Japan-Bike Trip

September 2016
A 19-day adventure by Bodo
  • 31footprints
  • 1countries
  • 19days
  • 179photos
  • 0videos
  • 990kilometers
  • Day 1

    Narita: the land of the rising sun!

    September 11, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    #Jidensha = bicycle

    Arrived at Narita International Airport i rushed to look for my jidensha. And there it was, the box was still mostly intact, the bike seems to be alright. I then went to ask around if its possible to bring the big box with me in a bus or train tokyo...apparently it is too big, so i had to assemble the bike just outside of the airport. After toring the box into pieces and squeezing them inside a garbage bin i packed everything on the bike and start cycling to my first hotel in japan: the capsule hotel. Everything was very clean, very organised, very japan..Read more

  • Day 2

    Tokyo: Robotto Resutoranto

    September 12, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    #Gomibako = Garbage bin

    Could not sleep last night, got up early and started to disassemble my bile and wrap it with a strech-wrap. With the whole bike on my right hand, two bags on the left and one rucksack on the back i walked to the train station and bought a ticket to Tokyo station, where i should meet Kei, my cycling buddy. I reassembled my bike just outside the train station and was then struggling to find a Gomibako nearby, to throw away the stretchwraps. Even though tokyo is very clean, there are hardly any Gomibako around, not even at the train stations, garden or bus stations...where do the japanese throw their garbage? I met Kei and hour later and walked around Tokyo and had a delicious chicken curry, japananese beer and whiskey. At night we went to shinjuku, there were alot of host and hostess clubs, and a rather peculiar robotto restaurant with two giant robots in front of the restaurant singing about themselves being a robot with glowing undergarmentsRead more

  • Day 4

    Yokohama: Cyclist nightmare

    September 14, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    #Reinkoto = rain coat

    We woke up early and wanted to start early but then it started to rain heavily...we decided to wait for a while, but after 1 hour it looks like the rain is not going anywhere...We went out to find a Reinkoto for Kei and started on our journey. Tokyo is a cyclist nightmare... there are hardly any bicycle road around and there are too many traffic lights and too many around...so many time we had to push our bike through a huge crowd of people, it was no fun...and then it happened..my phone, which i use as my Navi stopped working..since it was raining all the way so heavily my phone got wet despite the protection and switched itself off!
    By 6 pm its already pitch black and we decided to make it a day... We went to a Konbini store and asked around if theres a hotel nearby. A young guy behind the counter tried hard to help us and we tried hard to communicate with our limited japanese skills. He then wrote down the hotel's name behind a used receipt: "Hoteru Atorasu". We cycled down to the mentioned hotel and it turns out its called "Hotel Atlas". It was pretty expensive but we did not have much choice...hopefully tomorrow will be better..
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  • Day 4

    Chigasaki: Home of the surfers

    September 14, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    #Karage = fried chicken

    We woke up and continued our journey to Yokohama city. There we stopped and had a delicious Okonomiyaki and Immagawayaki. It still rains now and then but now as bad as yesterday..The road was slippery though, and i managed to get into a small accident and fell down from my bike. But nothing serious, the bike seems to be okay. We then continue on cycling to chigasaki, with a beach side and ALOT of surfers. We decided to park next to a public shower at the beach and camp there. At night we went to a local restaurant and had Udon, Karage and a couple of fine japanese beer..the guests at the restaurant thought we were italians 😅Read more

  • Day 5

    Hakone Moto: Extreme Hill climbing

    September 15, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    #Abunai = dangerous

    The night in the camp was quite rough, i could hardly sleep. Early in the morning we packed our stuffs and then i started to realise something is terribly wrong with my rear wheel. It wobbles like crazy and its not possible to continue cycling that way...we decided to look for a repair shop, after asking around and trying to decypher what the locals tried to tell us, we manage to find a good one. The owner of the bike shop was very friendly and talkative, he even showed us pictures of his last bicycle tours. Bad news..the wheel was so bended, its not possible to true it back. There was even a big crack on the wheel. The wheel must go! I had to buy a new wheel and within an hour or so the bike is ready! The owner even changed my bike's brake after hearing that we are heading to Hakone.. "Abunai!" he said, since the road to Hakone is quite steep. The bike felt like new, we cycled further to Hakone. The first 40 km was all well but then comes the anticipated hill-climbing session: around 15 km long and 850 m high! The road was rough and after 6:00 it got pitch-black and theres no street lamp! After the climbing horror we managed to find ourself a nice japanese motel on the hillRead more

  • Day 6

    Gotemba: No Yakuza allowed!

