D3 Yamadera

Route: Zao onsen- Yamadera - Kaminoyama onsen
Bicycle: 86 km
Train: 350 km
Total ascent: 500 m
Average speed: 15 km/h (for the part wahoo recorded)
Riding time: unknown (Wahoo only recorded the ride up to Yamadera)
Weather: sunny, a bit windy, 22C

The day started in two different onsen tubs of my hotel. Between 21:00 and 10:00 the onsen are free to be used (privately) by the guests. When I woke up at 6:00 and went down to get a key there was none but around 7:00 I got a key to this tub:

Where I had a relaxing bath. When I came back to hang the key back at the board also an other key was available if one of the tubs with a view that I hadn’t been to yet. So I took the opportunity and had a second bath.

While taking the bath one actually doesn’t really see the landscape. Only if you sit on the wall between the two tubs. But then there was the famous “unkai” = “sea of clouds”. 

Sufficiently clean and relaxed I went back to my room and had my conbini breakfast (which I prefer over a Japanese breakfast) , packed my too big bag (definitely did bring unnecessary items: 2 jackets!) and then started the ride of the last day of this 3 day weekend.

When I planned this weekend back in August I only knew that Zao onsen itself is famous and that the crater above is a nice place. So I hadn’t a specific plan for the third day. And then decided to give Yamadera a second visit. I had been there already on my Tour de Japan back in 2017. Curiously nearly exactly 7 years ago on 11/Oct. Back then I went by train from Yamagata as I had gotten incredibly wet the day before and didn’t want to take an other chance. Turned out weather was totally fine. And I missed a very nice cycling path along a river. 

Today being a National holiday and perfect weather the temple was more busy than back then, but still reasonable.

But strangely the part of the temple I like most is the post box. Last time I even saw the postman coming up all these stairs to deliver/ receive post. 

Back down the many stairs I jumped back on my bike and down it was along the nice bicycle path until I took the turn to Yamagata, which week was on streets that weren’t that nice. I took a rest in the castle park had a snack there…

… and decided that by now it was too late to get to an onsen I had seen in the hills around Kaminoyama and instead cycled to the station directly where I am now in the waiting room with the bike packed up, a bento bought and waiting for my train. It wasn’t possible to change the reservation to an earlier train as it is fully booked. But sitting here isn’t so bad either. 

D2 Okama crater

Route: Zao onsen to Okama crater and back
Bicycle: 49 km
Walking: 2,6 km
Total ascent: 1480 m
Average speed: 12,2 km/h
Riding time: 4:02 h
Weather: sunny and early autumn temperatures. Between 20 and 10 C depending on height 

Today up to Mount Zao and its very photogenic crater. 

To get there even from Zao onsen which is already halfway up, it still takes a lot of more ascending. But no place crazy gradients. Thus slowly but steadily, I made it up there. From Zao onsen one first needs to go up to about 1000 m but then the road drops again down to about 700 m from where it is an up again to about 1600 m. And the same, obviously on the way back.

On the way up, I took a brief stop at the athletes Village, which seems to be a sport training center for various kinds of sports to get additional fluids from their vending machine.

From around 1300 m the koyo started.however, it isn’t an impressive arrangement of colorful leaves, probably because of the lack of maple trees and the food that you get the less trees there are anyway.

Probably the best koyo was just below the entrance to the lift to get up to the crater.

The lift was a typical flimsy Japanese lift. This one was lacking practically all kinds of safety measures. It was essentially only a place to sit without any backrest and one pillar to which to hold on. Luckily, it did not get very high above ground. And it wasn’t windy. I’m always surprised by these lifts in a country that is so risk adverse like Japan. A country that regulates every single river and creek so it doesn’t cause any destruction. A country that builds walls against the ocean blocking most of the view to protect itself from tsunamis. A country that closes hiking path for very extended times due to minor volcanic activity. But at the same time a country , where if you have a lift that was built probably before more stringent regulations came into place, you are totally welcome to keep it operating even when it is clearly is a rather dangerous affair. 

Before getting on the lift, I don’t all my clothes as it was already relatively fresh at the base of the lift and at 1700 m. It was a little bit colder and a bit more windy. But my cloths were up to the challenge. 

The crater itself can be accessed also by car, but not by bicycle, and the lift I took. With this being a long weekend and wonderful weather, they were quite a number of tourists up there. and thanks to them. There was also a small visitor center that did sell some easy food. I got a big pork bun which I ate on my way down.

After that, it was down first with the lift then 13 km or so by bike luckily it hadn’t been too steep on the uphill so on the downhill, there was no part that was uncomfortably steep. Then up again and over a pass and down again to Zao Onsen, where I bought in the conbini my dinner for tonight and returned up the hill to my hotel with the many different rotenburos. For today, I had reserved with a spectacular view, only that I was there after sunset. But still, if you switched off the light then you could look out into the darkness over the valley, see the mountain range opposite, the lights in the valley and along the hills, under the dark sky with a few stars.

