Izu Peninsula (伊豆半島), Shizuoka

After waking up to an empty bottle in a brown paper bag, I grabbed a few power sticks (bananas) from the local and started my journey towards Izu Peninsula (伊豆半島). As mentioned before it's renowned by the Japanese to have the 'prettiest' beaches on the mainland. I rode my bike just getting out of the …

Advertisement

Chiba Coast and Mount Nokogiri (鋸山), Chiba

The temperature and humidity have definitely picked up over the last week as I head further south. Roughly 28 degrees and 80% so it's hard to ever feel dry when you're on or off the bike. Riding along the coast, I was hoping to find something with a few waves. Towards the end of my …

Couch Surfing in Sendai, Miyagi

I made my way from cat island towards the largest (i think?) city in Northern Honshu, Sendai. I had arranged to stay with a few amazing and accommodating couch surfers. I turned up at Jakub's house who said he left the keys for me and to 'make myself at home' until he returned. So I …

Sakata, Yamagata

Once again another overcast and cloudy day in Japan as we decided to make our way to the famous jellyfish (海月 - クラゲ) aquarium Kamo Aquarium (加茂水族館), which all the Niigata people had been telling us is amazing. I'm (Ross) not usually one for museums, zoos, etc, but I don't mind myself a good aquarium …

To Yamagata

As if balancing out the last few amazing days, overnight the heavens opened up and let down an absolute downpour of rain. When we finally crawled out of the tent concerned at how harsh the rain was getting, our gear and bikes were in small ponds and we were also about to be swallowed up. …

Niigata

After 2 monster days we deserved a rest day of doing laundry and shopping for DBH cards. We strolled around Bandai Bridge but didn’t find any Digimon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards unfortunately. Ross had organised to meet up with some Niigata locals, which he found through a Meetup event in Tokyo (Chihiro + 1) and through …

To Niigata City, Niigata

After a ‘rest day’ we were on our way to Niigata City to meet some friends via Shiobara Onsen and Inawashiro Lake. There was some beautiful rice paddy fields and picturesque scenery on the way there. We also stopped in at a place called Tobu World Square which is basically a miniature tourist attraction village. …

To Takasaki

Rain was something we expected to happen, but after 5 days of blissful sunshine, this had kinda been put out of our minds. That dream ended yesterday when it started bucketing down and we realised that riding in the rain isn't quite as fun as we thought it would be. Currently holed up in Starbucks, …

Okutama Lake

After a well deserved 11 hours of rest, Ross was first up at the 'campsite' at 6am. Shortly after, a young girl (about 7yrs old), stumbles out of her tent and sees Ross throwing stones at the lake. She tells him only the skillful (上手) people can skim rocks. Ross impressed her so much by …

The Journey Begins

Woke up feeling slightly dusty after a bit too much sake thanks to Pete and Jane Puchner. After a surgical clean of Carl's mansion (small apartment), we were ready to load the bikes and roll out of Tokyo. 'How's this all supposed to fit on my bike?' - Carl. A few rounds of tetris and …