2003-08-17-biking-japan-2003.md (10424B)
1 +++ 2 title = "Biking Japan 2003" 3 date = "2003-08-17T00:00:00Z" 4 slug = "biking-japan-2003" 5 tags = ["Cycling", "Japan", "Travel"] 6 +++ 7 8 {{< figure src="/post/2003-08-17-cycling-in-japan.jpg" 9 alt="Brodie bike parked beside vending machines in front of restaurant" >}} 10 11 The plan was to travel from Osaka north to the Japan Sea, northeast along the 12 coast to Joetsu, south through the alps to Nagano, then southeast all the way 13 to Tokyo — a total distance of close to 1200 km, entirely by bicycle. 14 15 Unfortunately for me, disaster struck just over half-way, in the form of 16 150km/h winds and torrential downpours. Typhoon Number 10 ploughed straight 17 through Japan, following a track from the island of Shikoku through Nagano 18 before it died out, dumping up to 650mm of rain a day, and flooding out every 19 town and village in its path. 20 21 I arrived in Osaka the night of July 28th and promptly hauled my bike, 22 panniers, and tools through customs and immigration, across the airport, and 23 into a hotel. I’m not entirely sure how happy they were to have a 24 grotty-looking guy assembling his bike in his hotel room overnight, but no one 25 said anything, and I snuck out around 6am anyway. 26 27 It’s unbelievable just how slowly you start and stop when your bike is loaded 28 with 40kg of gear. Sort of the cycling equivalent of driving an 18-wheeler. The 29 weather was a scorching 36C, with the humidity hovering around 85%. Over the 30 first 70km from Osaka Itami Airport to downtown Kyoto, I consumed 8 litres of 31 Dakara, Boku, Miu, and the oh-so-deliciously named Poccari Sweat, crashed 32 twice, and got lost every 5 minutes. Took a break in Kyoto, stopping by to take 33 a look at Sanjuusan Gendo, take some pictures, and chat with Taxi drivers, the 34 police, and anyone else who wanted to know just what the hell I was doing. 35 36 Eventually, after a few more Poccari Sweats and some ramen for lunch, I jumped 37 on my bike and started the trek to Otsu. Half an hour later, winding my way 38 slowly uphill, along a narrow shoulder on a bridge 30m above a cemetary, I had 39 the first major close call of the ride. Fortunately, through a combination of 40 luck and skill, I deftly avoided flying over the railing and plummeting 30m to 41 my death. Unfortunately, I did so by launching myself headlong into a traffic 42 barrier, failing to release my toe-clips, breaking the seat right off the post, 43 and trashing both my leg and pannier on the pavement in the process. Pretty 44 sure my leg was broken, I lay there for a few minutes contemplating the 45 resounding success of my bike trip thusfar while the last of the Poccari Sweat 46 drained out of my water bottles into my shoes. 47 48 {{< figure src="/post/2003-08-17-fireworks-in-fukui.jpg" 49 alt="Fireworks in Fukui" >}} 50 51 Suffice to say that the rest of the day went uphill from there (both literally 52 and figuratively) and I arrived in Otsu, on the edge of lake Biwa, in one 53 piece. Annie met me at the JR train station, we ditched the bike in a parking 54 lot, and rode the train back to Kyoto, where we met up with the entire 55 complement of Shiga JET Programme teachers at The Hub, an Irish Pub in 56 Karamachi. After a few beers, some fish & chips and edamame, Annie and Brent 57 hauled me back to their apartment in Imazu, where they (and I am forever 58 indebted to them for this) put me up for three days. 59 60 Although I didn’t get to go to SummerSonic in Osaka, I did get to pick up my 61 bike in Otsu, ride 95km back north to Imazu, and spend the evening at Imazu’s 62 Natsu-matsuri¹ with friends of Annie’s and Brent’s (Josh, Yo, and Hatsumi). 63 Natsu-matsuris involve many elements, but some of the most important factors 64 are: fireworks that put ours to shame, music and dancing, traditional Yukata², 65 and vast quantites of food and alcohol. After the festival, we dragged 66 ourselves to Bumblebee Twist, a local bar, and had a few more before eventually 67 hauling ourselves off to bed to recover. 68 69 The next day, we were all invited to a barbeque. The one thing that any 70 foreigner will immediately notice about a Japanese barbeque is that you can’t 71 just light the barbeque using zip-lights or lighter fluid. No... the correct 72 way to light a barbeque in Japan is for one person to heat the coals with a 73 torch while the rest stand around fanning the flames with uchiwas³ until the 74 barbeque, in a moment of glory, bursts into flames and the cooking begins. We 75 had music, more food, beer and Chu-hai (a sort of cider), snacks, and more 76 fireworks. It was totally great, even though I was beat over and over at some 77 kind of pirate game by a three-year-old. 78 79 The next morning, I said bye to Annie and Brent, then hurled myself off 80 northwards up the highway towards the north coast. For 30km, the road winds up 81 through the mountains over a narrow pass toward Tsuruga. In the scariest 82 downhill of the entire ride, I plummeted down the winding road, drafting behind 83 semi-trucks at 70km/h, flying in and out of tunnels and around hairpin turns 84 for the 8km down into Tsuruga. 