(this is a short recap post with some photos, perhaps some day I’ll come back and write more when I have the space to fully wrap my head around what just happened)
Ever since I first visited Japan, one of my dreams has been to do a long-distance bicycle tour there, with a focus on rural areas (as well as the food, history, craftsmanship, and culture). “Some day, life’s too busy… maybe when I’m 65…”– but after a career change, I made it happen this year. It was one of the most memorable trips of my life.
I spent five weeks cycling more or less the length of Japan, from Nagasaki to Sapporo (though with shuttle buses to skip riding around two large urban areas surrounding Tokyo and Osaka, as well as to bypass smaller regions such as an unexpected landslide in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Mawar).
I did this as a continuation of the fully-supported ride across Korea, with ~20 strangers or people I’d met on one previous bike tour (edit: and two years later, we still have an active group chat– that’s some bonding through shared experience / suffering!) A friend from home also joined me for the two-week Nagasaki -> Tokyo half of the ride.
Our routes were rural, scenic, and also quite hilly, sometimes taking mountain roads that most car traffic has abandoned in favor of newer expressways.
I’ll add to this later or write a follow-up, there are too many memorable moments, but some of my very favorite riding and landscapes were around the Aso caldera in Kyushu, the whole island of Shikoku (especially the Iya Valley), Oirase Gorge, and near Lake Tazawa.
I also got up to some off-the-mapped-route adventures that became a bit more adventurous than I’d anticipated…
