SBK Japan

Where: All Japan

How Long: 2 months

How Far: 13,500 km

Accomodations: Anything you can imagine

Highlights: Too numerous to list

Garmin GPS Track: Download

Author: Geezer

---------------------------------------------------------- The Tour ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I retired at the end of June and returned to Canada. Plan A was to put myself out to stud, but not too many takers yet (go figure! ) so on with Plan B for the time being. Bike was paid for and working well, so I left it here and came back for a couple of months touring. This time with no pesky staff or customers wasting my time. No real plan or itinerary, but I'll try to keep a small blog going here.

I'll probably try to avoid the tollways this time and see some of the stuff I've missed by blasting by at silly speeds. No hurry to get anywhere, so I can take my time.

Edit: Here's the complete circuit I ended up doing

11 Sep 2008

Arrived in Japan and crashed with at my friend Naoya's house in Tabata.

12 Sep 2008

Retrieved the bike from my friend Ryoko, which was parked with good neighbours while I was gone (she has an R8 and an M6 in her garage!). Battery still all right and it started right up. Went down to Ishii-san and borrowed his tools to sort out a few things on the bike. That blew most of the day. Finished with a nice takoyaki dinner prepared by Naoya and his Mom.

13 Sep 2008

Nice weather today, but bloody hot. Late start, but Gerard and I decided to head for the hills in search of cooler climes. Just a pleasant ride up to Saku in Nagano on R254. Nothing noteworthy, except that I seem to have inserted the ETC card upside down. Some mumbling from the speaker when I entered the Kanetsu, then the gates didn't open when we got to Yoshii IC. Didn't stop to discuss it, so saved 2,200 yen. 8)

Met up with Ide-san, his GF and another couple for dinner. Crashed at Ide's pad for the night.

14 Sep 2008

Today was the day for the big annual Tokyo Riders camp/BBQ at Matsubarako in Nagano. Headed down there in the morning to start setting things up.

Got the cabins sorted first.

Then the food area.

More people started showing up after noon.

Hell of a good turnout! Around 43 people, including some non-TR riff-raff.

This was our most successful event yet! Great to see so many old friends and some new faces too. Good food, lots of drinks, good company, lots of tall stories!

Managed to survive the night without getting throttled for my snoring.

15 Sep 2008

Ide-san woke up the eager-beavers and they went out to terrorize the local mountain roads. In the meantime chef Andrew prepared a full English breakfast!

By noon, everybody had left for their own ways, so I also bid goodbye and headed up R480, then right on R299 to enjoy some twisties. Then North on R141, past Saku and up into the mountains on the Asama Sun Route, R94 and R406. R406 is very nice! Then East on R117, with a pit stop at Nozawa Onsen, a very neat onsen town.

The inevitable shrine.

Cooking eggs and corn.

Main Street

Foot bath

Back on R117 and R353 to Yuzawa, then down R17 to find accomodation in Urasa, near this town.

16 Sep 2008

Bit farther along R17, then right on to R252. This road runs East through Fukushima, and it's spectacular riding!

Then North on R400 and R49, then East on R459. All great riding! Running out of superlatives; so many nice roads in this country!

Spending the night in Kitakata, near the Bandai area.

17 Sep 2008

After a hearty breakfast of the local specialty, Kitakata Ramen, continued on R459 to the lakes area.

Nothing like soft cream on a hot day!

Good road, nice lake.

With the usual silly boats.

I've only been to the Urabandai area once, and it was raining then. This time the weather was gorgeous, so I checked out all the nice roads, including Bandai-san Gold Line, Bandai-Asama Skyline and Akimoto Lake Line. Fantastic! Pity that this is so far from Tokyo, otherwise I'd have come here more often.

Great roads, spectacular sights.

Did I mention twisties?

Yes, more twisties.

More sights.

This guy wanted a ride.

After most of the day playing on these roads, took R2 North to Yamagata. Interesting road, very twisty. After Yonezawa, found another nice road, R287, running along the Mogami River. Long, high speed sweepers. Local specialty is some kind of "sweet fish" which they trap by filtering the whole bloody river. Not exactly sporting!

Ended up in Sagae Onsen for the night, near Tendo. Found a great new hot spring hotel, Sun Cherry Hotel, near the train station. Nicest and cheapest hotel so far, at only 5,775 yen! Lovely bath. Will try to take some photos in the morning.

18 Sep 2008

Nice hotel. Slept well, then went down early for another bath.

Hotel lobby.

I'd never heard of Sagae Onsen before, but it's just about as nice as Tendo, and a lot cheaper. Even has the usual foot bath.

Weather forecast was looking better for the Sea of Japan side, so saddled up and headed that way, up R112. But this time, instead of staying on R112, I took the small, twisty mountain road that parallels it. Much more pleasant than the main road, with all its trucks.

While there, took a side trip up Mt. Gassan. Found these Rambos, perhaps waiting for the N. Korean invasion(?)

When I got near Tsuruoka, Mapple recommended R345, which turns out to be much nicer than going through the cities. It totally bypasses Tsuruoka and Sakata. It runs along farms and a river, very straight, no traffic, inviting the speed to creep up. Obviously, the cops know about this too. Spotted the shirobai bike lurking in the bushes and immediately let off on the throttle. Watching the readview mirror, the flashing lights came on and I saw him execute a very competent, peg-scraping U-turn to come chase me down. Wish I could turn like that! Anyway, he kept coming, obviously intent on harassing me, even though he couldn't have recorded my exact speed. So I stopped and handed over my international license (I no longer live here, so my IDP is legal again 8) ). Nice enough cop, but couldn't resist giving me the mandatory lecture on the sins of speeding. I endured this with contrite expression, promised to be a good boy, and off I went again.

Anyway, nice road, bypassing all the traffic, all the way to the Akita border and the Sea of Japan.

Stock market is tanking ... need to get online and do some trading ... so took a hotel early in Kissakata. Another nice, cheap, local onsen hotel. :drinking:

19 Sep 2008

Another nice, sunny day. Played around for a while on the Mt. Chokai Blue Line. Good twisty road, great views.

This place makes great ice cream, from their own cows. Milk is straight out of the udder, not pasteurized, homogenized or any other -ized. Delicious!

Wind farm above Nicaho. I used to visit TDK here and shared a hotel many times with the European engineers who built these generators.

Next, up along the coast on R7 to Honjo, then R105 inland and North. I think I've mentioned this road before. It's great! Apart from a bit of traffic in Omagari, you can go about 200km with nobody blocking your way! On the way, made a cultural pit stop at an old samurai town, Kakunodate.

I've already seen Lake Tazawa, and I know that R341 going North from there is spectacular, but this time I stayed on R105. Like I said, great road, all the way to Kita Akita City. On the way, something completely different: bear meat ramen. It's on R308, about 7km off R105, at this onsen:

I don't think bears are an endangered species here, so no worries.

Went a bit past Kita Akita, to near the junction of R105 and R7. Found a cheap business hotel in a small town, Takanosu. They rolled up the sidewalks at 7:30, so I had a hell of a time finding some food. Ended up having to ride back to the highway and getting some gourmet fare at a 7-11. Also, hotel had no internet connection. Had to try to survive a whole day offline...

20 Sep 2008

Headed West on R7, to discover that there is a much bigger town, Odate, just a few km up the road. Had I kept going last night, there were much nicer hotels there. Oh well, only paid 4,900 last night. Still better than camping all alone. At least I had a warm bed, toilet, shower.

I've only seen these in Kyoto and Nara, but they have one too.

From Odate, took R2 towards Lake Towada. Lovely road! All long, high speed sweepers. The kind of road that even misguided Harley riders would enjoy cruising. Also nice sights along the way.

Took me ages to pass all these guys!

Towadako, in all its glory.

Pit stop to pray to the gods of good weather.

The road around the lake is lovely!

Huh?

I see! :roll:

R.I.P.

The above was so intriguing that I couldn't resist a 28km, each way, dash to check it out. It's on R454, which is not flagged as a good road on my Mapple map, but it's a great ride! I think that all mountain roads in this country are great. Just pick a road, any road, and it turns out fantastic. Unbelievable!

Back to the lake, continued around. I know that R103 up the Oirase Gorge is fantastic, but I've already been there, plus it being Saturday, it was full of tour buses as far as the eye could see. So instead, I went up R102 and R349. Good choice! This gorge is just as nice, and it had no traffic.

Then down R103 to Aomori, where I spent the night. Every hotel was full! Lucked out and found one on the fringes, 4,900 yen, but no internet again. Two days offline! Feeling withdrawal symptoms!

PS: Posting this with somebody's unsecured Wi-Fi 8)

21 Sep 2008

Slept in; bit of a late start today. Headed East on R4 along the coast. Quite scenic.

Very nice ride on R9, along the peninsula East of Aomori. Beautiful coastal road.

Then all the way along the coast to Mustu, then over to Cape Shiriya on the NE tip. There are a pile of these "wild" horses prancing around there.

Don't know what the story is, but it's clearly explained here:

Then back to Mutsu and a quick dash to Osorezan; famous for being the place where you can chat with dead friends and relatives. Tried to place a call to some old buddies, but all I got was a busy signal. :roll: Anyway, neat place.

Spending the night in Mutsu. :drinking:

22 Sep 2008

Headed West along the coast. Nice sights all the way.

Lots of neat fishing villages.

Hotakegura

Oops! Wrong turn. Road ends.

R338 is one of the most spectacular roads in Japan. 120km of bliss; even more if you don't stop in Oma.

But the sea is full of dinosaur turds.

Cape Oma. Northernmost point in mainland Japan.

Anybody for tuna?

Phoned for ferry reservations, but they assured me that it was not necessary. Good thing I got there a bit early. Several late bikers got turned down. BTW, this ferry is quite a bargain, at only 3,070 yen. Trip is less than 2 hours. Much nicer, I think, than sitting on a ferry for 24 hours! Plus it's a nice ride anyway.

Hakodate city is built on a peninsula, with a huge mountain at the tip.

Here's the night view from the top.

After the Meiji Restoration, the first ports to open to us great unwashed gaijin were Hakodate, Yokohama and Nagasaki. The Russian promptly plopped down an Orthodox church, circa 1856.

Others followed suit and the whole area is now preserved as a heritage site. Lots of neat old buildings.

And the waterfront, which used to be red brick warehouses, has now been spiffied up with lots of shops and restaurants.