 

D1 Zao ONSEN

Route: Kaminoyama - Zao onsen
Bicycle: 32 km
Train: 350 km
Total ascent: 983 m
Average speed: 8,2 km/h
Riding time: 3 h
Weather: very sunny but it is autumn now, 20C

Another long weekend, and for this one I had reserved back in August a hotel in Zao onsen. And ONSEN is really the right word for this trip. It was definitely more time in onsen today than on the bicycle.

This here is one of the free rental onsen in the hotel I am staying.

But the highlight of the day was the big Rotenburo onsen of Zao. In principle, a simple place, but wonderful. It is an onsen located right by the side of a small hot creek. They are channeling the water through a big stone pool, but one can actually even sit in the stream itself. Surrounded by trees in a relatively narrow valley. It is a famous place and was well visited when I was there today. But not too full. No pictures were allowed obviously, so I only took picture of the small creek a few meters downwards from the onsen. 

But I started this ride back down in Kaminoyama onsen, a railway station on the small Yamagata Shinkansen. I had come through this small city 7 years ago, when I cycled from the very north of Japan to the south on my Brompton. The not so old castle was still standing.

 

But for me, it was up into the mountains to the famous village of Zao onsen. I read about this place quite frequently on the Japan guide forum pages when people ask how to come here. it is a famous winter ski resort and specially famous for what they call snow monsters: trees, full of snow and frozen. But that doesn’t winter when I will not be here by bicycle. As for the previous weekend, I had actually reserved two different places, the other one in Yamanashi prefecture, but my main goal was to come here and when I checked the weather a few days ago, it seemed that it will be very good weather here.

Being a ski resort in winter, and obviously means that the village is halfway up on a mountain.On my way up, still at a pretty low elevation, I saw this khaki fruit stand. It did sell an entire basket for ¥200, but it also have some car kaki for free to taste right there, and a small knife to cut it down.

From there, it went up and up, but the elevation was generally OK even with my relatively heavy bag. I couldn’t really decide what weather it would be so I have a little bit of everything a warm jacket and cycling T-shirts.

At the entrance to the village is this very idyllic lake. It just doesn’t sound very idyllic because the road is relatively close by so one can hear quite a lot of car noise.

 

For koyo it is still too early, at least at a height of about 900 m. Let’s see tomorrow whenever I ride further up to this mountain if the autumn leaves have started to turn red.

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 21 - Yamagata through Kaminoyama and Yonezawa to Niigata 山形からかみのやま温泉と米沢経由で新潟市へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 21

This post describes the bicycle tour out of Yamagata to Kaminoyama Onsen, a second small ride through Yonezawa and the train ride down to the coast of Niigata.

Bicycle: 22 km
Train: 150 km
Riding time: 2 h
Total ascent: 160 m
Route: Yamagata to Kaminoyama Onsen by bicycle, then on through Yonezawa to Niigata by train
Weather: Between Yamagata and Kaminoyama onsen sunny, some clouds, 24 C while at Yonezawa, cloudy, 17 C


Surprise, surprise: Sun! When I looked up the weather for these days two days ago, it seemed that rain would be pouring down, similar to Day 19. However, the forecast got changed, and now the rain is only forecasted for sometime tonight. When I saw this today in the morning, I plotted out quickly a route that would take me in the direction of Niigata. Well, only the very few first kilometers, until Kaminoyama onsen. I had also briefly considered riding on to Yonezawa, which would have had the benefit of a longer ride, and of one train transfer less, but looking at the hill that I would have needed to climb between the plain around Yamagata and the one around Yonezawa decided against it.

Before starting my day, I abandoned yet an other piece of equipment, the umbrella I had bought yesterday. Never even opened... and there it goes with million of other umbrellas being abandoned every year in Japan.

When I got out of the hotel this morning, it was actually so warm, that I decided to just ride in my tank-top, no sleeves bicycle shirt. Which was perfect with shorts and sandals until Kaminoyama onsen.

As the name Yamagata 山形 = "mountain shape" could have let me to suspect, Yamagata city is actually surrounded by quite high mountains. The highest one being the one with Zao onsen ski resort on top of it.

The ride through the country side to Kaminoyama was nice, but nothing spectacular. In this region in addition to the "normal" rice fields, there is also a lot of fruit being grown, apples, pears, cherries, grapes...

Here a picture of the slow shinkansen travelling through the plain before Yamagata. It really is more like a higher class express train than a real shinkansen. This one here definitely just traveled at a normal-train speed. Nothing shinkansen like.

Kaminoyama onsen, as the name suggests, is famous for its onsen. However not necessarily for its scenic onsen. Here it is more about the water itself, rather than spending time in the water admiring the landscape. I asked at the local tourism bureau and they informed me that there is one onsen with rotenburo. It was going to close for daily clean up really soon, but I really wanted to get into a rotenburo, specially on such a warm day, so I made a sprint (on the bike) to the onsen, got my ticket (1,000 yen!) and splashed into the water. All alone.
Now the rotenburo part was really small, but being alone more than sufficient. But it was also really hot. I could get in, if I didn't move to much and at least sit on a stone. I never managed to get in all, and after a few minutes I needed to get out again in the fresh air to cool down. So actually not having so much time in the onsen was not a problem. It was not a place where I could have spent a long time anyway. And I washed off all the sweat I had accumulated  coming up from Yamagata, and changed into new cloths. So that was perfect!