    September 16, 2016 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    #Yakuza = mafia

    The motel was nice but i could not get a good sleep. The hostess was very kind and asked us if she could take our picture and if she could add us as her facebook friend. We then cycled to the Ishu-Lake and decided to try some japanese breads...there were alot of weird combinations, wasabi-french bread, green tea croissant, egg-curry bread and the list goes on...we also visited a local shinto temple. The village is famous for their black-eggs, which apparently will extend your life for 7 years if you eat one! No wonder alot of japanese lived so long, they have the eggs...🤔It started raining again and we had to climb up the hill. We were cycling quite fast till suddently i hit a rock on the road and fell into the ground, and slide through the road like for 3 meters!! Kei rushed to me, he looked pale, thinking i might broke something from the fall. Apparently it looked more dramatic it was, since aside from some small bruises and cuts i was perfectly fine! Most importantly my bicycle was still functioning well after the fall. Besides, the sliding was quite fun, the road was quite wet that i hardly felt anything while sliding on it. But i might not be lucky next time, maybe its time to buy a bike-helmet....We continued cycling to Gotemba and decided to camp there, with a nice view of Fuji-san behind us ( even though it can be hardly be seen, due to bad relatively bad weather). The owner of the camping site was very kind and tried his best to explain to us about the place. At night we went to a japanese-Onsen nearby, which is a public bath with natural hot water. In front of the Onsen was a big sign showing that people with tattoos are not allowed to come to the place, since in japan having a tattoo normally means that you belong to a yakuza-clanRead more

  • Day 7

    Yamanakako: The swimming bus

    September 17, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Kombini = convenience store
    Nagai = high

    The camping ground was so hard, i could hardly sleep...I went outside the camp and i couöd see behind us the fuji-san quite clearly. And what a beauty!! We woke up early and cycled to a nearby kombini and had sushi and coffee..we then
    climb further for around 1000 m Height and stopped at a lake called Yamakoku. It is one of the 5 lakes lokated around Fuji-san. Along the way we met Mr. Fujiwara, a cyclist who was cycling around Fuji-san, 120 km long with two 1000 m high peaks to cross. Along the ride mr. Fujiwara shouted a couple time "Nagai! Nagai!" whenever we had to climb a steep road
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  • Day 7

    Oshino Hakkai: The matchmaker

    September 17, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We continued our journey and stopped at a place called Oshino Hakkai. It a place consists of 8 natural ponds and each pond has a special power. We went to the first pond where it is said, if you dip your hands in the water for 30 seconds, all your sins will be erased. I put my hands for 1 minute, since i had alot of sins. We then went to (maybe) the most famous pond, a matchmaker's pond. It is said that you will find your true love of you stay at the pond. That must be a lie, since i didnt see any japanese girl running towards me. Maybe it only works if you are japanese? There was a stall nearby selling grapes. We wanted to buy some till we saw the tag price. It costs 20€ per 500 g !! We could not believe our eyes and decided to continue with the journey.Read more

  • Day 7

    Kawaguchiko: Wives are scary

    September 17, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    chisai = small

    We stopped at the next lake and it was already dark. We could not find a place to stay so we decided to camp by a park next to the lake. We had delicous Udon and Yakisoba by a small stall nearby. I also ordered grilled corn and the stall owner came later with it and half of the money back, since he said the corn is too "chisai". Could not sleep as usual, early in the morning we were greated by Mr. Shinji from the village. He taught us alot of life lessons like the importance of enjoying life, meeting new people and how scary wives are (especially his wife). Mr Shinji told us he was so busy working that he hardly talked with his children and was so stressed out to a point that he was nearly commiting suicide. He then decided to work less and enjoy more nature. He came by to the park every morning and talk to strangers and pick up cigarrete butts and other garbages to make sure that park stays clean (on his free time) . By picking up the garbages he also automatically exercises his body and its important for him to stay healthy, he said while smoking his cigarrete early on the morning 😑..... After alot of talking he realised its time to go home for breakfast or he will get scolded by with wife again if he is late.Read more

  • Day 8

    Futatsuyama: The forbidden forest

    September 18, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    The climbing continued, we were at 1600m above the sea level...the navi kept showing us routes that dont exist. It then led us to a small route, with a big red sign written on it and it was blocked with chains. It was written in japanese, so we didnt know what it was, but it smellt like danger. But its either that or more climbing 😥. We decided to trust the navi and trespass. Along the way we saw some japanese with four-wheellers and weird outfit. They looked puzzled seing us there....nevertheless we continued further.The road was definitely not suitable for our bikes. Its was very rocky and was going quite steep downhill. We let the bike rolls and used alot of braking and alot of maneuvering to avoid big rocks. I managed to fall down again and hurt my knee cap. Luckily the bike was okay. Later on we found out it was a hunting area and we had no business being there at all. Luckily there were no japanese hunter mistakened us for bears and we managed to came out of the forbidden forrest alive. We should had set more checkpoints on the navi to make sure that it does not lead us to small, rocky roads with japanese men hiding in the bushes with rifle guns.Read more