This blog is about travelling through Japan on a bicycle. Initially on a foldable bicycle (Brompton) and more recently mostly by road bike (Spezialized)... but also by train, ferry, plane, bus or any other transport, if sea, weather, mountains or the like come between me and my desire to ride.
I have tried to summarise information that could be potentially helpful also for other bicycle travellers through Japan, such as list of bicycle roads, helpful web pages etc.
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.
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.
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…
Route: Hashimoto - half way up to Miyagase - Machida - home
Bicycle: 66 km
Train: 35 km
Average Speed: 14.5 km/h
Total Ascent: 748 m
Riding Time: 4:31 h
Weather: Sunny and too hot, 27 C
This weekend I tried a ride in the mountains (original plan was to ride up to Miyagase dam and then maybe further up from there)... but we started quite late and it was already quite hot when we were still climbing up, so on a dragging climb we (I, to be precise) decided to turn back and take a different route again back to down the mountains, to lunch and a very relaxing onsen. Actually a very nice super sento in your typical built up ugly Tokyo suburbia... but this was a super sento with a twist: Very dark waters and one of the rotenburos at only 35 C, which was a perfectly coolish temperature to linger in the water for a long long time, getting out of it only occasionally to heat up again a little bit in the next pool over (which was probably at around 40 C).
The region around Miyagase dam is probably the easiest place in the mountains accessible from my home. A short ride to Medaimae or Sasazuka station and then a direct train to Hashimoto and in less than an hour I am at the starting point and from Hashimoto up into the mountains it isn't too far either.
After the long and relaxing soak in the onsen it had gotten a bit cooler and so it was possible to ride a bicycle again... and instead of just slowly riding to the next (and closeby) train station, I decided to ride back home. It didn't look too far on a map (about 30ish kilometers)... but it turned out that the landscape (you can't call it countryside because it is essentially all built up until Tokyo) around Machida is pretty lumpy. A lot of up and downs. Not the best ride I ever did... But hey, I made it back home.
Weather: Surprisingly sunny and getting hot (although the measured temperature seems to say otherwise), 19 C
This weekend friends had organized a ride out to the Hilton Narita. The same friends with whom I went to the Odawara Hilton back in February and to the mountains of Tokyo last October. One of them works at the Hilton in Shinjuku so gets discounted rates for staying at other Hiltons and these two are the closest to Tokyo.
This ride was organized as two of the group soon will relocate to Thailand and unbeknown to us before the ride had just got married the day before... so kind of this was their honeymoon ride. At least we were nice enough to give them a double room.
The day before typhoon #2 had come bashing through Honshu, but it seemed that from the late morning the rain would have moved on and we could cycle. So we decided to meet for lunch at a famous Ramen place close to Funabashi station and only start the ride around 14:00. With our speed we made it to the hotel just in time for dinner. No washing before though.
One of the team lives in Funabashi and did plan the ride. To a good part it was along Hanamigawa which I had ridden a few years back on suggestion of yet another Tokyo cycling friend.
The intense rain from the previous 2 days, had inundated some parts of the cycling road, but still mostly rideable. Only one of the rest stops along the way was deeply inundated...
... it is that little hut in the background. But the water was nicely cold in a warm day, so it was actually quite nice to wade out there. (Keep in mind the water height to compare how much the water receded already on Day 2 below).
On one of the many rest stops we had, we took a picture of us as peanuts, famous local produce apparently.
And on we went... to our next photo opportunity.
Day 2
Route: Narita - Hanamigawa - Funabashi
Bicycle: 83 km
Train: 35 km
Average Speed: km/h
Total Ascent: 282 m
Riding Time: 5:38 h
Weather: Sunny, humid and warm tending to hot, but still okay, 23 C
On the second day we started early... well earliER... probably we only got started at around 10:00 am. Also today was a day full of rest stops and photo stops. For this group of friends the important thing when cycling together is the TOGETHER... not so much the cycling itself. And that is also fun. Sometimes to me it can seem a bit too slow... but then just enjoy the moment, the time out there, the time on the bike and the next rest stop. And obviously the time in the evening in the hotel.
Japanese are quite used to travelling with friends and sharing rooms (which I don't mind either). And while this Hilton didn't have very big rooms, some other hotels and specially ryokans in Japan are geared towards groups sharing one big room.
The first one was on a hill just outside of Narita airport plane spotting. A hill apparently buildt only for this purpose with many "professional" plane spotters that were listening in to the conversations of the tower on small radios plugged into their ears and who did seem to know every single plane where it came from, where it would fly. In a country of train spotters they must feel like an exotic breed.
Through some quiet country lanes ...
... we went on to Narita-san, a big temple in Narita city. There were some big celebration that day for the founder of this specific buddhist sect.
More country lanes did bring us back to Hanamigawa river and lunch closeby. By now it was quite hot... but still kind of bearable, but the lunch break was welcome. However 2 of the friends didn't feel well. One with sleep deprivation (it seems he sleeps only a few hours every day and has a hard time falling asleep at all) and the other with a bout of pollen allergy. But luckily we were in never too far from a train station, so dropped them of at a train station, helped them back up their bikes and after a while (and by now a bit cooler) continued back to the river and riding towards the Pacific.
Also today still parts of the way were inundated...
... but the water from the rest place had receded... and one could "sit" there again:
And on we continued versus the Pacific where we arrived shortly after sundown. And were still not in Funabashi, hadn't entered an onsen yet and hadn't had dinner yet either...
So on it was to Funabashi, a supersento and dinner at the supersento before catching a late train back to Tokyo. It wasn't the last train... but I think I arrived home at around 1:00 am, after a good day out with friends.
Route: home - Ome - Okutama - Otsuki Bicycle: 118 km Train: 75 km Average Speed: 17.7 km/h Total Ascent: 1098 m Riding Time: 6:32 Weather: Sunny and not yet too hot, 21 C
This ride was "advertised" on Meetup as "easy going"... but who says that one cannot make an easy going ride into something interesting. As the meeting time in Ome station was relatively late I decided to make an early start instead and head out to Ome by bike, adding about an other 50 km to the ride before the "easy going" part even started. At Ome station I met Daniel, the Meetup organizer who I know from a few previous rides, but apparently it was the first one where I came by road bike and he was rather surprised by the change of "scenery".
Apart from the organizer there was one more participant, a Spaniard on a mountain bike. So we set of on the river side up to Okutama. Daniel know an underground fish ladder which we visited.
However no fish there... apparently not climbing season. Shortly after we went to a smug restaurant, that could have easily been in Meguro... but was on the shores of this small river serving their local speciality: (overpriced) meat loafs. But the setting was nice.
There we consulted our maps and both I and the Spaniard knew that there was a small road up to Okutama lake instead of the slightly bigger one that has a lot of tunnels and convinced Daniel to try for that one. Which is a nice, albeit slow road up. Mostly in the shade. Sometimes with a few hikers and some gravel... but all manageable by road bike. It even has some nice small bridges. Only 2 people at any time are allowed on it.
This is the same area, where I cycled many years ago (2016?) with a colleague of Matteo on the exact day they lost their satellite.
We didn't lose our way and instead made it up to Lake Okutama. Which per the Meetup description was going to be our goal before heading down again to Ome station. But the day was nice and we just had made it up here, so Daniel suggested to instead cycle on and go to Otsuki over the mountains. The Spaniard couldn't join us because he had come by car and needed to go back to Ome station... but after some thinking I decided to join Daniel instead.
Not too far from the peak (but unbeknown to me) I had a low point and clearly needed some carbs... but hey, there was a small coffeeshop. Which turned out to mainly sell coffee... and little else, but they had a small cookie filled with An and fresh cheese which turned out to be everything I needed. A little rest, something sugary to drink and some small cookies. And off we went up and up, until the tunnel that would bring us through the top and then down a rather gentle slope to Otsuki.
Route: Maibara - Yogoko and back Bicycle: 77 km Train: 160 km Average Speed: 17.1 km/h Total Ascent: 305 m Riding Time: 4:28 h Weather: Sunny but not to warm, strong headwind on the way out… nice tailwind coming back, 17C
My company is organising every year a cycling event in Europe and this year I signed up for the first time. I found out through the Japan company newsletter that a colleague from Osaka office also signed up… so we decided to spend a day together cycling when I was going to be in Kansai. Although she lives here, she has just started cycling, so didn’t know any good routes. So I proposed a few routes around the area I knew… and she selected the one from Maibara to Yogoko and back. (A ride I had done on a rental road bike a few months ago). It was also her first time rinko-ing (i.e. putting the bicycle into a bag and on the train).
We met at Maibara station, reassembled our bikes and then set out to the lake against a quite fierce wind. But not as bad as wind in the Netherlands.