After that I still had time for a short exploration of Kaminoyama onsen, which sports a few samurai villas (which I didn't visit) ...

... and a - reconstructed castle on a hill top. I think I read that originally it was actually on the top of the hill, but somehow when reconstructing it, they choose a place slightly lower. I guess the feudal lord would get very angry if he ever awakes from the dead.

Then it was time to take the Shinkansen, well, the slow version of the shinkansen on to Yonezawa.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the first part of the bicycle tour today in Yamagata, checkout the below maps:

In Yonezawa I had 2.5 h between trains, so some more time for sightseeing. Yonezawa essentially is famous for 4 things: Apples, Beef, Cherries and a shrine: Uesugi shrine. So there I went.

The rest of the city of Yonezawa was quite depressing. Half abandoned and for the rest simply typical Japanese small city ugly architecture. As also the clouds seemed to bring potentially a lot of rain, I made a quick return from the shrine to the station. That gave me time to admire one more of Yonezawas prides. The beef!

This piece of beef was really excellent. Tasty, juicy and very soft. A real highlight of my visit to Yonezawa.

Then back to my next train, an other 3 hours in local trains into Niigata.
Overall the connections from Yamagata to Niigata aren't very good. When looking up my options, it seemed that it is either direct express bus from Yamagata or shinkansen nearly back to Tokyo (to Omiya and then on to Niigata), or a lot of local trains. I opted for the local trains. The train ride out of Yonezawa was quite nice, through the countryside, fields, apple and cherry plantations and small villages that seemed much more inviting than Yonezawa. Probably the plain around Yonezawa would also make a good destination for cycling, although there is no specific sightseeing spot that I am aware of.

When it got dark, I brought out my computer and started on this blog post. Both trains are mainly used by high school students returning after a day home. While in the Yonezawa region it was not so surprising that pupils from the small villages need to go to Yonezawa or other bigger towns for school, on the Niigata stretch I am a bit surprised. I would have thought that the towns here are a bit bigger and thus one could attend a more local high school.

And tomorrow off to Sado island!

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the second and third part of the bicycle tour today in Yamagata and Niigata, checkout the below maps:

And just for the purpose of completeness, here the ride from Niigata station to my hotel:

Day 20 - Yamadera sightseeing 山寺で観光

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 20

Under the impression of yesterdays wet ride in the rain, no bicycle touring today, but instead a train ride to Yamadera and sightseeing of the temples on the hill, which were really nice.

Bicycle: 0 km
Train: 30 km
Total ascent: 1,015 step stairscase
Route: Yamagata to Yamadera station by train
Weather: fog, clouds and some sun, actually warmer than expected, probably around 23 C


After all the rain I took yesterday, I didn't want to get wet again and opted for taking the train (and buying a very Japanese, transparent umbrella) to Yamadera. In the end it didn't rain all day, and actually even the sun came through in the crucial moments when I was on top of Yamadera temple. Perfect timing!

After a frugal breakfast in the Toyoko Inn, I took the express train in direction Sendai and after a mere 20 minutes I was at the foot of Yamadera temple.

At that moment the fog on the mountain was still thick and one could only see the low lying buildings. So I started my expedition up the mountain and its 1000 steps with little expectations.

However right when I came to the Niomon gate, the entrance to the upper part of the temple grounds, the sun broke shyly through the clouds and little by little the clouds lifted.

There was even one tree already with red leaves. But generally it is still to early (or too low) for nice koyo viewing.

When I came to the famous view spot over the valley, the sun had properly come out and most of the clouds had lifted.

Then I continued my climb up to the highest parts of the temple. Now for a brief moment in bright sunlight.

Up here was even a post box... but I had already shipped my postcards from Tazawa, and the postcards I bought today, I hadn't yet acquired. So no post card from me in there. I somehow thought that maybe one of the monks would bring the post down every day, but no, there was actually a normal postman coming up the stairs. Ever day! He did not look very athletic nor young and did hike up the stairs with the same fatigue as all the other visitors. That's dedication of Japan postal services!

As I was returning to the base of the mountain, also the clouds settled in again.

In the small village I had lunch and some cherry ice cream...

... before walking up on the hill opposite and taking some last pictures of the temple on the hill (behind the fog).

On that hill opposite the temple one could hear the entire day some strange cries and shrieks, like commandos, so I thought to find out what was going on there, thinking of maybe some kind of matsuri or maybe some traditional logging. But instead it seemed to be more some training of the Japanese army. At least the area was cordoned off and some military vehicles were parked close-by.

After this surprisingly nice excursion to Yamadera, back in my hotel I had an in depth look at my options for the next days, with rain coming in for most parts of Japan. Tomorrow it seems to be raining practically everywhere, but there seems to be also a "window of opportunity" on Sado island for Friday (the day after tomorrow) afternoon and Saturday. So I have decided to use tomorrow as a transport day to Niigata and then set off on Friday with the ferry to Sado island, to make my two day trip there.

Now off to some dinner in Yamagata!

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: