Stay tuned for news of my 2025 Japan cycling tours, coming soon!
Japan feels like home to me.
I lived here for 9 years, first in a small fishing village in rural Shikoku called Yuki -Cho, then in Kyushu, in a town called Tosu-shi. It was love at first sight, and that first sight was Osaka Airport’s innards. You’d think there wouldn’t be much to fall for in that environment, but the quietness of the place, the sense of calm and order amongst the locals, the pleasant smiles from the staff, accompanied by a hushed konnichiwa and a soothing irrashaimase here and there, and the correctness of the place – lines on the floor guiding you to various points, everything straight-edged and tidy, and so clean that even the luggage carousel seemed to glimmer and shine under the thoughtfully subdued lighting.
Yes, this was love – and it all started at an airport.
By the time I’d got off the bus hours later in Tokushima City, to be picked up by the owner of the English school I was to work at, I knew this was my place…
Then, in 2009, I got the opportunity to completely change the trajectory of my life by becoming the editor of an online cycling magazine, and also by becoming a pro rider with the Fuji-CyclingTime team. This meant relocating to Taiwan, and though I do quite like living in China’s favorite piñata, Japan is undeniably the country in which I feel most at home.
And so when my friends at the tour company, Kyuden Sangyo, on behalf of the Fukuoka government tourist board got in touch earlier this year and asked me to help them identify five Australian cycling tour operators to invite over to the prefecture for a familiarization tour – and to then host the tour – I quickly agreed.
The tour starts on the 23rd to the 28th of this month, so I decided to head out early and get a little cycling in for myself. The route I chose goes from Onomichi in west Hiroshima then to Hiroshima City, over the hills to Masuda on the west coast in Shimane-Ken, down to Shimonoseki and then finally on to Fukuoka itself…
DAY ZERO
The journey to Japan
How does flying 8 hours back to Taiwan from a 5 day business trip to Sydney on an overnighter, having spent the previous 24 hours sick in a hotel bed, with a woman who’s using the back of your seat to keep up with her Muay Thai training behind you and an arm-rest hogger next to you – who snores, added bonus – sound?
First time in Sydney, an interesting city!.
Then you have a 90 minute journey home from the aiport for some much-needed sleep, before packing to catch another flight the next day at 3pm back at the same airport for take off the next day. Oh and your bike box’s wheels have decided to deform to the point that you now have to drag the screeching lump of plastic and carbon every inch of the way.
Flying in to Taipei
It was about as much fun as it sounds.
Anyway, off the plane, back in Japan, booked in to the hotel kindly provided by the Fukuoka crew, and then, this being about 8pm, I was all ready to get to bed. But then England decided it’d be a great time to get to the Euro finals. The game was set at 3am Tokyo time. Now, I’m not the most passionate England fan in the world (there’s as reason I’ve been in Asia for 28 years), but I mean, what was I to do? If they won I’d never forgive myself, not after all those years of suffering in my mild support of them.
Fukuoka.
I was booked to get on a Shinkansen to head to Onomichi at 10:23am, and this game and the knackeredness that watching it would induce, plus my travel joys, would really test my limits.
I fell asleep at 3:10am.
England lost, by the way, c’est la never ending vie…
I got the train in seconds flat and then had a very enjoyable time trying to get the Shinkansen internet to work. After 30 minutes of trying to open the app, I got through adding my name, passport details, first childhood memory (joking but not by much) into the registration form, only to be told I could now access the internet – if I could first go to my email to confirm I was who I so desperately wanted to be – which, ironically, was a man with access to the internet.
If Kafka was around now he’d be writing about this…
Japan, I love you, you’re a beguiling land that combines the old with the new in some amazing ways, but your WiFi and access to it is a nightmare – sort it!
ONOMICHI / 50km 3 hrs 500m
Onomichi is a small seaside town that nestles in the eastern hills of Hiroshima prefecture, and is well-known as the starting point for the famous Shimanami Kaido ride, a 60 kilometer long road that connects Japan’s main island of Honshu to the island of Shikoku passing over six small islands in the Seto Inland Sea. It is also known as the Nishiseto Expressway. There are two other land connections between Shikoku and Honshu, but the Shimanami Kaido is the only one traversable by foot or bicyle.
The reason I chose to start my cycling trip there though wasn’t because of this route, but because Tina McCarthy and her husband Tim have a house there. I met Tina through her company, Wheel Women (read more about this great project at http://www.wheelwomenaustralia.com).
When I had one Australian tour operator drop out of the trip to Fukuoka, I searched online for another company, found Wheel Women, chatted with Tina and invited her on the trip. As we got talking I learned that she had bought a house in Onomichi, after falling on love with the town. I was instantly curious about the process as I’ve been planning to do the same for a few years. These houses are called kominka, meaning, basically, ‘old house’. The Japanese countryside is full of these houses, with as many as 33% of properties empty, and can be picked up for a very low price – $30,000 US will get you a place you can move straight into.
I was very kindly invited to stay the night at Tina’s and Tim’s, and after jumping in a cab driven by a man who didn’t seem to like bicycles, even one packed in a light travel bag, I soon arrived at the house. Tucked away up a little lane on a hill, I was invited for a tour of the place which I happily accepted. The two story house was gorgeous, with a kitchen that was beautifully renovated and the rest more or less left in its original state. I was given the whole upper floor to myself, and a room with lovely sliding doors and tatami flooring. The smell of tatami in the summer heat is intoxicating for me, and brought back a welcome flood of happy memories from when I lived in a similar rented house in Saga-Ken, in Kyushu.
We chatted for a good two hours about our shared passions (bicycles and Japan), then set off once the rain had stopped for a ride around the town. Though many towns where kominka can be found have a slight ‘ghostly’ feel to them, Onomichi has a vibrant edge to it, thanks in no small part to being the starting point of the Shimanami Kaido. There are two good bike shops in town, one being affiliated with the Tour de France, situated in a renovated warehouse that was designed with cycling very much in mind. As well as the bike shop, it also has a great little bakery and a cycling-purposed hotel.
The ride itself was a joy. The weather was good, slightly overcast and not too hot. Tim and Tina’s knowledge of the area was deep and I learnt a lot about this lovely little town. We covered about 50km over three hours, with plenty of stops for photos.
On the way back home we stopped at the supermarket for food and drinks, and it’s fair to say we all got a little tipsy on good wine and some fine sake! Tim and Tim were perfect hosts, and it was with smiles that we parted ways the next day, as I set off on my loaded bike (it weighs a good 20kg with the bags on), off on my solo way to Hiroshima, where I’d arranged to meet my old teammate and friend, Yamaguchi Takayuki…
Stay tuned for the report on day 2 and 3, coming soon!
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