowl of curry Udon, which gave me some warmth and strength, which was needed seeing the fierce wind, which I had to endure riding to my next place found on Google Maps: Izuruhara Benten Pond.

I had been considering during lunch if to ride there at all, as I was quite tired from the ride yesterday... but decided to give it a go, and that was a great decision. Not so much because of the pond (however per an explanatory sign it is one of the 100 best waters of Japan (to see? to drink?), but because of the shrine that is right above the pond:

And from which one has a reasonably wide view over the valley:

This was really totally unexpected.

The place is a little bit touristy, and surprisingly has some descriptions in English. Not sure if that's because they are quite new (and maybe there is a drive towards including English in all newer signs), or if this place really attracts that many foreigners. Definitely not today, as I think I was the only foreigner I have seen the entire day.

Apart from that it was a nice ride through the countryside, which however is not totally romantic, as we are reasonably close enough to Tokyo and in a valley full of train connections, that the towns are generally well, typically Japanese... which means a lot of new and semi abandoned buildings, factories etc. But yes, countryside was nice enough, and even had some more modern historical remains:

Until I came across a field with a very small creek where in the middle of the field 3 old ships were parked. Really strange. How had they come here in the first place. Definitely not because of a tsunami... but I cannot even imagine that it had been because of some freek inundation, as there is simply no river close enough by, to wash ashore these ships. Mystery!

Only the third place that I had found on google maps did delude a bit. 新町薬師堂 (Shinmachi ? Yakushiji) It just was a small temple hall. But I think it is somehow historically important. But unfortunately the sign was in Japanese only. But no problem, it was on the way I needed to take anyway, and as said, I had already 2 unexpected discoveries today.

From there I rode into Tochigi city, where I will continue with my explorations tomorrow, last day of this long weekend.

Today finished in a sento here in Tochigi city. The goldfish sento, and there was a real basin of goldfish, that one could observe while soaking oneself. Very relaxing.

And finally I had Italian dinner in a place right in front of my hotel in an other historical building, probably from the Taisho or Showa era:

4 prefectures, 3 days - Day 1: Saitama, Gunma, Tochigi ー３日間４県〜本日：埼玉県、群馬県、栃木県

Bicycle: 68,2 km

Train: 30 km

Route: Omiya - Ashikaga

Total riding time: 4:19 h 

Total ascent:  193 m 

Average speed: 15.8 km/h

Weather: Cloudy, sunny, windy (but tail wind),  13 C

For this 3 day weekend, after considering several options, it seemed that starting in Saitama prefecture was the best bet weather wise... and so far so good. The weather forecast had rain in Chiba and Nagano prefecture for today, but not in Saitama. So that finally swinged it against Boso Flower Line and against a ride down from Karuizawa through Bessho Onsen to Nagano. 

What I didn't realize when planning this trip on Wednesday this week, that I would be riding through 4 prefectures, in 3 days. Today I touched already 3 of them: Saitama, Gunma and Tochigi (and I even started in a fourth: Tokyo... but did ride only a few km to Shinbashi station, where I took a commuter train out to Omiya. A city which I had never considered for tourism, but while probably the city itself isn't interesting at all, the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum is a true treasure. 

For me, this tree here below alone, made the visit worthwhile. It really moved me. I cannot explain it, but the beauty of this tree arrived straight to my heart. A very peculiar emotion. The terraces (I am sure there is a much better word for it) in which this tree is shaped, the small gap to see the trunk, the overall harmonious form... a true beauty. And still very young, only 70 years!

Before I made it to the Museum though I paid a visit to the Big Shrine = 大宮 which gives Omiya its name. The shrine was nice enough, but really not different to a lot of other shrines I have visited across Japan. What was remarkable though was the amount of people close to the shrine and in the park around it that were playing Pokemon Go. Players of nearly all ages, probably with the exception of teenagers. But even the elderly where avidly playing and there were hives of people standing around in the park trying to catch a pokemon. I did not join. 

When I continued I noticed that the lowest gear didn't click in. Not so much of a problem for these 3 days... but will be quite a problem next weekend (Izu peninsula!), so I decided to search out a bicycle shop to get it repaired right away. It isn't the first time this happens (actually I think the 3rd, and on both bromptons). This time it happened after earlier this week I had my back tyre changed, because of a drastic loss of profile at a brompton dealer very close to my office. 

Before        -          After

I found a bicycle shop in a big shopping arcade, and for 770 yen got it fixed in less than 30 minutes. Although to say the truth, in both Tokyo and Leiden I had got the same problem fixed in a brompton selling store in a few minutes for free... but well, fixed is fixed. 

Then I made my way to the highlight of the day, the Bonsai Museum. There was currently an exhibition of a bonsai master. This exhibition both contained actual bonsais (inside the museum) as well as very detailed explanations about the different Bonsai techniques. Including all the information in English. All of the trees were utterly remarkable. Very varied. Some were entire landscapes out of one tree. (But no photos were allowed inside). Actually bonsais are meant to be a part of a Japanese room, and there were also 3 rooms where one could admire the entire room setting around the bonsai.

In the garden there were more Bonsais, including the beauty above, but also some cherry trees already in full bloom:

and several pine trees. The oldest was over 1,000 years old! Must have been handed down from one bonsai master to the next, I guess. 

In the big garden of the museum photos were not allowed, but a video from a slightly elevated point was:

After the museum it was already past 14:00 so I ate in a small restaurant right in front of the museum. At that point I had only made about 6 km of today's ride... So I decided to skip all the other bonsai gardens (of the bonsai masters) that are close by and start the ride in serious. 

First I was riding along the train lines, which seemed to be particular popular with the local trainspotters. Not sure if some special train was going to come through? Or if this is simply for any weekend day with decent weather. 

Thanks to komoot I had for over 30 km a quite perfect bicycle route along a small river. 

This cycling lane is part of a bigger cycling infrastructure in the valley, as one can see from this map:

When I crossed the Tone river, we were already close to sunset... unfortunately in Japan it gets dark early... and I am not an early bird... so the last kilometers into Ashikaga were in the dark... but not too bad, I have light, the streets didn't have that much traffic... and an onsen awaited me quite close to the hotel. 

Actually a very nice onsen, with 4 tubs inside, plus a pool and a collagen room, which had red light, and NOT a collagen bath. Not really sure how this is supposed to work or what it is supposed to do... but well. Plus 4 tubs outside! 

Plus there weren't really a lot of people either. And they had all kind of amenities (scrubbing towel, tooth brush...) free of charge. So definitely a great place where to finish the ride today... well... finished, finished I did in my hotel close to Ashikaga station, but that was only an other 2 km down the road.