Neat city. Well worth visiting. Met a lovely Bulgarian lady, so Plan A may be back on track. :drinking:

23 Sep 2008

Woke up to torrential rain. Couldn't get motivated to saddle up, so decided to stay one more night and check out the town. Of course, the sun came out the moment I paid the hotel for an extra night. But that's all right. Been riding twisties for 10 days steady, and my body is starting to reject me. A break is welcome. Anyway, it's a really neat town and well worth some sightseeing.

The morning market, very near the JR Hakodate Stn.

Only 12,000 yen for a crab ($120). Of course, the big ones are more. Apparently they come mostly from Russia.

Yet another foot bath!

That Red Brick area is quite nice.

These guys make great burgers! Huge, super gooey and cheap. Lucky Pierrot seems to be a local chain, with 12 stores in Hakodate. Not sure yet if they're also elsewhere in Hokkaido, or just here. There's always a huge lineup, so be prepared to take out and eat on the sidewalk.

Some more wandering around the old buildings area. This is the first British Consulate. They serve tea and scones, of course.

Nice area. Neat streets. Good views.

The Russian Orthodox Church, again.

Kohryu (High Dragon) Temple. Seems to be associated with Narita-san. Lot of famous Japanese buried here.

The Russian cemetery. The big one is for the first consul's wife.

Other foreigners' cemetery. Lovely view. Not a bad place at all to be planted.

There's no subway system here, but fairly easy to get around on the trams.

Goryokaku fort, now park. European-inspired, pentagonal star-shaped. This is the site of the last battle in the Japanese civil war. When Tokugawa was booted out, some of his soldiers escaped from Edo by sea, then made their last stand here ... and got wiped out by the Imperial army. Around 1860-ish.

Hakodate city.

Not a bad day at all. Got some rest and enjoyed walking around a lovely town.

24 Sep 2008

Followed the coast most of the day. Fairly straight, with long sweepers. Good views.

Dashed inland to see Mt. Komagatake.

Cool hotel on top of the hill.

Another jaunt inland to check out Lake Toya. Huge caldera lake! After blowing its top, the peak fell down again and became an island in the middle of the lake.

Mt. Yotei (Fuji-clone)

Ended up in Muroran, in one of the grottiest hotels I've ever seen. But at least the price is commensurate. :roll:

Very schizophrenic weather. One day it's a sweltering 30C; today down to 15C, with howling wind ... the kind where you can hardly stand up, never mind ride a bike. I'm really not dressed for this kind of weather, so was quite cold all day. It was a good ride, but if things don't improve pretty damn quick, I may have to give up on Hokkaido and head back South. Yeah, life is a bitch... :razz:

25 Sep 2008

Better weather today. Cloudy and cool, with a high of 17C, but at least the typhoon winds are gone, so much more pleasant riding. Couldn't find anything that looked too interesting on the Mapple maps, so basically followed the coast. Long straights and sweepers, mostly. Not bad, but not quite my cup of tea. More suited to those misguided souls that favour Harleys.

But the sightseeing was good. Awful lot of volcanos around here.

Nice old boy (actually a year younger than I), insisted on a photo. Also wanted to put me up for the night, but unfortunately it was still early afternoon.

The ride to Cape Erimo was good.

And even better road heading North from there.

Ended up in Obihiro for the night, at the Toyoko Inn. I like this chain, because for 6,000 yen you get a nice room, plus free meals. Not gourmet fare, just curry rice for dinner and onigiri for breakfast, but that's good enough sometimes.

26 Sep 2008

The weather forecast was rain in the middle and West, so I headed East along the coast. Nice and sunny there! I'll get to the middle when the weather improves.

That coastal road is not bad at all. North Pacific Seaside Line, R123. Not the kind of twisties we're used to; more like long sweepers ... the kind where you don't ease off the throttle at all -- just flip the bike down and power around. Fun! 8)

Nice views along the way.

Not an eventful day. Just having fun swinging through the sweepers. Very relaxing. Made it all the way to Cape Nosappu, the Easternmost point in Japan. Then back to Nemuro for the night, at another grotty hotel, that cost more than the nice Toyoko Inn last night. :roll: No matter; at least I have a warm bed and bath. Too bloody cold and windy for camping right now (7 - 8C at night), plus sunset is around 5 pm. Anyway, I enjoy camping with a group, but alone it can be pretty boring, when you set up camp at 5 pm, then have to try to find something to do for the next 12 - 14 hours!.

27 Sep 2008

Bloody cold today! :crazyeyes: Not so much the temperature (8C to 12C all day), but the howling wind factor. I didn't bring the right clothing for this! Bit late for a Hokkaido tour, I suppose... :roll:

Checked out the rest of the East coast to Cape Shiretoko. Nice views, good road.

The ride across the peninsula, R 334 over Shiretoko Pass, is spectacular. But my goodness was it a cold wind! I was riding with 3 BMWs. We all stopped for a quick photo, then got the hell down the hill.

The wind was brisk on the North coast too. No big relief, but a bit warmer down below. Great windsurfing weather ... with a good dry suit.

Then turned down towards Lake Kusharo. Yet another crater lake, with island in the middle, named Nakajima, of course. :roll:

And yet another smoking volcano.

And yes, yet another foot bath. These people must have the cleanest feet on Earth!

R52 and R243, along the lake, are very nice. Ended up in Kitami for the night, at another nice Toyoko Inn. I like this chain! Cheap, but very nice rooms, free food, unlimited coffee. Grabbed their catalog, so I can plan to stay with them as often as possible.

Yes, yet another crappy day in paradise. 8)

28 Sep 2008

The bike was getting lousy mileage yesterday, but I thought maybe it was due to more spirited riding than my norm. I also felt that maybe it was surging and down on power, but the wind was just howling, so I thought it was the strong gusts. Got going this morning and the wind had calmed down, but it was still surging a lot, down on power and throttle lag like a turbo. 50 km later, it had consumed almost half a tank. WTF!? :evil:

Today is Sunday, in the middle of nowhere, just very small towns. I had no tools and the chances of finding a repair shop were pretty much nil. Pulled into a Cosmo station with a garage, but no mechanic on duty, of course. However, the fellow was kind enough to let me use the shop and tools. Checked the air filter, then ripped the tank off and checked the spark plugs. Working OK, but black as coal. Obviously running way too rich. Piece of shite Kawasaki! Only 75,000km and already it needs servicing! Mentally composed a letter to them, suggesting somebody should slit his belly for such shameful engineering. :bad-words:

OK, it was time to get serious. Offered a prayer to the patron saint of engineers (Wiley E. Coyote) and dug further into the bowels of the engine. Lo and behold, found a vacuum hose dangling loose. Yes! Slapped it all back together and it now runs like charm again. Life is good! :Fade-color

Anyway, bit of a delay, but back on the road again.

Plan A may not be completely out of the question. OK, OK, so I've lowered my standards. :roll:

Looks like a nice campground, on Lake Saroma, but already closed for the season.

Got sprinkled upon a bit. Not enough to warrant a rain suit, then was rewarded by this view.

Made it! This is the farthest North in Japan. Cape Soya, where no man has ever set foot before ... Well, OK, maybe the dudes who laid the asphalt ... :roll:

Not a bad day, despite having to wield a wrench. Ended up at a nice onsen in Wakkanai. Bloody expensive, but I saved a lot of money on mechanics, so why not!

29 Sep 2008

Getting much better mileage today! 20 km/l, which is almost double from before I fiddled the engine. I guess it's been acting up for a while, which is why Gerard burned half the fuel I did, on the way to the BBQ. Should have thought of doing something then ... doh!

View from the hill above Wakkanai. Faint in the distance are some of the disputed Russain/Japanese islands.

Rishiri Mtn./Is.

Followed the coast for quite a while. Not exactly tittilating riding. Dead straight and boring, mostly. Time to lock the steering, turn on the cruise control and sit back for a nap. :roll:

This array was pretty impressive, though.

Another nice campground; also closed for the season. Tons of campgrounds in Hokkaido!

The howling wind from Siberia was really getting to me. Absolutely relentless. Wish the bloody Ruskies would keep it for themselves. So I turned inland on R239 and that was just great. Beautiful high speed corners! Developed a silly grin on my face; even cackled a couple of times. Then North on R275, which was just as great. Then turned back South on R251, which looked interesting on the map. Nice farm road for quite a ways, then started to get narrower.

Should have looked at the fine print on the map! R251 turned into 9.5km of dirt road. Typical rindo, with one narrow lane and two ruts, with grass in the middle. Quite scenic, though, and I was pleased to find out that my bike is not such a pig in the dirt after all.

So, an interesting interlude. It was also a good time stop and grease the chain. Good thing I did that, because I found that it needed tensioning in a bad way. Guess I haven't checked that in a while.

After that, back on R275, then R920 and R98, which were quite nice too. Lots of good roads here, most of which are not even flagged on the Mapple maps.

Spending the night in Asahikawa.

30 Sep 2008

Bit of a late start today. Stayed up too late watching the stock market crash. Good thing that I bought some gold stocks, because everything else I have has gone sour. But the sun was shining and the wind died down a bit, in the morning anyway, so life is good! 8)

Today's route was all inland.

Despite Guy's questionable choice of bikes (I'm sure he'd prefer a DP) and even worse taste in riding apparel, R966 and R291 were great. Started off straight, but then twisted up to 1400m. Nice views too, including the first snowfall.

And yes, yet another steaming volcano. :roll:

Methinks this white stuff on the ground is a hint that I should head South soon.

Then jogged over to R135 and R452, which are also quite acceptable. Doesn't seem to matter where you go, all the roads are good. Many nice views too.

Then jogged over to R117 and R453, yet more great roads! Made it to Lake Shikotsu.

But the light was already fading fast. Beautiful lake and great road going around it. I was hoping to stay at an onsen hotel there, but they were all fully booked, so I deadheaded to Chitose for the night.

Another great day! Good riding all day. Still sporting a silly grin.

01 Oct 2008

BTW, last night I stayed at a Route Inn, which is also a good chain. 6000 yen, including buffet breakfast and onsen on the top floor.

Anyway, today started off bad. Pouring rain. Mind you, can't really complain, since I've had 18 continuous days of good weather. Took me a while to get motivated and suited up, so bit of a late start. Instead of going straight back to Lake Shikotsu, I went South on R36, then took R276, which is flagged on the map as a good road. It was! Great ride up, along the lake, then West quite a ways. This R276 is just fine!

As it turns out, the heavy rain stopped by noon, then there were just the occasional showers; the kind where it's not worth the trouble to don the rain gear. Enough just to find some shelter and wait a few minutes

Next, jogged over to R97 and R66, going around Mt. Yotei and over the Niseco pass.

