D3 Ooyu & Hirosaki in the heat

Route: Kazuno - Hirosaki - Shin-Aomori - Tokyo
Walk: 3 km
Car: 100 km
Train: 700 km
Weather: hot and sunny and this in Northern Tohoku, 32 C

Today in the morning on my phone already appeared a warning for Tokyo to not do any activities outside due to high temperatures. And even where we were in northern Tohoku it was pretty warm. 

We started off the day (after yet another other full Japanese breakfast) with a visit to a Jomon era stone circle in the village where we were staying. 

From there we continued to Hirosaki a famous castle (one of the 12 original remaining castles in Japan) in Tohoku. It is specially famous for its cherry blossoms and must be incredible busy then. Now it was simply hot, even though we had our small sun umbrellas. 

We just had a Quick Look at the old tower (which maybe is the only part of the castle actually still standing. It was moved a few years ago by a few hundred meters. Maybe because it was standing on the castle walls and they had become unstable. However it wasn’t really explained anywhere. 

We found our way back to the car and thanks to google maps found a restaurant on the way to Shin-Aomori station that was ideal for this heat.

We gave back the car slightly early (maybe 20 min) and even got some money back. That was a surprise. What was a less welcome surprise is that also the return Shinkansen was delayed, by about an hour due to some problems with a previous train, that delayed all other Tohoku Shinkansen. But at least this time we could sit in the air conditioned car with our drinks and snacks. And Netflix. 

Back home in Tokyo it’s hot, and will remain hot for the foreseeable future. Just a few days of respite Thursday and Friday this week, but then up again to 36C and more. With humidity , obviously. 

D2 - Towadako and Oirase

Route: Kazuno - Towadako - Oirase and back
Bicycle: 29 km
Car: 42 km 
Riding time: 1:49 h

Total ascent: 236 m 
Average speed: 16,1 km/h
Weather: mostly cloudy , 27 C 

When my friend first suggested this trip she proposed to cycle once around Lake Towada.  Which I agreed to, but also pointed out that although this is only about a 50 km ride it has more than 1000 m of elevation gain. It’s a lake. But it is a volcanic lake in an old crater and in one place the road goes up to the rim of the crater. So it was quite unlikely that we would manage to do the ride. 

Luckily a good alternative appeared. We had a relatively late start and until we were actually sitting on the bikes (we drove up to the lake from Kazuno by car) it was already 11:00. We parked at a road side station and started from there which was the flatter part of the ride. On our way I saw that the road along Oirase stream would be open from 12:00 onwards. 

My friend was very happy to see that news as it meant we could alter our overly ambitious plan to make a full round of the lake to a much more easy but tourist-worthy ride along Oirase stream. Actually I had hoped that we could walk along the stream, but only the road had been opened for traffic, the walking path officially was still closed. Which didn’t stop all potential hikers but did stop us from attempting it. Oirase stream is very popular and has become very popular with foreign tourists as well. But thanks to the closure yesterday there were very few people today and no bus tours. So we could ride leisurely along the road , stop every now and then and walk a bit to see some highlights. 

The River was fast flowing still showing the damage of the strong rain a few days ago. 

As this is a River flowing out of the lake the road along it is downhill. Not steep at all, but it also meant we would need to ride it uphill again  so relatively early we returned and started on our way back to the car.

The main road in some places was still very dirty from the rain that had washed down parts of the forest. So our bikes (and we) got pretty dirty.

Back at the car we put the bikes back into their bags and in the car and then drove back down to our excellent ryokan. We did stop at a very new road side station in our village that even had a foot bath. Kind of mandatory at a road side station called “big onsen”.

Back at our hotel we had a relaxing hot bath in the rotenburo before another excellent dinner and an early night on two very comfy futons. 

D1 - Towadako with a friend

Route: Tokyo -  Hachinohe - Towadako- Kazuno

Bicycle: 12km

Walking: 2 km

Train: 650 km

Car: 110 km

Weather: Sun and clouds and much cooler than Tokyo but still warm. 29C

A friend of me wanted to go for some summer vacation.  I hadn’t any plans but insisted that it must be up North to flee the scorching heat of Tokyo. I hadn’t any plans made some potential plans to go to Towadako, so that’s where we went. We met up a few weeks ago to plan everything, found a very nice ryokan in Kazuno (all the places on the lake itself were either extremely expensive or had bad evaluations). 

