It was an 18-hour travel day, door-to-door to Japan. Tokyo is the largest city on Earth, with a population of 37.4 million people, which is over four times the population of New York City. Skyscrapers are everywhere and only a few feet apart. Geography wise, 30 Japan’s can fit inside the U.S.A. Yet, it is a clean country partially because cleanliness has historically been regarded as an important part of religious practice in their primary Buddhism and Japanese Shintoism religions. Comforting that petty crime, such as theft, is very limited.
Oh, did I mention they drive on the left side of the road too? The bike
mirror gets moved to the right side. Most roads have a tiny bike lane on the
far left of the road. Some roads had a bike lane. If it gets too crazy, it’s OK
to cycle on the sidewalk. I was pleased that we had an experienced group of
cyclists that was not squeamish “playing in traffic”. The Japanese are used to
sharing the road with cyclists. They are also a patient culture, without the
horn honking and road rage. Japan is a group of islands in the Pacific.
Happily, much of our cycling was near water. Kyoto has two rivers that run
north-south through the city with bike/ped lanes on both sides of both rivers.
Many nights were “authentic” lodging which meant sleeping on a futon mat
placed on tatami flooring. Tatamis are thick, woven straw mats and should be
kept as clean as possible. Shoes are not allowed in a Japanese house. You put
on slippers, or walk in socks, from the front door. Slippers are not allowed on
tatami mats. Only sock feet. Another twist, in many homes, a different set of
slippers must be used when entering a bathroom. What I found a bit distasteful
is you are using slippers that have been used by multiple strangers that
entered days/weeks/months ahead of you. All slippers were huge on me except for
the visit to one temple that had a child’s size slipper.
Most public buildings have toilets with a bidet seat, often heated. Some
have toilet lids rise automatically via motion sensor. There’s lots of buttons,
in Japanese, making it very confusing. Some have a privacy button to make a lot
of noise in the toilet water so no one can hear you "doing your
business".
No trip to Japan is complete without going to one conveyor belt fast
food restaurant. So efficient. The belt stops at your table, beverages too.
Tokyo
The first two days we cycled around
Tokyo seeing shrines, temples, and the Imperial Palace. My favorite was walking
at night down their version of 5th Avenue NYC. I found the glitzy lights
and storefronts to be exhilarating. I
was surprised to see orange trees in Tokyo, being at a similar
latitude as Asheville.
Next stop
after Tokyo was two nights in Kamakura, just one hour away by train. It was a
good training run negotiating a train station with bikes and bags. Amidst thick
crowds, we visited the 2nd tallest Buddha in Japan at 44’ tall.
From Kamakura
it took four trains to get to Kyoto, including the Shinkansen
"bullet" train which can go up to 199 mph. It was the perfect day to
travel since Kamakura was getting 2" of rain with winds up to 25 mph. Our
arrival at Kyoto was a damp and chilly 50. We had five nights in Kyoto and each
day the weather improved until reaching 75 degrees. Each day was a cycling
adventure to different parts of the city of 1.5M. I have seen all the Buddhist
temples and Shinto shrines to last a lifetime. We rode around various palaces
of the emperor, but walls and grounds are that is seen. Except at an Imperial Villa,
we were able to get tickets for a 1 ½ hours walking tour of the grounds.
Sunday started with a 7
a.m. departure from Kyoto and short bike ride to the train station. After
schlepping our bikes and panniers onto four trains, we arrived in Onomichi by
noon to cycle the Shimanami Kaido
which is a 36-mile cycle path that connects eight islands using seven long
bridges to get across the Inland Sea. Three bridges are suspension with the
longest at 2.5 miles. An expressway exists for vehicles, but the cycle path
takes a different route, away from the cars. There are dedicated winding paths
for bikes to access the bridges, with small inclines. Bicycles have a dedicated
lane on the seven bridges. When opened in 1999, it was the first triple suspension
bridge in the world and took nine years to build. We took two days to ride the
entire path then, on the 2nd day we schlepped our bikes and gear
onto four trains, taking four hours which dropped us off in Otsu.
Lake Biwa
Leaving from the city of Otsu, we cycle along Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan. Trying to outpace a storm system, we move quickly, having an impromptu picnic by the lake with our random purchases from a convenient store. Potato salad with bacon in a plastic bag tasted pretty good. I have been challenged on this trip to find food I enjoy or food that I can safely eat. They like to put soy sauce (gluten) on most meat and vegetables. Another of their favorites is breaded and fried foods. Also, gluten. White rice comes with three meals a day. Eating white rice is a cultural thing. Royalty ate white rice. White rice is “refined” so it must be better. Wrong. Brown rice is a whole grain and healthier.
A beautiful day riding through the
countryside on small roads. We arrived in Toshi’s village of Otowa which is his
family name. His wife cooked us dinner and we toured his 5,000 sq ft house built
in 1650 and handed down to the oldest son in each generation. Can you imagine your
family history traced back to the 1600’s with all the colorful history of
battles fought and land seized and other dirty laundry? Toshi told us many
colorful family stories and pointed out the land taken from the family after
WWII and divided among the less endowed, as was done throughout Japan. His
father was serving for the Japanese military, fighting in China, when he was
captured by the Russians. He was taken to Russia and did forced labor for
Russia for three years after the war ended. The Russians released him after he
broke his arm and was no longer of use to them.
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