Great ride, again. Lots of wide twisties all the way to Iwanai.

Iwanai port.

Next was along the coast on R229. This was an outstanding ride. Absolutely no traffic at all. Even when I stopped for a break, not a single car went by, either way. It was one of those outstanding rides, where I could actually go at whatever pace I felt like, with nobody ever blocking my way. Wow! I don't know why it's not flagged on the Mapple, but it's a lovely, twisty (sweepers) coastal road, with an amazing number of tunnel; some of which are several kilometers long. And nice views all along the way.

Cape Benkei. Some dude who kicked enough ass to warrant a statue.

By sunset, I'd reached the small town of Setana. Stopped for a smoke and to check my maps for a hotel, but nothing showed anywhere near the area. As I was checking, an old boy walked over and told me there's a campground just up the hill, or a minshuku (pension) right around the corner. Wind was still howling, as usual, so the minshuku sounded pretty good. The old boy then phoned them, jumped in his car and guided me to the place! Nice, clean place; looks brand new, but it's been around for a while. 6000 yen, including a lovely dinner of fish, shrimp tempura, sashimi, even a whole abalone. Nice!

The place also has a good bath that really helped warm me up. An old biddy, in the room next to mine, shared dinner with me, plus we had a good chat. Turn out she's been living in London for the last 35 years. Despite that, very poor English; nevertheless much better than my Japanese, so no complaints. All in all, pretty decent day, especially considering the bad start.

02 Oct 2008

Woke up to a gorgeous day. Warmish (high of 17C) and clear sky. This was the view from my window.

Very hearty breakfast indeed! I like this minshuku. If you're ever in the area, it's called Kainoya. Neat little town too.

:dontknow:

Today, basically rode all the way along the coast. I fail to see why R229 and R228 are not highlighted in the Mapple maps. This is a great route. Fun ride and absolutely no traffic!

Lots of nice sights along the way too.

:dontknow:

Matsumae Castle

Castle's shrine.

From the tip of the cape, you can see the Japanese mainland. Linking the two, there's a very long train tunnel. This is the world's longest (54 km) and deepest (240 m below sea level). The Euro Chunnel runs a bit longer under the sea, but this one is longer overall. Quite a feat of engineering, especially considering all the seismic activity here.

Did I mention nice roads?

There's Hakodate again. This completes the lap of the circuit.

Spending the night in Hakodate, enjoying another great Lucky Pierrot burger. :drinking:

03 Oct 2008

Woke up to another nice day. Managed to get on the ferry back to Oma. A bit of confusion about where to get a ticket and where to load the bike, but it got resolved with some sign language and pidgin Japanese. But again, I forgot to show my JAF card. I understand there's a discount for members. Oh well, the fare was only 3,070, so a discount wouldn't make a big difference.

Really enjoyed Hokkaido, but nice to be back on Honshu. After the chill winds of Hokkaido, it feels positively tropical in Tohoku. High of 20C today!

From the ferry, took R279 to Mutsu. I've mentioned before that this is a great road. I've been here and posted photos before, so didn't take any more this time. Then R338 to the Pacific coast, then South. I've also been here before, so just one shot of Lake Ogawara and the wind farm.

I forgot to check the weather forecast this morning, so I thought the safest thing to do is to overnight in the middle, in Aomori. Then tomorrow I can go East or West, depending on conditions.

I've already done R103, and I know it's wonderful, so I went inland on R394, just on a whim. Turned out to be quite an acceptable road. Just the occasional tractor, but there was no traffic, so didn't even have to slow down. This road starts off through small villages and farms. Not a high speed ride, but very pleasant. Looks like they're all getting ready for the rice harvest here.

Then the road starts climbing into the hills and gets very interesting! Scenic too.

When I got to the top of the plateau, got on R40, which is flagged on the maps, and is quite good. Runs along lovely alpine meadows.

The sun was starting to get very low, so time for an artsy-fartsy shot and head downhill.

Continued down on R40, which now gets very twisty, all the way to Aomori for the night.

No anecdotes, nothing unusual ... I must be slipping! ... just another pleasant day.

04 Oct 2008

Well, my concerns about weather were unfounded. Poured all night, but cleared up in the morning into another fine day!

Headlamp burned out, so replaced it first thing. That's the second one this trip, and the 4th one this year. I'll never buy PIAA again. It's just the normal 3200K, not any silly tinted bulb, but maybe that BS "double power" thing is just pushing the technology too far. Slapped in a standard Stanley bulb and it appears to be just as bright as the other one (still PIAA).

Anyway, Craig's route sounded pretty good, so I decided to follow his footsteps. Up R103 and R394. Been there before, but it's a blast and worth doing again and again. Then R102 to Hirosaki. Nice sights along the way.

In Hirosaki, lunched on the local specialty: scallop and apple curry. Sounds a bit weird, but tastes all right. Apples are the major crop around there, so also bought a couple to munch on later.

Yet another dude who kicked enough ass to warrant a statue.

Hirosaki castle is well worth a visit (a bit of culture never hurt anybody). It's small, but very neat.

It's located in a huge park, with lovely Japanese gardens. Very picturesque.

Then got on R3 to Mt. Iwaki.

Had to check out this Iwaki Skyline that Craig was raving about.

Sure enough, it has 69 switchback turns on the way up! And, by one of those amazing coincidences, it has another 69 switchbacks on the way down too!

Made it to the top, unscathed!

If you're feeling energetic, which I wasn't, you can take the ski lift part way up.

Then hike the rest of the way to the top. (See all the little ants?)

These guys seem to have enough gear to tackle K2! Top quality gear, all colour coordinated. :roll:

Nice fall colours around there.

I agree with Craig's comments on this skyline. Loads of fun! I didn't wear down my pegs quite as much as Craig, but scraped the crap out of my boots. That counts for something, right? Yeah, yeah, have to remember to lift my foot. But see, Craig, I too have obliterated that pesky Michelin man, and there are NO chicken strips, so I'm not a total wutz!

From there, continued on R3 to the coast. Very nice ride. Only one pucker moment. Got into a bend a bit hot, flipped the bike in, powered out, just to realize that it was a double apex, with the second a bit tighter. Oh shit ... oh shit ... lean some more ... bit more throttle ... oh shit ... slip, slip, both tires over the white line along the gutter ... microns to spare ....... made it! Whew!

Anyway, made it to the coast. Right where R3 meets up with R101, there's Yaki-Ika Dori. Sure enough, they all sell barbecued squids. Yummy! :drinking:

This road is another great ride and it's quite spectacular, very rugged, with lots of nifty sights along the way.

Did I mention nice road? 8)

Loading artsy-fartsy compiler ...

My original plan was to stay at the same camp/onsen that Craig used, but the temperature was dropping dramatically, so I wimped out. Pity, because I would have liked to see that big "hachi" lit up on the mountain in Hachimori. But it's a small town, with no hotels, so I ended up in Noshiro for the night.

This was one of my best days yet, with great riding and lovely sights, all day!

05 Oct 2008

i've done R341 to Lake Tazawa before, but it's so wonderful that I decided do do it one more time. Headed inland on R7 and R103. Just pleasant country roads, but had some fun with a gang of local riders. Fairly spirited ride, so go there in no time.

At the start of R341, there's, of course, yet another foot bath. :roll:

R341 is really wonderful. Nice twisties, running up along Mt. Hachimantai, then along a river and dam.

All the way to Lake Tazawa.

Boy, I wish I had a pet ferret ... :roll:

The ride around the lake is excellent, but I've already done that, so I tried something different. Headed East on R46, which is a pretty neat road. It runs over very tall bridges and through long tunnels, punching through the mountains towards Morioka. But not a single spot to stop and take a photo!

Then I took a gamble and headed down R1. Turned out to be a good choice! Starts out through farms and small towns, then winds along the gorge of a nice river. Good riding and good sights along the way.

Then West on R107, to spend the night in Yokote. Another pleasant day!

06 Oct 2008

Rained all day today. Guess I can't complain, considering that I've had it good for 3 weeks! Anyway, I have good rain gear, so it's more of a nuisance than a problem.

Started off going South on R13, which is a major artery and not very interesting. But then peeled off on R108, which is quite nice. It goes along a river gorge, with more bridges and tunnels punching through the mountains, and nice fall colours.

This tunnel is about 5 km long.

Then went right on R47, which is also quite similar. Then continued South on R347 and back to R287. Right at the beginning of R287, made a cultural pit stop at Jionji Temple.

I already rode R287 before, on the way up. All the roads seem to funnel through the Yamagata valley, so R287 is one of the few good choices. But it's a good choice. Then, from Yonezawa, headed West on R113, which turns out to be very similar to the roads this morning, with more bridges and tunnels.

Digression: I'm very tolerant of cultural quirks and, as a guest in this country, I'm hesitant to criticize. I normally allow very little to bother me, but one thing that irritates me here is the large number of drivers who only engage their turn signals at the last bitter moment. What's the point? Once they're turning already, it's too late to signal me their intentions. :roll: I was coming up on a car, fairly fast, when his brake lights came on. Is he just slowing down and being cautious, or maybe there's something on the road? Crikey, he's not slowing down, he's stopping! Middle of nowhere. Why? Bet he's going to turn ... but which way? Road's clear on both sides, so I can easily get by him without even slowing down, but if I choose the wrong side, I'll T-bone him. So in the interest of safety, I had to come to a full stop before he finally stopped, flashed the turn signal and slooowly turned. Grrrr!! :bad-words:

Anyway, ended up in a nice minshuku in the small town of Oguni, with no internet.

Computer died just as I was organizing my files. Sigh!  Need to do something about that.

07 Oct 2008

Continued West on R113, then South on R290, which is also a great road, to near Niigata.

Bought some tools and ripped into the computer, but hard drive or controller were trashed. Can't go too long without any computer, so decided to head back to Tokyo. Kanetsu Hwy. all the way. First tollway I've used in weeks! Had almost forgotten how to split lanes. ETC gate didn't work again.  Kept going anyway, thus saving about 6000 yen.

Bought a used machine in Shinjuku, went to Andrew's house and managed to install English Win XP. Still Japanese keyboard, but I can manage with that. Crashed on Andy's couch for the night.

08 Oct 2008

Wasted the whole bloody day, just installing all the programs that I need immediately. I hate installing programs! Everything takes forever. :bad-words:

Anyway, I'm in half decent shape now, so maybe I can hit the road tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll prevail on Andy's hospitality for another night.