A month before we bought the train tickets, which turned out to be more complicated than we thought. Although we took an early morning train out of Tokyo on a Friday morning when we wanted to buy the tickets, there were no rear row seats available anymore and overall the train was already pretty packed. But she managed to get some reasonable seats in the second but last row. 

However this morning we had to wait for 1,5 h for the train. Somehow there was a delay in rail works between Omiya and Sendai so no trains of the Tohoku Shinkansen could leave Tokyo station.

 So although I got up at 4:30 we were only at around 12:00 in Hachinohe. 

Towadako is pretty hard to reach by public transport and probably impossible with a bicycle in tow, so we rented a car (my first time driving in Japan after converting my driving license again back in 2022… I had driven here sometimes between 2015 and 2017 but not since)  but luckily driving is slow and automatic cars are easy to drive. 

As a typical Japanese my friend found a perfect spot for a light lunch in an old farmhouse. 

Our original plan was to do some hiking along the famous Oirase stream… but when we got to the upper parking lot we learned that both the road and the hiking trail were closed since a few days due to damage by too much rain. So we did a mini walk around that information center … 

.. and then continued by car onwards to our ryokan. Which was actually good timing as we arrived around 17:00 and had all the time to enjoy the rotenburo while gazing out into the big Japanese garden with an even bigger pond…

… before our rich dinner in the room.

Part 4 (Day 15 - Day 21) - Akita and Yamagata 秋田と山形 - Summary

Bicycle touring Japan - Akita & Yamagata - Part 4

In this post I review my bicycle tour of Akita and the little riding I have been doing in Yamagata. Highlights of this week were the onsen and the Tozawa lake region as well as the temple in Yamaera. Apart from bicycle touring it also included some considerable train riding.  

Bicycle: 120 km

Other transport: 434 km

Region: Akita & Yamagata

Total riding time: 8:00 h

Total ascent: 432 m (plus the 1000 steps at Yamadera)

Total descent: 1,245 m (actually this is not strictly speaking TOTAL descent, but the main descent of days 17 and 18)

This part had two highlights, the temple in Yamadera (and specially my perfect timing when visiting them) and Tozawa lake region including its relaxing in Onsens. Kakunodate wasn't bad either.

However there was also a low point, the rainy ride from Kakunodate to Omagari and the continuation all soaked in the train. Not a good idea. But at least something learnt.

Here an overview map of the approximate routes taken (those by bicycle):

In between these far away stretches of rides I didn't teletransport, but took old-school local trains.

The actual routes I took are in the Strava or Garmin feed of each day:

• Day 15 Noheji to Tozawa Lake
• Day 16 Relaxing in Nyuto onsen
• Day 17 Around Tozawa Lake
• Day 18 Nyuto Onsen to Kakunodate
• Day 19 Kakunodate to Omagari and on to Yamagata
• Day 20 Sightseeing in Yamadera
• Day 21 Yamagata through Kaminoyama onsen and Yunezawa to Niigata

And here an overview of the costs.

Not a lot of this trip was in my original plan for Akita and Yamagata. Specially I hadn't realized how close Kakunodate is from Tazawako, where I had planned from the beginning to go for some relaxing onsen. In Yamagata I had planned on more (and different riding), but after the rain on day 19, I was not going to take chances on day 20, so no ride to Yamadera.

View from Yamadera

Yamadera temple buildings

From a bicycle ride perspective, without any doubt the best part was the ride around Tazawa lake. Perfect weather in a nice environment.

Lake Tazawa

Torii on the lake 

Shrine on the shore of Lake Tazawa

As said above, the total low point was the ride in the rain from Kakunodate to Omagari on Day 19.

Drying after a day out in the rain

Regarding gear, I have learnt that even wearing my rain jacket, I still get wet inside, because of the sweat. But I also tried on the T-bag rain cover and saw that it fits, but only if one does put it on slowly and methodically. I.e. not slip in on while it is raining.

This part was heavily influenced by the weather. Aka RAIN! It lead to one relaxing day in Nyuto onsen, without any ride nor sightseeing, just soaking in the traditional onsen at Tsuru-no-yu, but also a rain soak on day 19 and an on-foot (and train) exploration of Yamadera, because I was simply too afraid of rain, which in the end didn't occur at all on Day 20.

Also when I first arrived in Yamagata and looked at my next options, it seemed that the next 10 days would be dominated by rain practically everywhere in Japan, with just a few days of exceptions in Hokkaido, where I didn't want to return. So I had been contemplating going back to Tokyo for some days and wait out the rain. However after more data became available, right now it looks like Sado islands from tomorrow will be good and the day today (Day 21) also did not see any rain, at least not during my hours outside in  the open.

As a last picture of this week, a flower from Kakunodate:

This week did also conclude the trip to Tohoku, now on to Hokuriku!

Day 19 - Kakunodate to Yamagata 角館から山形へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 19

This post describes a rainy bicycle ride from Kakunodate to Omagari where I did get quite wet and then the continuation of today's tour by train to Yamagata. 

Bicycle: 20 km
Train: 170 km
Route: Kakunodate to Omagari by bike, on to Yamagata by train
Riding time: 1:10 h
Weather: rain, 15 C


Okay, so today I tested how it is to ride under the rain. Well, I can report that it is not nice.

Before I started it seemed that only a few drops of rain where falling, but luckily just before I really set out it did start to rain. At that point instead of doing the more sensible thing to just head to Kakunodate station, which was a mere kilometer away, I donned my rain gear and did set out. Initially the rain wasn't too bad, but somewhere along the road to Omagari it got stronger. So essentially by the time I arrived at the station the rain had set in and I was rather wet, see below point 2 about the rain jacket.

Just before leaving Kakunodate I still made this one picture of an old looking and rather big building:

Apart from the rain, the ride to Omagari was eventless. I hadn't plotted the route with a lot of care, so for some parts I needed to take the main road. There isn't too much traffic, but still with the rain and all, the parts on small country roads where much more enjoyable.

I arrived at Omagari just about 15 min prior to the departure of a train to Shinjo. The following train departing only nearly 2 hours later, I decided to make a "run" for it, which however meant that I didn't have time at Omagari to change into dry cloths... Not sure if that was a clever thing to do.

In Shinjo I had planned NOT to take the shinkansen, but an other normal local train to Yamagata. So here I had all the time to change into dry cloths and get some tasty and warm lunch, カレー with mushrooms. I had wondered, why the train coming from Omagari didn't connect directly to an other local train to Yamagata, but only to a shinkansen to Yamagata. I somehow had decided that I didn't want to take a shinkansen today, as I had time anyway and I wanted to see something of the landscape. This was before I found this information about the Yamagata shinkansen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamagata_Shinkansen
Essentially the Yamagata shinkansen is called shinkansen, but it is not a "normal" shinkansen, it is an express train until Fukushima and then gets docked to a normal shinkansen and gets pulled at high speed to Tokyo. In the part between Shinjo and Fukushima however it is running on the normal train tracks, like also the local trains, and it isn't even going at a specially high speed. Actually at least partially the train tracks are one-track only!

Well, I didn't take it, but took the next local train about an hour later (and a hot lunch and change into warm cloths later).

When I arrived to my hotel room at the Toyoko Inn close to Yamagata station, I started drying and washing my stuff. Even some money I had in my trouser pockets got totally wet, and is now drying in the bathroom, together with freshly washed cloths (those that can't be tumbled dry).

What did I learn today?

1. The rain cover of the T-bag does actually fit over it even when it is packed to capacity, BUT it is hard work to get it over it. So essentially one needs a quiet and dry (!) place to fit it. The rain cover however does work, the T-bag didn't get wet at all. 
2. Under my rain jacket it is warm, but also humid. I don't think that it is the rain getting through from outside, but rather the sweat not getting out. So essentially I still get wet. 
3. Putting the iPhone just in my trousers pockets is not good, as they get wet, even though the rain jacket was over them, so better to buy a rain cover for the iPhone (well, or leave it inside the covered up T-bag, but that is not very practical either, if I need information while riding. Or want to take a picture of the rain)

T-bag with rain cover

The weather forecast for the next week is not looking promising at all. Tomorrow and the day after weather is still fine from Nagoya to the South, but starting from Friday (3 days from now) the weather forecast has rain for practically everywhere in Japan. Even Okinawa. It is true that a 10 days weather forecast isn't very accurate, but with that much rain in the forecast it is kind of impossible to decide where to go. So I guess I will go back for a few days to Tokyo and wait for better weather to appear on the horizon.

But tomorrow, I will go to Yamadera (probably by train) and visit those temples over there. Hopefully they should be nice even with some rain. Which might actually not be too heavy tomorrow.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

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

Day 18 - Nyuto onsen down to Kakunodate 乳頭温泉から角館へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 18

This post describes bicycle ride down from Nyuto onsen to Kakunodate, an old samurai town, which has been preserved quite well. I also made it to Dakigaeri gorge close-by.

Bicycle: 40 km
Route: Nyuto Onsen to Kakunodate
Riding time: 2:30 h
Total ascent: 93 m (however today again was a day descend rather than ascent)
Elevation loss: 658 m
Weather: cloudy, about 16 C at Tazawako and 20 C around Kakunodate


Today bye-bye to the mountains and onsen and down the hill to Kakunodate. It was really more a rolling down than a ride today. However specially the first part until the plain around Senboku was - like yesterday - quite steep and it is actually not so nice to roll a hill that steep down.

So I did again a lot of intermediate stops on the ride downhill, to let the breaks and wheels cool down and to relax my hands. Doing so I took some more pictures of the surroundings.

I specially noted this kind of very long grass, which seems to be very typical of the current season and this region.

I also saw this extremely cute road block. Who wouldn't want to stop for a panda eating his bamboo?

For a small portion in Senboku, I had a small countryside road, but then the only possibility to get down the mountain was road 46. It has some traffic, nothing too bad, but as it is also not so wide, it's not a perfect ride.

Halfway down I made a stop at a forest famous for its skunk cabbage. This plant is really called like that and it's actually very beautiful, but not flowering now. However the forest is still there and I made a few steps inside on the boards.

It was actually rather creepy. With water flowing below the planks, different ways intersecting and trailing off into different directions, some of them very overgrown.

Being there completely alone was somehow very creepy. I don't really know why, as the forest is close to the road, it was broad daylight, but still, I did only venture briefly into it and was happy to come back to my bike.

After some more riding down hill, I made a detour to Dakigaeri gorge. As at breakfast only one slice of grapefruit as fruit was left, I decided that banana covered in chocolate could also count as fruit and got a stick before venturing in the gorge.

Most Japanese I encountered while eating the banana made some kind of comment about it. Apparently it is not culturally acceptable for a 40 something to eat a banana covered in chocolate before lunch. Actually it wasn't even very tasty. The surprising thing was, that the chocolate didn't taste of anything. So essentially it was only a banana. So fruit, right?

This bridge marks the entrance into the gorge.

The way itself is an easy hike, well actually less a hike than a walk. It's not steep at all. Sometimes one gets a glimpse into the deep blue waters of the river.

At the current end of the walkway, there is a waterfall.

It seems that the path originally was much longer, but somehow did get partially destroyed, so for now only the waterfall is reachable. But it still makes a nice walk, with several scenic bridges and even a few tunnels.

At the starting point of the hike there were some food stands, and at one I even got a freshly prepared Yakisoba. Actually when I came to the stand it looked completely closed, but I asked and the stand owner told me that, yes, she would definitely prepare some yakisoba for me. I am not sure if it was closed because it was late (13:00) or because it was early (koyo matsuri is only starting tomorrow). Anyway, I got my Yakisoba.

For koyo, i.e. colourful autumn leaves, it was however still to early. A few trees only showed first indications of changing colours, but nothing decided yet.

From there I took a very straight road, with little to no traffic right into Kakunodate.

Kakunodate wasn't on my original plan as I had thought it would be hard to reach by bicycle. I hadn't realized that from Tazawa lake it is actually very close. And Tazawa lake and it's onsen were always on my plan...

Kakunodate is famous for it's samurai mansions. Actually today's Kakunodate is a very small town. Even shortly before riding into the town one is still in the countryside. A good portion of present day Kakunodate is taken up by the samurai mansion area. One long street, that has multiple samurai mansions on each side and a long, wooden fence, behind which also some other buildings hide.

I went to three samurai mansions. The nicest was probably Ishiguro house. Aoyagi house is very big, and does have some interesting exhibits, it has however also a lot of shops inside, which I found a bit distracting.

Opposite one of the mansions, a dahlia garden was in full, spectacular bloom.

These dahlias are gigantic. Some of them big like a head:

Kakunodate, as probably many other places in Japan, was divided in a samurai and towns people area. Also in the downtown area, still a few old buildings remain, like this shop, that also seems to still sell the same things like 50 years ago ...

... a miso factory, which has an old brick building, constructed in the hope that it would withstand the next fire.

With that today's sightseeing trip came to an end, and I checked in to my room in a onsen right in the center of Kakunodate. A simple, Japanese room, but again, similar like in Noheji, very newly made. The only drawback is that there is no wifi, so this post will go life only tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will travel on to Yamagata. Still need to checkout the weather, which was not too promising.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

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

Day 17 - once around Tazawa lake - 田沢湖一周

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 17

Today the weather cleared up and I used the day for a bicycle tour around Lake Tazawa which was very scenic, specially the shrines on the shore seemed to be constructed with future photographers in mind. The day ended in yet an other onsen in Nyuto onsen. 

Bicycle: 38 km
Bus: 24 km
Route: Once around Tazawa lake
Riding time: 2:20 h
Total ascent: 179 m (however today was really the day of the descend rather than ascent)
Elevation loss: 587 m
Weather: sunny, 20 - 24 C


After all the rain yesterday, today it was sunny and warm, perfect cycling weather. I started the day riding down the hill, well probably mountain is the better word for it, from my hotel to Tazawa lake. I needed to stop several times along the way down, to allow my hands to relax, the breaks and wheels to cool down again, and well, in order to take pictures!

Once down at the lake I took the road in anticlockwise direction, which allowed me to ride always on the lakes side. My Garmin course however wanted me to ride the other way round, so it protested from time to time, but frankly, there is no way to get lost around that lake. I would say that the ride for about three quarters is very flat, only on the last kilometers prior to reaching again the partition point there is some up-and-down. The road in general was either inside a forest, or forest to the right, lake to the left. So very scenic.

Right at the partition point there was a beach and some swan shaped pedalos on the lake:

One of the first attractions, was a shrine with a torii on the shore (but not inside the water).

Close by, but up a steep hill there is a stone which seems to be venerated:

After the long climb maybe not everyone sees the rock, so the tourism agency has put a sign right beside it.

Here some more pictures of the lake, as the road opens to different panoramas while riding.

Overall there was not a lot of traffic on that road, although it was Sunday and perfect weather. The only exception was the area right around Tatsukoso たつこ像, this golden statue in the water:

This was THE touristic spot of the entire lake, with a large parking lot and buses coming with loads of tourists. However it is also a place for a few nice pictures:

Today I also encountered other cyclists, albeit "only" day trippers. There is a bicycle rental outlet close to the "entrance" to the lake and some people did rent bicycles there.

Apart from these cyclists, in all these days, since I re-started in Iwate prefecture on day 7, I have seen only 2 other touring cyclists. Two Westerners close to Osorezan. While in the week in Hokkaido, I saw about 10 cyclists per day, no cyclists, except local traffic in the last 2 weeks. Maybe it is later in the year and maybe it is also much easier to meet other cyclists on the one and only road running South from Wakkanai than elsewhere in Japan, but not even in Tono valley, which seems to be relatively famous as a cycle destination nor today around the lake, did I encounter other cyclist travelers. But I am not feeling alone ;-)

At the golden statue above I looked at my options for the continuation of the day and decided to make it back to Tazawako station and catch the 14:20 bus up to Nyoto Onsen, for a soak in an one of the famous onsen up there. Time was a bit short, well, actually finally it wasn't and I had about 30 minutes at the station which I used to grab a quick lunch, so I made my way around the second half of the lake rather quickly, including the up-and-down I encountered on the last kilometers prior to returning to the lakes entry.

A posteriori there would have been even less reason for haste, as the bus didn't run directly from the station up the mountains to Nyuto Onsen, but did actually come to the lake first. But well, some additionally kilometers also apart from the lake were okay.

Up in Nyuto Onsen I opted for the Ogama Onsen, as it is open until 17:00 and has two female-only outdoor pools.

Unfortunately the water in the rotenburo (there was really only one, not two, as the second one was kind of closed) was sooooo hot, that it was hard to enjoy it. Even the Japanese ladies were only able to withstand it for a few minutes before giving up again. So finally I did not spend that much time in the onsen, as I might have wished. But still, it was nice to sit naked and thoroughly warmed outside in the nature.

Up in Nyuto Onsen already the first signs of autumn colouring could be observed, but it is still a little bit too early.

Today concludes my stay at Tazawako. Tomorrow I will ride down all the way to Kakunodate.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

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