85 86 Tsuruga sits on the ocean at the edge of the Sea of Japan, at the beginning of 87 the long road leading northeast to Fukui and Kanazawa. Unfortunately, it also 88 sits at the beginning of a 95km-long leg of straight uphill running along the 89 edge of a cliff with no shoulder. Fortunately, it’s some of the most beautiful 90 riding you could possibly hope for. Even more fortunately, midway through the 91 ride, as I sat at the side of the road huddling in a tiny corner of shade at 92 the edge of a cliff, two motorcyclists from Osaka pulled up and offered me 93 something to drink, a look at their road maps, and some encouragement in 94 Kansai-dialect. This was reinforced over and over throughout my ride by 95 children hanging out of car windows waving and shouting "ganbare!" at the top 96 of their lungs. 97 98 {{< figure src="/post/2003-08-17-lining-up-for-okonomiyaki.jpg" 99 alt="Lining up for okonomiyaki" >}} 100 101 Eventually, I wound my way up through the mountains to Fukui, where I almost 102 had to spend the night camped on a park-bench by the river. Just when I’d 103 almost given up hope of finding a hostel, someone walked up to me and in 104 perfect English, asked if I needed a place to stay for the night. Turns out her 105 family ran a hotel downtown, and she and her sister had spent several years 106 living in Australia. Their mom invited me in for tea and snacks after dinner 107 and we all stayed up late with their little boy, Ryu, yakking about travelling 108 and good Japanese food. 109 110 The next day it was off to Kanazawa, which it turns out has a lot in common 111 with Kyoto. While it’s much smaller, there were many beautiful old sections of 112 town. There are temples and shrines everywhere, Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen — 113 probably the most famous Japanese garden in the world. There’s also a crazy guy 114 dressed in a cape and John Lennon glasses who runs around dragging people to 115 convenience stores. Too embarassed not to buy an ice cream treat from the 116 shopkeeper, I grabbed some ice-cream mochi balls, borrowed the phone and set up 117 reservations for Nagano. 118 119 Because of the typhoon, I ended up doing the rest of the trip by train. I found 120 a bike shop and spent the day yammering away in pseudo-Japanese to the little 121 old grandma and grandpa who owned the shop. Turns out that he had done almost 122 the exact same bike trip about 40 years ago! He had also cycled across 123 Australia and much of the rest of Japan. Pretty amazing! If I hadn’t found 124 them, my bike would probably be lying in a crumpled heap in a landfill right 125 now. It took hours, be we did manage to pack everything into an unbelievably 126 small bag that I could haul onto the train with me. 127 128 From Kanazawa, I caught the train to Nagano, taking local lines and limited 129 express trains the whole way. Nagano was the site of the 1998 Winter Olympic 130 Games, but has since reverted to its pre-Olympic small-town feel. It was a 131 beautiful place to visit, hidden away in the Japanese alps, surrounded by 132 Japanese hot springs and ski hills. I can’t wait to visit in winter. Nagano’s 133 biggest feature is probably Zenkouji, a Buddhist Temple which houses the first 134 Buddhist images to come to Japan from the Asian mainland. Underneath the temple 135 is a pitch-black maze of tunnels that you can wander into, pushed along by wave 136 after wave of school-children on field trips, people on pilgrimmages, and 137 curious tourists. It’s almost impossible to tell just how fast you’re moving, 138 or how far you’ve gone... just disembodied voices in the dark. Eventually you 139 arrive at the “key to salvation”, which you can’t see, but you can feel. A few 140 shakes and rattles, then you’re swept away down the tunnels again. 141 142 From Nagano, I caught the Asama Shinkansen into Tokyo. At 280km/h the trip 143 takes just about two hours. The train tore through the edge of the hurricane at 144 breakneck speed and we were in Tokyo on schedule to the minute. You can’t help 145 but love the Japanese train system. 146 147 {{< figure src="/post/2003-08-17-akasaka.jpg" alt="Akasaka at night" >}} 148 149 Met up with Yasuko in Tokyo, and we spent the week bumming around town and 150 catching all the sights: Akasaka, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Odaiba, the Tsukiji fish 151 market. Took a side trip to the art gallery a few hours away in Hakone 152 Prefecture where a mix of European and Japanese art is on display. There were 153 some absolutely amazing pieces of Japanese pottery in their collection. Back in 154 Tokyo, we had the chance to see a Kabuki play. I wasn’t entirely sure what to 155 expect, but it was great. The most striking thing is perhaps the movement. It 156 was absolutely incredible. I wish I were able to describe it, but the best I 157 can do is recommend that if you’re even in Tokyo, you go see a Kabuki play! 158 159 I returned home on August 17th. Ate breakfast, lunch and dinner in Tokyo, 160 jumped on the plane at 6pm and had another breakfast and lunch. Arrived back in 161 Canada 8 hours before I left, and had lunch and dinner again, for a total of 162 seven meals on the 17th. Not bad! It was a pretty wild and crazy trip, but it 163 was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. I can’t wait to go back. 164 165 Thanks to everyone who put me up along the way! In particular, Annie & Brent, 166 and Yasuko! You guys are the best! 167 168 ### Glossary 169 170 1. *Natsu-Matsuri:* every village’s traditional summer festival, usually in 171 early- to mid-August, near Obon, the Day of the Dead. 172 1. *Yukata:* traditional light cotton kimonos that come in a variety of colours 173 and patterns. 174 1. *Uchiwa:* Large, flat traditional Japanese fan.