09 Oct 2008

Andy was kind enough to put me up (put up with me?) one more day in Tokyo. Still setting up the computer and such. I was a bit tired anyway, so one more day of rest was welcome. Actually, most of the day was spent going to Nap's for some parts (oil and air filter, etc.), then down to Mars-i, where Ishii-san usually lets me use his tools and stuff.

Changed oil, lubed everything, tore into the engine some more, trying to figure out the continuing problems with rich mixture. Fixed it once in Hokkaido, but it's acting up again. Also fixed my ETC problem. Turns out that my card had expired. They sent a new one to my office, so I picked it up and enjoyed a free lunch while meeting my old staff. I'm going to miss this place!

10 Oct 2008

Bit of a late start, because I went to a Kawasaki shop to pick their brains on possible causes for why it's running so rich. Feels like the choke is always on. Checked that, but it's all right. They figure that one possibility is that the float level is too high and needs adjusting and new needles, but they wanted to keep it all day, so I nixed that. Instead, I poured a can of magic gunk remover/cleaner in the tank and some water remover, just in case. Then, at the first opportunity, I revved the crap out of the engine, which resulted in a large black cloud ... and it now seems to be working again! Good mileage today, power is back, and no surging or hesitation. Yes! 8)

Anyway, I'm back on the road again. Whee! :bday:

This trip was interrupted while I was heading for Niigata, with the vague plan to check out Sado Island. Being bloody minded and also somewhat anal, today I got on the Kanetsu Hwy. and headed back towards Niigata. Riding on the tollways is a bit boring, but at least they have soft ice cream. :icecream:

By the time I got to Shibukawa-Ikaho, I'd had it with the tollway, so got off and went North on R17. This road is the only way across those mountains, apart from the tollway, so traffic was fairly heavy in the towns. But once in the mountains, it was actually pretty good. It's a nice road and very scenic. I don't highly recommend it, but I'd never tried it before, always wanted to, so now I've done it. No regrets.

The highest point on this road goes through a long tunnel, then pops out into the lovely Naeba ski area.

Then it goes down, through another long tunnel, eventually into Yuzawa. Now was the time to enjoy some nice twisties! Left on R353, right on R560 (Uonuma Skyline). Gets pretty high up in them there hills.

Very twisty all the way. Bloody marvelous!

From there, went left (actually it's a right turn) on R253 then right on R117, both of which are lovely, long, high-speed sweepers, through more tunnels and snow sheds. Fun ride, very scenic. Ended up in Tokamachi for the night, sleeping on tatami again, with nice bath.

Late start, so didn't get all that far, but not bad overall. Anyway, it's great to be on the road again. Trying to ignore the losses in my investments ... :roll:

11 Oct 2008

Woke up to the sweet sound of jackhammers, right below my window! Adding to my woes, heavy rain most of the day. Not that I let a little rain stop me, but I reserve the right to belly-ache about it.

Wasn't in any particular hurry, since the intention was to overnight in Niigata, which was only about 100 km away, so I took a roundabout route and checked out the local mountains and scenery. Started off on R253, which is quite nice. Long sweepers, along a nice river, going through yet more long tunnels. Then North on R353, which satisfied the craving for tight mountain twisties. Neat sights along the way too.

Then took a side trip on R25. This road is outstanding! Because of the rain storm, lots of wet leaves on the road, so couldn't take full advantage, nevertheless, lovely ride, winding up into the mountains.

All the way to Lake Kakizaki.

Went back to R353, then all the way to the Sea of Japan, where I went along the coast on R352 and R402. This is a really spectacular ride! Runs right along the very rugged coast and seems to go on forever! Nice long sweepers all the way, plus lovely views.

Big nuclear power station on the way.

This guy chased me for quite a while and we had a lot of fun playing on this route. Nice little buggy (new GTR). Goes like stink! 8)

Did I mention spectacular scenery?

Met a nice lady today, cousin of my friend Naoya. He introduced us by e-mail. Smart lady; owns 3 Doutor coffee shops plus a chain of soba restaurants (Kojimaya). Delicious soba and tempura. If you happen to find yourself in the Niigata/Joetsu area, you'd do well to check it out: http://www.hegisoba.co.jp

BTW, I trust that my critics will find this to be a more acceptable specimen. ;)

Anyway, ended up at a cheap business hotel in Niigata. Lucky to find one, too, because almost every hotel was full, due to the long weekend. Not a bad day at all, despite the lousy weather.

12 Oct 2008

Finally made it to Sado Island! I've been meaning to come here for bloody years, but it's inconvenient and hard to get to from Tokyo, unless there is enough time, which there never was before. The ferry is a bit steep, at almost 16,000 return, but never mind, I made it!

After arriving, I basically circumnavigated the South half of the island, clockwise, staying on the coast. The primary agenda was sightseeing, since there are lots of scenic views, many traditional old houses, that sort of stuff.

Who's that handsome fellow that popped out in front of my camera? :dontknow:

Old wooden lighthouse.

Though the primary intent was touring, not riding hard, that whole coast road is absolutely fantastic! It just goes on and on like this, seemingly forever.

It's mostly long sweepers on wide, two lane tarmac. Even though it's long weekend, there was no traffic!. Once in a while it narrows a bit, like in this bamboo forest, but still excellent surface.

More sights.

More lovely sweepers.

This is pretty cool.

Glass bottom barrels.

Yet more scenery.

When I got to the most southerly peninsula, my map showed no roads going all the way around, but I didn't want to go back, so pressed on regardless. Bunch of small farming roads, but no worries ... until I hit dirt. Soft sand and gravel.

But the dirt was only about one km, so no problem. Well, would have been no problem, except for this guy in a jeep, dragging his ass in front of me. My bike is not too bad in the dirt, as long as I can keep up some speed, but it's a pig if it's just crawling. This twit was creeping over stuff, one wheel at a time! What's the point of buying a jeep, if you're afraid to go off road in it? :roll:

Anyway, no matter. The rest of the coast was also lovely, then I headed back to Ryotsu for the night. Nice, cheap ryokan, right on the seaside (non-coincidentally called the Ryotsu Sea Side Hotel)

Another great day! Lovely sights and brilliant riding! :drinking:

13 Oct 2008

Started off the day by going up Mt. Donden on R81. This is a very twisty mountain road, mostly the typical one-lane that's so common in the Japanese mountains. Some of the switchbacks are so tight that they require full lock of the steering on the left handers. This is not one of those (there was no place to stop on the really tight stuff)

BTW, watch out for cow plops on this road. Somebody has a whole herd of them and they run loose. It's also very steep, gaining 900 m altitude in about 10 km. Good view of Ryotsu Port from the top. There's a campground here, plus a hotel.

Unfortunately, the road was closed after reaching the top, so I had to double all the way back. Bummer! This is was a pain, because the only road across the waist of the island, R350, has heavy traffic and the locals are in no hurry at all. If you ever go to Sado Is., try to avoid going across. Just stay on the coast or mountains, which are wonderful.

Sorry little guy! You shoulda looked before crossing.

Anyway, made it to the coast eventually, then circled the whole North half of the island. I've run out of superlatives, so all I can say is that it was a great ride, great roads and great scenery.

The waters around the island are crystal clear and have lots of sea life, so it's a good place to go diving. Alas, I had no gear, plus already reserved the ferry back.

Got back to Ryotsu Port and hopped on the ferry back to Niigata, where I'm spending the night.

Going to Sado Island was a great choice. This place is fantastic! The roads, the traffic, the scenery, history, even the food was great. I definitely recommend this for your "must do" list. It's inconvenient from Tokyo, but well worth the effort. BTW, there are plenty of campgrounds all over the seaside and the mountains, and they all look good. I don't like camping alone, but it would have been fantastic with a group.

14 Oct 2008

That seaside ride was so nice that I decided to start off by heading back the same way today. Same views, just different angles, so no photos. Very light traffic, so the ride was a blast. If you like crabs, this is the place to stop. That's all they sell along the whole roadside in this village.

My plan is to head SW now. There was nothing on the maps that looked interesting, so I continued along the coast on R8. This way is also nice. Nothing spectacular, but pleasant ride. At least it was for a while, until suddenly, the traffic came to a full stop. I could see stopped cars all the way to the horizon! Threaded my way along the left shoulder for a looong way, until I came up on the cause:

Nasty! Driver was still trapped in the car and the firemen were trying to extricate him, without much success. This was going to take a long time! Then I noticed that there was a small village lane behind the houses, running parallel to the highway, so I went through somebody's yard, got on the lane and got around the scene. After I did that, I noticed that some people started to follow my path. Wonder how long they would have sat there. :roll: The lane was too narrow for the trucks, but no problem for small cars.

Anyway, continued along R8, which runs right by the sea. One point of interest is the longest snow shed (avalanche shed?) that I've ever seen. It goes on for several kms. This photo only shows a small section.

Continued still along the seaside on R1, then went to Toyama for the night at the Apa Hotel on R172. Very nice and includes a 1st class onsen. Normal price is 7350, but with a (free) membership card, that they can give you on the spot, it was 6300.

Not a very eventful day, but then I don't expect every day to be fantastic. On the other hand, every day on the road is a good day. Beats the hell out of working for a living. 8) :drinking:

15 Oct 2008

I've already been to the Noto Peninsula before, but it was so bloody nice ... and I was already in the area ... what the heck ... one more lap of this circuit.

Since I've already been there, this time I didn't take too many photos; just stuff that I missed last time. The last time I went there, I posted a report, which is also in this section.

Strarted off going up the East coast. Made a cultural pit stop at the Ozaki Cave. Archeologists have found artifacts in there dating back thousands of years, and it appears to have always been used for religious purposes.

It's located in a lovely area.

Next rode through Nanao, then crossed the bridge to Noto Island.

Rode around the island, then back across the other bridge and up the coast some more. Last time I was there, I stuck to the coast all the way around, and got some great photos. This time I wanted something different, so I tried the inland route suggested by the Mapple maps: R303 and R57. What a blast! This route is built like the tollways, perfect surface, with wide lanes and shoulders, and sweeping turns. It's the kind of road where you can do 200 km/h without ever coming off the throttle for bends. Wow! :crazyeyes:

Came back down on the West coast, skipping the more photogenic spots that I already saw last time. This road is also great riding. This is not my norm, but I was in a frisky mood today, so riding hard, with fewer stops. Got my fix, so I'll cool it tomorrow.

Digression: Everytime I chat with somebody here, as I'm leaving, they always say "kiotsukede" (be careful out there). They don't seem to understand that only the good die young. I'm not thus constrained! :roll:

Also skipped the ride along the sand road on the beach; mainly because I won't have much of a chance to wash off the salt. Anyway, been there, done it.