Surprisingly it was her first time at Lake Biwa although she lives in Kobe. We cycled along the shore mostly on the cycle path which officially is labelled “slow cyclists”, but protects from the cars and lorries.
Specially the landscape around Yogo lake was really nice, with wild wisteria blooming on the banks of a small river.
At the lake we had lunch in an old fashioned restaurant and then returned with the wind in our backs in slightly downhill. Riding back for long stretches we literally didn’t pedal at all… and for some other parts we pedalled a little bit… but really without any real effort. Specially the part reaching nearly 30 km/h on a very gentle downhill (so gentle that it was kind of invisible) was a lot of fun.
On the way back we passed through the countryside instead of along the shore, essentially repeating the ride I had done in early December last year. Passed through Nagahama historical centre …
… and back to the station at Maibara. With my new rinko bag from Montbell I am now very quick rinko-ing, so had some time to speak with the staff at the cycle rental station and got good advise for a Biwa-ichi (i.e. a total round of Biwa Lake by bicycle). I had seen that the weather on the next day was going to be good and, crucially no wind. So I thought that this would be the ideal day to attempt a Biwa-ichi. But it is 184 km… which is a bit too much for me. My longest ride so far was a 160 km (I.e. 100 mile) ride a few years back in the Netherlands helped with a nice tailwind along. So 184 km with a bit of hills (more than in the Netherlands) and without a constant tailwind sounded too hard. But I got the good advise, to only do the bigger part of the lake from Biwa-O-hashi onwards, i.e. Katata to Katata. Also because the part between Katata and Otsu is quite heavy with traffic (as I experienced when cycling from Gifu Hashima to Kyoto earlier in the year) and thus neither fast nor enjoyable to ride.
Route: Morioka - Koiwai Farm - Hachimantai Bicycle: 67 km Train: 300 km Average speed: 14,3 km/h Total ascent: 1173 m Riding time: 4:40h Weather: Sunny, some clouds, 8C
For this weekend I signed up many months ago for a ride with a team of people from Osaka. They are doing regularly one day and weekend trips. Normally around Osaka… but sometimes also a bit further afield. The first time I joined them was in January this year, for a ride in Shizuoka prefecture. This month the ride was even further North. Around Morioka in Hachimantai area.
We all met the evening before in Koriyama, had dinner... and some of us (not me though) did drink too much. But we had a lot of fun. The next morning was an early start to catch a Shinkansen further North to Morioka, a city where I had been years ago in my Tour of Japan.
Riding out of Morioka first along a river and then through the countryside. Taking in the nice panorama and the occasional sakura tree still flowering. Actually not "still" flowering, but in their prime: the benefit of colder climate up in the mountains.
We were really lucky with our hanami, as in most other parts in Northern Tohoku the flowers were already fading and on our train ride back to Tokyo there was a Japanese tour group of elderly tourists who went all the way to Hirosaki to see the famous cherry trees at the castle... just to see cherry blossoms well beyond their peak.
We stopped at Koiwai farm, apparently a very well known farm for milk products, ...
... had lunch there (it was more like a snack and took an eternity, as the small restaurant outside of the farm wasn't equipped to handle that many orders at the same time) and then cycled to our second touristic highlight of the day. A solitary cherry tree with the backdrop of Mount Iwate:
From there is was mainly downhillls... until it wasn't. Until a quite long and - looking now at the Strava file - apparently quite steep ascent up the slopes of the vulcano. However I made it up there, was even with the first people there and so had enough time to take in the volcanic landscape.
We were rather late at this point, but from here onwards it was really downhill... but also really cold. I think my Wahoo showed -2C... But while moving it was okay. We arrived at our resort hotel, had time for a pre-lunch soak in the onsen and then off to buffet dinner, which included an entire mountain of crabs.
We had fun, again a few people did drink way too much... but miraculously the next day were still operational.
Day 2
Route: Hachimantai - Shibutami Bicycle: 42 km Train: 550 km Average speed: 14,3 km/h Total ascent: 571 m Riding time: 2:31 h Weather: Sunny, some clouds, quite windy, 9C
On day 2 we awoke to a cold but sunny morning, gazing out of our window on Mount Iwate and a cherry tree in full swing:
The preannounced plan for the day was to ride up Aspite Line to see the snow wall along both sides of the street. I was quite worried about this part of the ride days earlier, after seeing this weather forecast that had the temperature at -20 C at the top!
Officially the road was closed... but somehow at some point someone decided that it actually wasn't closed... and frankly, there were other cars going up and down. So it didn't really seem to be closed.
However only a relatively small group (less than half of the group) attempted it... and it would have been a long ride up (and probably a very freezing and long ride down). So the ride leader decided after a few kilometers of cycling up hill (where it got actually quite warm... although it was cold) to take pictures and return down to join the others and go for lunch. In a certain way I was a bit disappointed because the initial "advertisement" for this ride was the snow wall... But it would have been a long ride up. We only made it up to an altitude shy of 800 m... and the highest point would have been around 1500 m.
After lunch, we had an uneventful ride slowly downhills, made it to a first train station, where we decided to cycle to Morioka instead... but during the ride there (on a rather busy road) decided to call it a day and look for an other train station, right in time to avoid a major downpour. So all in all a good day.
Before boarding the shinkansen back to Tokyo we had Morioka cold noodles, which seem to originate from Korea. Aparatenly there were a lot of immigrants from Korea after the war in Morioka. It was nice... but not really appropriate for a rather cold April day. But in summer it most be lovely.
Route: Hashimoto - Miyagase Dam - Atsugi Bicycle: 42 km Train: 85 km
Average Speed: 17 km/h
Total Ascent: 496 m
Riding Time: 2:27 h
Weather: Sunny and 15C
Although it was already Sunday I was still kind of hungover from drinking way too much with an ex-colleague and friend on Friday evening. But today was an easy ride... wouldn't it have been for the new cycling bag. In preparation of the ride at end of April in Iwate, the leader of that event had asked me to buy a bicycle bag where both wheels are been taken out, so that the bike is a bit smaller... in light of the big group all being in the same Shinkansen. And well... taking out that extra wheel is a real pain. Not so much the taking out part... as the putting back in part. But well, I did pack up the bicycle at home already a few days ago... and had a try. While my friend instead had a Montbell bag where you only need to take out the front wheel that additionally is wide enough to just drop over and get going. Much easier than the one I had bought a few months ago, where I always struggle to get the zipper to close. Shortly after this ride I bought also the Montbell bag... now having a total of 3 bags for my one bicycle... and the Montbell bag did change my riding experience quite a lot. Taking a train now, is pretty straightforward. Pop out the front wheel, put in the metal spacer, tie the wheel to the frame, pop over the ample bag ... and get going. I timed it on my first attempt and it took 8 min! Without any hurry.
We cycled up to Miyagase Dam, had lunch there on the shore...
... enjoyed the scenery still with a lot of hanami, including cherry blossoms in the mountain ...
... and then rolled down the hill to an onsen in Atsugi. Where we soaked for hours and chatted happily away.
Route: Tokyo - Kamifukuoka Silk Cycle and back Bicycle: 77 km Average Speed: 17.3 km/h Total Ascent: 312 m Riding Time: 4:28 h Weather: Sunny and clouds but no rain, 14 C
This weekend friends wanted to go visit a very special bicycle shop... only that it looks like your totally normal neighbourhood bicycle shop... but it isn't. The owner of the shop previously worked at Giant in Japan in an important position designing bicycles. And now still designs his own bicycles. Bicycles with a cord for a downtube!
The string looks really thin and feeble, but we all tried riding the bikes and they feel surprisingly normal. Only that they were all way too small for me.
The purpose of the rope as a downtube is obviously to be able to fold the bicycle. And yes, it gets reasonably small very quick. Not as small as a brompton... but the bikes ride much more like a normal bicycle.
One friend was so convinced that he finally did order one... which arrived in early September. The shop owner had the frames constructed in Taiwan and then assembled them here in Japan. These bikes are also surprisingly economical for a full blown bicycle.
On the way to the bicycle shop we passed by Riken. By the entrance and exit gate where I always got into Riken now nearly 30 years ago ! (in 1995). I hadn't been here in such a long time.
After the visit to the cycle shop we started returning back to Tokyo... but before that one of my friends told me that it was his wife's birthday today... so after a bit of thinking I proposed to ride back to Tokyo fast and bake a cake while they would cycle at a more leisurely pace and join me in Shimokitazawa where we went for dinner... and then back to my place... where the freshly prepared cake was waiting. A big surprise... to the friend whos birthday it was. As everyone had tole her that I needed to head home quickly to get some urgent work finished... while everyone else knew what I was up to.