Ended up in Kanazawa for the night, at the nice and cheap Econo Hotel, near the JR Kanazawa Station. 5250 yen, including breakfast. BTW, somebody asked me to post suggestions for meals and hotels, but usually I don't plan ahead for accomodation; I just try to find something when I'm tired, and I carry camping gear for when I can't find any. As for meals, I don't plan that either; I just eat whatever is easily available. I've had some good meals, but often it's just stuff from convenience stores. I just ride and ride till I'm beat or hungry.

PS: Looks like they've torn down and rebuilt the old Kanazawa train station, plus the whole area around it, since I last came by here, maybe 10 - 15 years ago. Nice new buildings, shopping, restaurants.

16 Oct 2008

Lots to report today!

I've been visiting Kanazawa for decades, but always on business, with never a chance to check out the town, so this was my chance, finally.

This temple is fairly close to the train station.

Next, I checked out Kanazawa Castle.

Foremost on the agenda was to visit the famous Kenrokuen gardens. "Roku" means six, which stands for the six attributes of a perfect landscape garden: spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, watercourse and panoramas. Exit pedantic mode. Anyway, it's pretty neat.

You have to pay to get in, but I noticed a sign saying that seniors are free, so I told them I was a geezer and they didn't argue about it. Used the money to get some soft ice cream instead. :icecream:

This is the shopping area at the entrance.

Lots of shots inside.

That's an egret, I think.

There's that handsome fellow again, that keeps jumping in front of my camera. :razz:

Anyway, enough culture, so it was time to hit the road. I've already seen the coast roads running West and South, and I've also already seen the roads down to Shirakawago and Takayama, so I decided to try R157 running South. Nice mountain road, with good surface and wide lanes.

Good sightseeing too. One stop was this cool gorge.

Pity that the perspective didn't come out right. Those rocks are actually huge, and sculpted in cool shapes.

Then I came down from the mountains, through a long tunnel, into a large valley, with small towns and farms. One of the first towns is Katsuyama. Never heard of it before, but it turns out to have one of the most spectacular temples I've ever seen here. Echizen Daibutsu. Went nuts with the camera:

His nibs himself:

Note the 9 dragons.

The Kanji at the entrance says 9 dragons and this sculpture/mosaic also has 9 dragons. I don't know enough about Budhism to understand the background, but Kowloon in Hong Kong also means 9 dragons, so there must be some significance.

And this town also has a castle!

This town seems to have more hotels than houses. The temple and castle look very new to me, so I suspect that they were built recently to attract tourists. Nevertheless, it's well worth a visit. Very cool.

After going through the valley, R157 climbs back up into the mountains again. Great ride! Good surface, wide lanes and absolutely no traffic! Stopped for a smoke and not one single car went by. Got quite tumescent and had a ball blasting up that road.

This went on for a long way, but then it turned into the typical narrow mountain road.

It got narrower and steeper as I went on, climbing up to 1000 m. More suited to a mountain goat than my sports/tourer.

Then, almost at the end, the road was closed! Bloody hell! Now I know why there was no traffic! Really didn't want to go all the way back again. It was a loooong way! The map showed a "white" road, which usually means it's not very good; often unpaved. Tried it anyway and, sure enough, it was narrow, steep, full of sand, stones and wet leaves. But, anyway, I managed to get to R255. Actually, this ride was a lot of fun. I normally don't pick these kinds of roads on purpose, but once committed, I usually enjoy the challenge.

Then it turns out that R255 and the rest of R157 are a lot of fun! Got tumescent again and blasted my way to Gifu City, where I'm spending the night. New Gifu Hotel. They only had a twin room, but at 6000, that's all right. Gourmet dinner was at a McD around the corner (actually, this was my 1st Big Mac in a month).

What a great day! A bit of culture, a bit of sightseeing, a bit of hooliganism. Doesn't get much better than that. :Fade-color

17 Oct 2008

By now, I'd completely trashed my tires, plus burned out another headlamp, so the first order of business was to get some servicing done. Pulled into a tiny Kawasaki shop to buy a bulb and ask for advice on where to buy tires in Gifu. The guy went out back, then came back with a set of Pilot Roads. Not the new 2s, but the original ones. Everybody wants the new ones, so he's stuck with these. Did I want them for 10,000 yen, mounted? Well! For sure! 8) Nothing wrong with the old ones, especially at that price. I was already mentally prepared to drop over 40,000 on this. :Fade-color

Got the new rubber, changed the bulb, he even greased my chain. Good guy. Pity I forgot to get his business card. He's right on R248, just West of R156. BTW, he even rents bikes.

Guess what? Gifu has a castle too. :roll:

The castle is right on top of a mountain and the only way to get up there is by cable car. I assume that the old daimios didn't have any cable cars, so I suspect that this is another one of those newly built tourist attractions. Before I found out about the cable car, I tried to ride up there, but the road I took actually went up another mountain (???). Small shrine on the way, but I was too lazy to walk up.

My plan today was to head South towards Ise area. Searched all the maps, but couldn't find absolutely any interesting way to bypass Nagoya, so I got on the tollway to get around that. Not familiar with that urban system, so got a bit balled up and ended up on the Ring road. But managed to get through all right, albeit at a bit extra cost. And yes, the drivers there are very aggressive. Reminded me of growing up and driving in Rio de Janeiro. Felt right at home!

Got bored after about an hour on the tollway, so got off at Hisai and went inland to play a little on R15 and R368. Nothing very special, just the usual nice country roads, running through farms and small villages.

Then the route goes up the mountains. Typical one-lane mountain roads. Some parts super-twisty, others wider. Nothing special, but enough to get my fix and break in the new tires. Alas, the Michelin man is still smiling. I'll wipe that smile off later. Wipe all of him off, in fact. :badgrin:

Along the way, spotted this small shrine (????). This time I dug up enough energy to climb the stairs,

This is what I found on top. Was it worth it? :dontknow:

Anyway, took R38 to Ise City, where I'm spending the night, at a cheap and grotty business hotel, Terminal Hotel, next to Ise JR Stn. Not a fantastic day, but even Japanese bikes need servicing occasionally. ;)

18 Oct 2008

I've also been going to Ise for many years, always on business, so this was my chance to check out the famous Ise Grand Shrine. A cool factoid about this place is that they burn down the whole thing and build a new one, once every 20 years. There are actually two lots, side by side. They build a new shrine on the other lot, move all the contents over, then burn down the old building.

No idea what this is, but looks very neat.

And my timing was good, because it turned into a very sober parade.

Some more snaps.

Got shat upon for taking this shot. No photos allowed of the actual shrine.

Then I mounted up and rode to Toba on R42, by the sea. Guess what? Ise has a castle too!

Just before Toba, there is the Sea Paradise and this small shrine and the rock at the point, which is a major tourist attraction. When I came by here last year, Golden Week, I couldn't find a hotel and ended up pitching my tent just above this place, in a disused tunnel that has been bypassed by a new one. This happened in pitch darkness. Wasn't until the morning that I realized where I had slept.

Toba City. Major tourist spot. Piles of hotels and cruise ships.

That area is also where Mikimoto pearls come from. These are the oyster farms.

Anyway, it was time for some serious fun, so rode R750, R128, R61, R16 and R260. This is a spectacular route. About 100 km of unbridled fun! Didn't take too many photos this time, because I already came through here last year, on the way to Shikoku. That report is also in this section.

But took a few more shots.

I just love work. I can watch it for hours!

Lovely roads!

Just as R260 comes down from the mountains and meets R42, there is a michinoeki (road station) where you can sample some Mambo fish. Not sure what the English name is (sun fish?), but it's delicious! The fellow told me that they grow up to 4 m long!

By this time, my wrists were killing me, so I couldn't get motivated to tackle any more twisties. Had I been feeing better, I would have done what I did last time, which was to get on R311 along the seaside, then R311 up into the hills and R168 back down again. Those are great roads, and I saw some really neat stuff there. But I was really beat, so I stuck to R42, which is actually not bad at all.

Actually, I had to follow 42, because this is the road that leads to the answer to the big question: What is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything?

Can't remember the last time I took a day off. By the time I got to Shingu, I just had to stop. So found a decent hotel, Shingu Central Hotel, 6800 yen w/Western breakfast. Across the road is a huge Jusco shopping centre, where a Nepalese guy made me a very nice curry, extra spicy, special order.

19 Oct 2008

Rained all night, but woke up to a glorious day! Got to bed early last night, slept well, woke up feeling great and positively frisky. Time to hit the road! And this was one of those rare times when the great roads started right at my doorstep!

Headed South along the coast on R42 and it was fabulous! Constantly twisting, but all high speed bends. Really got my fix there. Plus spectacular scenery along the way.

These rocks, near the South tip, are quite famous.

Last time I came by here, I skipped the Shino Cape and Kiio Island, so this time I checked them out. Those roads, R40 and R41 are great!

More oyster farms.

Had a ball with this guy chasing me on a Lotus 7 for a long way. He turns out to own a motorcycle courier company in Osaka. Neat guy.

Also found myself a new pet. He liked my visor.

View from the cape.

An interesting factoid is that there is a Turkish museum at the tip of the cape and all the shops and restaurants are run by Turks or have a Turkish motif. That seemed a bit odd, since there is very little connection between Japan and Turkey, but it turns out that a Turkish ship hit those rocks a long time ago, killing most (all?) of the crew, so this is a kind of memorial.

Then on around the island and back on R42 for yet more fun! Fabulous road. Note the palm trees; they're all over the South, just like in Kyushu. Bit ironic that I was freezing my butt off in Hokkaido, but now I'm in the tropics.

Took another side trip to Shirahama, because I wanted to check out Sandanbeki. Factoid: this is one of the most popular suicide spots in Japan. People come from all over the country to jump off these cliffs.

Sign says something along the lines of "call this number before you jump" so that they can try to talk them out of it.

If you feel like dropping 1200 yen, you can take an elevator down to the caves. Did it once, many years ago, but once is enough. It's cool though; there's a shrine down there, plus remnants left by some pirates that had a base there.

Shirahama means "white beach" in Japanese. There are many "Shirahamas" in Japan, but this one has the whitest sand I've ever seen here. It's actually a very nice onsen town. Spent a night there once at a fabulous onsen hotel, with 7 different types of bath. Can't remember the name, but the Kanji was something like "White Dragon" I think ...

Of course, they also have a footbath. Didn't bother taking a shot. There seem to be a lot of dive shops in Shirahama. Looks like just a shore dive, but the water is very clear, so maybe OK.

More sights. Faboulous road!

The maps didn't show anything that looked interesting further North along the coast, so I decided to head inland on R311. Great choice! Mountain road, but very high speed. Just great! Felt like I'd died and gone to heaven (which is very unlikely, considering my past). Where it meets R168, there are a whole pile of onsens, all of which look very good.

Just a bit up R168, there is a World Heritage site, Kumanohongutaisha Shrine. Of course, I had to make a pit stop there.

Yes, had to climb all those stairs.

The site seems to have something to do with crows. Wish I understood, because my surname actually means crow.

The shrine itself.

Continued North on R168. This is a much twistier mountain road, but basically 2-lane most of the time, and excellent surface.

Alas, about half way along, it was closed by a rock slide, so I had to take a terrible bypass: R734. One lane, no guard-rail, loose rocks in the centre, so had to stay in one rut or the other. Yuck! The sun went down, got dark as Hades, many cars coming the other way, popping out of blind corners right in my face. Quite dangerous. Plus no road signs and no mirrors. I have good lights, but they point ahead, not around tight bends, so all the corners were blind. A local old boy in a k-truck, who obviously knew the road and could see that I was having difficulties, stopped and told me to follow him. What a life-saver! Could see much better folowing him. And the last bit he took me on, just before R53, is marked on my Mapple as 5.7 km of dirt, which would have been a real delight in the dark. But the old boy knew that it was already paved! Whew!

Anyway, finished the rest of R168 by blowing the socks off a couple of local riders. Not that I'm a very fast rider, but my twin H4 headlamps give quite an advantage! Apart from the bypass hassle, it was an absolutely fabulous day. 340 km of pure joy. All great roads. Talk about getting tumescent -- this is far better than Viagra!

Kinda pooped by then, so took the first hotel I saw on R24, in Gojo City, Nara-ken. Riverside Hotel, 6500 yen, including a lovely onsen where I soaked the pain out of my weary bones.

20 Oct 2008

Got up early, one more bath, then headed to Wakayama to grab the ferry to Shikoku. From Tokushima, headed South along the coast on R55, which I've done before and is a very nice ride.

Last time I came by the town of Hiwasa, I spent one night at a neat old onden hotel, Yumoto (I think). At that time I was too lazy to check out this temple.

I was also too lazy to check out the castle.

Well, this time I was too lazy again. :)

Anyway, R55 is a great ride.

And it's very scenic.

Near Muroto Cape.

Yet another dude who kicked enough ass to earn a statue.

Muroto Cape.

At the cape, there is the Muroto Skykine, R203. It's not very long, but good enough to get a twisties fix. BTW, there is a Rider's Inn at the top that looks pretty good.

I could have stayed at the Rider's Inn, but it was still a bit early, so I continued on R55 to Kochi. Found a great hotel, on R55, just before town, called the R Business Hotel (spelled アール ビジネッス ホテル). 4300 yen for a nice clean room, public bath, washing machines and free breakfast! No internet in the room, but I can plug my computer in on the 1st floor.

21 Oct 2008

Kochi also has a very nice castle, but I already saw it last time, so I skipped the town entirely. Went down to the seaside and rode along R14 and R23, which is nice. Then got my fix of twisties on R47, which is one of those "don't miss" roads. It's only about 20 km, but great bends and spectacular scenery.

Then took R56 for a while, which is a nice ride, but a lot of traffic, so went into the hills on R41 and R19. Fun ride! But if you go that way, R19 is poorly marked, with several forks in the road with only Japanese signs and no route number. Only way not to get lost is to follow the signs for 四万十市 (Shimanto City).

Then got back on R56, which gets real nice from there on and then R321. Fantastic ride! More nice bends, nice scenery. Already been here, so no photos. Too many spectacular roads already.

There are a lot of pilgrims like this, walking all over Shikoku.

Factoid: The pilgrimage takes up to a couple of months, where they visit and pray at 88 temples.

Made it to Cape Ashizuri.

There is a very cool temple there, Kongofukuji, which is #38 on the pilgrimage.

More pilgrims.

More snaps.

There is a nice skyline road at the cape, R348. Enjoyed that, then continued along the coast on R321. Again, I've been here before, so no shots, but great road and nice scenery.

When I go to Sukumo, I took R7, which seems to run along the seaside, but actually climbs very high up the seaside mountains. Super twisty, mostly one lane, but good surface and mirrors at every bend, so lots of fun. Sorry, been there, no photos, but the sea is a looong way down!

Then I got on R56 again, which is still quite nice, in time for a cool sunset. These buoys are used to grow seaweed or seashells, but some claim that they're actually disguised North Koreans, preparing for the invasion. :-)

When R56 gets to R4, it turns into just another busy road, with lots of traffic to Uwajima, where I'm spending the night.

Factoid: Uwajima happens to have a bull ring! But no toreadors; the bulls fight each other, during one of the summer festivals. And yes, Uwajima also has a castle. Didn't check it last time. Maybe tomorrow, if the mood is right.

22 Oct 2008

Plan A is alive and well! Another satisfied customer. Nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more, say no more.

I was thinking of maybe checking out the castle, but I'd have to climb all the way up there, so after several microseconds of deep consideration, I decided to give it a miss.

If I had been feeling frisky, I'd have taken R378 along the seaside and tackled all those twisties, but I woke up feeling very mellow, so went up R56 instead. Pity that there's so much traffic on 56, because it could be a nice ride.

Anyway, then took R25 towards Cape Sada, then rode R197, which is a skyline road, running along the top of the ridge. This is another one of those outstanding roads, with long, high speed sweepers and great views on both sides.

Got to the ferry a bit early, so continued to the tip of the cape. Here the road becomes much narrower and twistier, still with great views. Fun!

Many good views.

Cape Sada. It's a 1.8 km walk to the lighthouse. Seen one, seen them all, so zoom lens. :)

This photo is for my grandson, Charlie, who's been wondering where his "Jiji" is.

Went back in time to hop on the ferry to Kyushu. Only 70 min, 3040 yen. Just behind my bike is a Honda Cub, 80 cc, which an old boy was riding all over Shikoku. Says he gets 50 km/l. Actually, after my judicious wrenching, I'm getting over 20 km/l, consistently! Wonder how long my bike has been misbehaving without my even noticing? Anyway, it runs like a top now.

Cape Sada again.

Got off the ferry and headed South on R217, yet another great road, twisting its way along the seaside.

When I got to Tsukumi City, the heavens opened up and it was pouring rain. As I was trying to find a spot to stop and don the rain gear, I stumbled upon a hotel, so decided to call it a day. I was a bit tired after last night, anyway. The hotel was a great find! Tsukumi Kamenoi Hotel, 4800 with breakfast, nice clean room, internet, and there is a Joyfull restaurant on the 1st floor. Those of you who were on the Glodenbutt ride in May will remember Joyfull well -- we ate there a lot!

Edit: Turns out that it's a full Joyfull breakfast. Looks like the hotel and restaurant are connected.

Life is good!

23 Oct 2008

What a miserable day! It was raining first thing in the morning, then it rained harder, then it poured. Wasn't just a drizzle, but more like a tropical storm, except that it never stopped for the rest of the day. But I wasn't about to let mere whims of nature stop me, so pressed on regardless.

On the theory that it would rain more in the mountains, I decided to go along the coast. Not a bad theory, but those roads all climb up and down all over the hills, so got no breaks. Well, except for rest breaks where possible. Nice wide sidewalks in those tunnels!

The route was R217, R388, R122 and R388 again. Pity about the weather, because it's a great route. Wide, 2-lane sweepers along the seaside, climbing up the hills on narrow, one-lane switchbacks, down again, up again ... you get to use all your quiver of skills. Only managed one shot between showers.

Another break, in a fisherman's shed.

Like I said, marvelous route, but not this time. Fortunately, I've done it before.

By then the rain was really coming down in buckets, so after a late Joyfull lunch, I got on the main drag, R10 and headed South. On the way, spotted another Kamenoi Hotel (亀の井), with Joyfull attached, so obviously it's a chain. I'll try to use them again. Found the URL: http://www.kamenoi.com/

Unfortunately, this one was full, otherwise I'd have called it a day. So continued on R10, getting poured upon and splashed by every bloody truck in Japan, figuring I should have no problems finding a hotel in Miyazaki. Wrong! When I'm on a losing streak, I don't mess around. I must have stopped at every single hotel in town, but they were all full. Weird! I've had this happen once in a while. Maybe some event going on? I don't know.

There I was, late, tired, wet and miserable. Just wanted a hot meal, hot bath and to dry out. It would have been a lousy day for camping, but I was considering that may be the only option. But as I headed out of town, I spotted the red light district. Yes! They had love hotels. Got a nice room, found a decent eatery nearby, even found some twit's unsecured wireless network.

Anyway, lousy day, but really can't complain. After all, I've been on the road for 38 days now, with only 2 rainy days. And this was the only one where it was really miserable. Pretty bloody good average, actually.

24 Oct 2008

This was more like it! Decent weather and great roads all day!

Going South on R220 out of Miyazaki is kinda neat, because they have these palm trees along the median for something like 10 km!

R220 along the sea is a great ride, albeit with a bit of traffic. Neat rocks along the way.

Cultural pit stop along the way at Udo Shrine.

Cool rocks!

Then continued along the sea and over the mountains on R448. This is a fantastic ride, all the way. Twisty, but 2 lanes and perfect surface. Got very frisky and wiped off most of the smile off that goofy Michelin man. What a blast! And this goes on forever! Decent views too, when I took a breather.

Yes, I like cool rocks ...

Another pit stop at Kojima Island. It's supposed to be full of monkeys, but I only see one ape.

This spot brings back memories of trying to chase Craig, Karl, the Dude and Oyly here. Alas, the only ones that had the good manners to let the old man limp ahead were Slowskippy and Fastbike.

I'm telling you: This goes on forever. Pure bliss!

Also took a side trip on R36 to the tip of Cape Toi. It's a short ride, but it's a real blast! Great road.

Another pit stop was at the Uchiura Rocket Centre.

This is the turntable on the launch pad. Ready for takeoff!

Got across the mountains to Kagoshima Bay and went up along R269 and R220. A bit of traffic, but no real problems blowing past them, because the left shoulder is marked for motorbikes! Another very nice road. And nice sights too.

Finally caught sight of mighty Mt. Sakurajima. This is a very active volcano, but today there was just a bit of steam from some of the fumaroles.

Cool harbour.

Sakurajima again.

Some more of those sneaky N. Koreans; this time disguised with bigger heads.

Yet another sunset on a perfect day. Good roads all day, and good sightseeing. Yes!

Then hopped on the ferry to Kagoshima (560 yen), where I'm spending the night at the Toyoko Inn. They have washers and dryers, so I can get rid of the stink and grime from yesterday! Rain wear can only handle so much. After a few bucketfulls in your face, something has to give. It's like diving with a dry suit. Never had one that didn't leak eventually.

I really like Kagoshima. Nice city! The waterfront has been very nicely developed and now there are a whole row of good restaurants and shops in the Dolphin Port. Took photos last time, so didn't bother with any more this time. But had a great dinner! BTW, also had a great Joyfull lunch. Excellent hamburger/steak combo, rice, etc, for 599 yen. Love this chain! They're all over Kyushu.

25 Oct 2008

There is a really nice ride on the Ibusuki Skyline (R17), heading South to Mt. Kaimon, but I've already been there, plus it being Saturday, I figured that there would just be a lot of traffic, so I decided to head back to Sakurajima and check out the observatory and the North side, which I've never seen.

BTW, since I was just in Kyushu during the last Golden Week, I want to see new things, so I'm skipping a lot of neat stuff. There is much more detail in my Kyushu and West Japan report.

Anyway, took the ferry back across.

Then rode up to the observatory. This is a fun road! Wide but twisty.

And it was smoking a bit today. Factoid: This is a very active volcano. Sakurajima used to be an island, but a large eruption, about 90 years ago, spewed enough lava to fill the gap to the mainland, completely burying 3 villages. Several large eruptions since then have made the island even bigger. It often covers Kagoshima in ashes.

A view of Mt. Kaimon, another volcano, in the distance, at the southern tip of the cape. As I said, that skyline road is well worth riding, plus there's a nice lake there and a black sand beach where people get buried in the hot sand. Kind of a sand onsen. Neat!

This is the Dolphin Port area of Kagoshima, also worth visiting.

Came down the mountain on the other side, using small farming roads. Cool! Then R26 around the North side (nice and twisty), then R220 North. R220 is a lot of fun. But you have to pass aggressively, otherwise you can get stuck behind a truck, or local k-car, but it's a nice ride and quite scenic.

Don't ask.

Then jogged over on R10 to R478, which becomes R491, then becomes R105. Great ride! It's mostly one-lane, but it's a wide lane and perfect surface, so you can really get a head of steam up. Plus it'scenic.

Then jogged over on R31 to R223, R408 and R1. Great roads all. On the way, another steaming volcano.

And another crater lake.

And other volcanic stuff.

Lovely roads!

Gets up to over 1300 m. Nice fall colours too.

Then took R221, which is really neat. It climbs WAY up into the mountains.

And keeps on climbing!

On the way down the other side, there's one of those cool spiral bridges. Unfortunately it was getting too dark for a good photo.

Then got on to R219, which is yet another lovely road. Runs alongside the large Kumagawa river. Long sweepers and very scenic! Great road, but here you also have to pass aggressively to be able to enjoy the ride.

Ended up in Yatsushiro for the night, at another Route Inn; 5000 yen, including breakfast and onsen. Overall, not a bad day.

26 Oct 2008

Not much ground covered today. Weather forecast was for rain all day and, sure enough, it rained all day. Not pouring like the other day, just an annoying drizzle. Didn't feel like suffering through another crappy day, so lowered my expectations and just planned to pop over to Kumamoto Castle. It's not like I'm in a big hurry, so no worries.

On the way out of Yatsushiro, I stumbled upon the site of their old castle. Castle is long gone, but they built a neat shrine on the grounds.

Also checked out the port area, which looked intriguing on the map, but wasn't worth a photo. Then headed up R3 to Kumamoto City. Not a nice ride; just a busy main artery. Should have taken the tollway, I guess.

In any case, made it to Kumamoto Castle. Built by some other kick-ass dude, who also earned a statue.

There are dozens of castles throughout Japan, but this one is one of the three most famous. The others being Himeji and Nagoya.

As an engineer, I find the construction method of all these castles to be fascinating. Instead of rebar, they use bamboo, but put together just like rebar. Then they fill the spaces inside the grid with rocks and stones. Then they plaster mud or clay to fill all the gaps, and finish the surface off with cut stone slabs. Very solid construction!

This is where all the good Canadian wood ends up. All we can buy at our lumberyards is the crap wood that's been rejected by the Japanese. Sigh!

Pretty comfy shack these guys lived in.

There's that handsome dude again, in full rain gear. Oh well, no complaints, seen much worse.

Who's that masked man?

That's about it. Very short day. Headed East towards the Mt. Aso area, expecting good weather tomorrow. Spending the night at another Joyfull/Kamenoi Hotel. Love this chain! 4980 yen, including a huge Joyfull breakfast (choice of Western or Japanese). And I can have a nice dinner here for less than 800 yen, including drink bar, or they also have an eat-till-it-hurts buffet for 1200 yen. Can't beat that!

BTW, a bit of a personal record today. I have now logged over 100,000 km riding in Japan. That's 2.5 laps of this planet.

27 Oct 2008

Love that Kamenoi hotel chain. Cheap enough as it is, but they gave me a 300 yen coupon for the next stay! Great breakfast too. And the location was perfect, because the hotel is right on the start of R339, which is exactly where I wanted to go!

Went tearing up R339, R12 and R45. This route is also known as the "Milk Road" (don't ask). Lovely road!

Great riding and neat too, because it goes along the rim of the Mt. Aso caldera. BTW, I think this is the biggest caldera in Japan. Too big to get the whole thing into just one photo.

You can see the rim of the caldera way in the background. The village at the bottom is called Aso, and it's a major onsen town. No, I didn't stop for a soak. I've already had my monthly bath (yes, I have one every month, even if I don't need it). Don't want to overdo it, otherwise I might lose my "great unwashed" status.

More schizoid weather, BTW. Yesterday saw a high of 27C; today the high was 17C. Most of the ride in the Mt. Aso area is around 1000 m altitude, getting as high as 1250 m, plus it was windy, so it got pretty "fresh" up there. Lovely area, though, so well worth it.

These dwarves were trying to chase me for a while. I was watching them in my mirror and had to slow down before they killed themselves. Nice guys, actually. We shared lunch later.

Theses even smaller dwarves went bananas about the big gaijin. One of the leaders was their English teacher. I could barely understand the guy! But in order to give him some face, we pretended to have a nice chat in front of the kids.

Then I turned left onto the Yamanami Hwy., R11, which is also a great road and scenic. I've been here before, so not too many shots.

Nice fall colours.

This sucker was really smoking!

R11 eventually got me to Beppu, which is one of the most famous onsen cities in Japan. You can see steam rising all over town! Again, been here before, so no photos (but lots in my previous Kyushu report).

From there, R10 along the seaside, through Oita City. Not interesting at all. Major road, with lots of traffic. Then R197, which is fun, all the way to the ferry back to Shikoku.

By the time I got to Mizaki, it was already dark. R197 was fun in the daytime, but it was a blast in the dark! A few trucks got off the ferry before me, but once I got past them, I had the whole road to myself. Yes! Then I took R378 along the sea, which is also great, then R56 to Matsuyama for the night. Another Toyoko Inn, for 6090 yen w/breakfast.

BTW, Matsuyama is a lovely town. It has one of the nicest castles, on top of a hill, plus is has the Dogo Onsen, which boasts to be the oldest spa in Japan. It's a really neat old building. Photos in my Shikoku report.

28 Oct 2008

I've already gone across the Naruto Straits bridge to Awajishima and Kobe, at the East side of Shikoku, but I've always wanted to take on all the bridges on the West side, towards Hiroshima, which hop across 6 different islands. Well,this was my chance!

Took a wrong turn and got a bit disoriented in downtown Matsuyama, but I knew that if I could find R20, I'd be all right. Well, fortunately they had some very helpful road signs.

However, I did find Dogo Onsen, alleged to be the oldest in Japan. Neat old building.

Anyway, found my way out of town and cruised up R196 along the sea. Lovely road!

Then managed to find the first bridge.

Neat village.

Now, this is pretty cool. If you're riding a bicycle or scooter, there are special lanes on all the bridges and also on the islands. That would be a great cycling tour! And the tolls are far cheaper than what I had to pay. Tried to convince them that my bike was actually 120cc, but they wouldn't buy my story. Total tolls ended up costing me 3,479 yen. Probably would have been more if I didn't have the ETC.

Anyway, it was well worth the money. Lovely bridges and great roads all the way.

And all very scenic.

When the tide is changing, there is a very narrow passage for all the water to get through and fill or empty the Seto Inland Sea, so the currents are fierce! So much so that it creates whirlpools. This is more pronounced in the Naruto Strait, but you can see it clearly here too.

Lots of this kind of lovely roads!

Got stopped at a police checkpoint, no idea why. I saw a shirobai lurking in the bushes a ways back, so I wasn't even speeding. Nice enough guy, though. After checking my license, he recommended that I visit the Omishima (大三島) shrine.

Venerable old tree. Huge trunk!

Tourists by the busload. Must be a famous shrine.

Booze for the gods.

Yes, another bridge. Lots of bridges here. After all, there are 6 islands to cross!

More nice roads.

More bridges.

Yet another bridge!

Yet more good roads!

BTW, instead of just crossing all the islands on the Setouchi Shimanami Expressway, I got off on each island and rode around. When I got to the last island, I stumbled upon this ferry to the mainland. It only cost 80 yen! There are no signs at all to this ferry, so I think only the locals know about it.

The only reason why I stumbled upon this ferry is that I spotted this castle across the strait and wanted to get a shot. And yes, Onomichi also has a castle...

When I got to the other side, I saw that Onomichi has a lot of hotels, so decided to spend the night there. Took the α-1 Hotel, for 6300. I'd never tried this chain before. It's all right. Room's clean, but basically unremarkable hotel. But good enough. Seen worse.

Anyway, it was a great day. I've always wanted to go that way, and now I'm glad I've done it! Highly recommended if you ever happen to be in the area.

29 Oct 2008

Not too much distance covered today. Turned out to be another wrenching day. Right after I found some breakfast, a radiator hose got loose and puked out all the coolant. Wasted time fixing that, then wasted more time finding some more antifreeze. I've also finally managed to trash my chain, so I planned to get that replaced when I got to Hiroshima. No complaints, though. Shite happens. Actually, I've managed to get 83,000 km out of that one chain, which is pretty bloody incredible!

In any case, I did make some progress.

This was the view from my hotel window. That whole area is an excellent harbour, so there's a lot of shipping going on. In fact I had breakfast later with a Russian guy who specializes in buying shiploads of used cars here. Neat guy.

Anyway, fixed the rad problem, then R2 to Mihara, not very interesting; busy road. But then got on R185 along the sea, which is lovely.

Not only is this area a good harbour, but it's also a major shipbuilding area, with some humunguous dry docks.

Since I was in the area, I decided to visit Kure. This is a famous shipbuilding town, where they built many of the great ship for WWII, including the mighty Yamato. But what I find most interesting is that this is also where they trained the kamikaze pilots.

This is the Yamato Museum. Yes, that's a whole submarine.

1/10 scale model of the Yamato (it was sunk at the end of WWII)

This is a one-man suicide torpedo. I don't know how the poor guy managed to squeeze in there! But these guys sank something like 100 Allied ships.

The museum also has a Zero fighter, subs, bombs, cannons, etc. Good visit.

After that, instead of going straight to Hiroshima, I decided to check out that peninsula and some of those islands. So backtracked a bit and got on R66, R487 and R44. Nice roads, but very tight and busy, 30 km/h limit, so not a fast ride. But very scenic. I'm not sure if I'd recommend this route, but I've always wanted to check this out, so no regrets. Anyway, it gives me bragging rights: been there!

One of the bridges has another one of those spiral bridges to get up there. Two full circles.

It's a lovely road, and I did manage to get a few burst of speed, but not for very long. Enjoyed it, though.

Along the way, there are lots of neat old fishing villages and many scallop farms.

At the end of this route, grabbed yet another ferry.

Which took me to downtown Hiroshima. Nice area! If I was living here, I'd love to have a sail boat. Hundreds of islands to explore, and all in protected waters. Nice and steady breeze too. Sailor's heaven.

Neil was kind enough to look up the address of the Hiroshima Nap's store, so I went off and managed to find it, just to discover that it was closed on Wednesdays! I really needed a new chain! On the way to Nap's I had spotted a Red Baron store, so I went back there to see what they could do. Really nice guys, but they only had a chain and no sprockets. However, they phoned around and found what I needed at a Yellow Hat store, not too far away. Did I mention nice guys? So off I went again and got my new chain and sprockets. Bike feels great now!

Alas, by the time this got done, it was already late, so I booked into another Toyoko Inn for the night. I'm liking this chain more and more. The rooms are clean and bright, big bed, free breakfast. Another nice feature is that all the rooms are exactly the same design and layout, so you know what to expect and you don't have to figure out where everything is. Almost feels like home.

All in all, not a bad day, despite the inevitable wrenching. Shite happens and it's not unexpected. In fact, quite frankly, I'm really impressed with this bike's reliability. It's been pretty bloody good to me.

30 Oct 2008

Love my new chain! It decided to stretch rather suddenly, and it did so in an uneven manner, so by the end it felt like riding over a continuous rumble strip. Nice and smooth now!

While in Hiroshima, I couldn't resist paying my respects at the "Atomic Dome," the epicenter of the A-bomb attack.

This site has folded paper cranes for each person killed.

Hiroshima also has a lovely castle.

While in the area, I decided to revisit Miyajima. This is one of the three most popular tourist sites in Japan (along with Matsushima and Amanohashidate). Took the passenger ferry over, which cost me 340 yen, plus 500 yen for parking. Found out later that for another 260 yen, I could have taken the bike. Should have done that, because it's a fairly big site and I could have seen more if I was mobile. But I've been there before, so it's all right.

Oh deer! Lots of them prancing around there and, oddly enough, nobody is chasing them with chopsticks.

This torii in the water is quite well known in Japan.

This whole shrine is built on stilts, over the water.

A few more snaps.

There's a lot to see here. You could easily spend the whole day. There are also more shrines going up the hill. Also lots of deer and monkeys. I'ts 500 m high, so I was too lazy this time, but I did climb up last time. When I finally reached the top, a monk up there solemnly informed me: "toppu"

Lots more to see there.

Hey! Ganja, mon!

Neat stores too.

Anyway, enough of all this culture. Might end up with brain damage. Time for some fun! Purely at random, I picked R186. Holy guacamole! I'm very tempted to use the word "awesome," but unfortunately it has been so uverused by the teenagers that it's lost its original meaning by now. All I can say is that this road is incredible! It runs from the Seto Inland Sea, all the way across to the Sea of Japan. Twisty, high-speed, two-lane, perfect surface all the way, and no traffic. 130 km of pure bliss! Those lucky wankers living in Iwakuni really have it made.

I got so tumescent that I could only force myself to stop for a few snaps. If I wasn't a smoker, I probably wouldn't have stopped at all.

Unbelievable ride! Shoot me now! If you're ever in the area, don't miss this. If you're not in the area, go out of your way.

On the Sea of Japan, turned right onto R9. This is actually a lovely road, but all the truckers use it. Pity. Spotted this on a smoke break. Didn't anybody tell them that these things work better with propellers mounted?

Got as far as the small town of Ohta before I ran out of steam. Would have liked to get all the way to Matsue, but it's getting pretty cold at night. Found a very decent business hotel, New Sky Hotel, for 5,250 yen.

Lovely day! A bit of culture and great riding too.

31 Oct 2008

Cloudy and hazy all day today, so hard to get many good shots. Fairly cold too, with a high of 16C by the sea and 10C in the mountains.

Started up the coast on R9, which is scenic, but with a lot of traffic. But then took a side trip up R431 and R23, which were very nice. Couldn't get a good shot of the road; cliff on one side, drop to the sea on the other, nice and twisty. And scenic.

Then back on R431 to Matsue. Matsue is a really neat town, and its location is kind of cool, between two large lakes. And yes, they too have a castle.

It's actually a really nice castle.

And the grounds are huge, with shrines, parks, moats, etc.

I think these fruits are called parsimmons in English. Oddly enough, the name in Japan and Brazil is identical: kaki. A lot of Japanese emigrated to Brazil about a century ago, so maybe they took the kaki with them(?) Strange, though, because it's a winter fruit in Japan.

I've been there before, so didn't take much time exploring, but this site is well worth a visit. If you're feeling adventurous, you can even take a boat tour of the moats.

I've already seen the coast East of Matsue, and also the great roads around Mt. Daisen, so this time I decided to check out R482, running through the mountains. Wow! Yet another great route! More high speed twisties, two lane, good surface. Very dark and hazy most of the time, so couldn't get any decent shots, but here are a couple.

I didn't keep track of the distance, but it was spectacular riding for something like 100 km! Is there no end to the fantastic roads in this country? Maybe I should quit now, before this tumescence becomes a permanent priapism.

At the end of this lovely ride, I went up R53 to Tottori for the night. Yet another Toyoko Inn.

01 Nov 2008

Nice sunny day today. Last time I was around here, it was a great ride along the seaside on R178, so decided to do it again. Skipped a lot of stuff,like the Tottori Sand Dunes and Amanohashidate, which should be visited by anybody that goes there. There's a better write up and photos in my previous report on Kyushi and West Japan.

Basic route was along the seaside on R178, R11, then back on R178.

Lovely switchbacks.

Lots of scenery.

Gorgeous road!

It runs on like this for a long way!

Looking back.

Couple of really cute little oba-san. When I thanked them for the photo, they insisted that I must absolutely have one of their onions. Lovely ladies!

Closer to Amanohashidate, the road goes down to the sea, but still great riding.

Didn't get very far today, only about 250 km, but all of it twisty, so my wrists are trashed. Ended up in Maizuru for the night, at a very nice business hotel, Aube Hama Inn (オーブ浜イン), by the East Maizuru JR station. Big room, big bed, even a nice leather easy chair, with ottoman. 6000 yen.

02 Nov 2008

Couldn't see anything nice that I've not already seen around here, plus running out of steam, so decided to head back.

Headed along the coast on R27, then inland on R303, then along Lake Biwa on R161. All nice roads, but fair bit of traffic. But then decided to check out those roads along the North side of Lake Biwa. Lovely! R557 runs along the lakeside. Nice ride, with great scenery.

The next part, R513 and R512 climb up into the hills, with some fantastic twisties, plus an incredible bonus: there's some roadworks going on, so they've made it one way. This means that you can get really frisky, without having to worry about any opposing traffic in your face. Bloody marvelous!

From there, got on the tollways and up the Tokai-Hokuriku Hwy., which is a lovely road, climbing up the mountains to Takayama, through endless tunnels and bridges, withy lovely fall colours all the way.

From Takayama on, it was already getting dark, so no more photos. R158 to Matsumoto is fantastic! Fortunately, been there before, so the lack of photos is no big loss.

I knew that some of the gang was camping out in Gunma, so I decided to join them that night. So got on the tollways and blasted over to Shibukawa-Ikaho on the Kanetsu Hwy, then up R17 and R36 to the Midorino Mura campsite. Got very bloody cold on the way, but managed to get there around 10:00, where I met up with Craig and his brother, Gerard, Mic, Yuko and Yukiko.

Long ride today, around 700 km. I was cold and beat, but it was a very satisfying day!

03 Nov 2008

Woke up to a lovely morning, at the lovely campsite.

Everybody got mounted up, and basically we spent the day playing in the lovely roads in Gunma, around the area of Kusatsu, Asama-san and Karuizawa.

Lake Haruna.

There's that handsome guy again!

Great roads, lovely scenery.

Spending the night near Karuizawa, at Ide-san's home.

04 Nov 2008

Well, that's it. Enough already, so back to Tokyo today.

I've had my fill of twisty roads. Trying to chase Craig, Gerard and Mic yesterday has finally done my wrists in, so took the tollways all the way back. The Joshinetsu Hwy. actually has quite nice scenery, with some very rugged mountains. I think it's the first time I've done it in daylight!

This trip started with a night at Ide-san's home and a campout with the gang, so I think it's kind of neat that it ends the same way.

Anyway, this completes my lap of Japan. 13,500 km in 50 days, which works out to an average of 11.25 km/h. Hmm ... not quite enough to put Rossi to shame, but actually not a bad lap. Guess I could have done better if I'd bought those loud pipes. Or with a decent pit crew, but instead of 15 second pit stops, I ended up with more like 15 hour pit stops.

To borrow Craig's words, trip of a lifetime!

The aftermath: Dinner and booze at the Zest Cantina in Ebisu, with a bunch of very nice hooligans.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement, guys. You've been a great audience!

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