We had a great stay at our hotel in Atsumi Onsen. They had a beautiful garden and fish pond to look at.
We ate our meals while wearing yukatas. Here Kristina looks relaxed while having dinner.
Under the hot pot lid were salmon with miso, carrots, asparagus and mushrooms that all cooked over a sterno flame at our table.
We loved all the unique tableware, especially the covered bowls.
And here’s a look inside each bowl, filled with vegetables, fish soup, noodles and rice.
It’s so nice to start the day with a soak in an outdoor Japanese bath!
We have been eating A LOT to give us energy for riding. On Day 15 we took photos of everything we ate. The breakfasts in Japan tend to be large and healthy. Here Kristina has chosen (bottom left) salad with tomatoes, egg, kabocha squash and orange wedges, some grilled fish, scallop sashimi, miso soup and pork loin with mustard.
Here we are in front of our hotel and ready to ride. It was raining as we left Atsumi Onsen, but the temperature was a comfortable 22 degrees Celsius.
During the summer typhoon season the river is quite high.
After about 30 kilometers of riding we stopped for matcha softos and coffee.
The vending machines in Japan are amazing. We could chose to have hot coffee or chilled coffee. Since it was still raining, we opted for hot coffee.
We rode along the coast, occasionally seeing small ports with fishing boats like this one that's equipped with lights to attract the squid at night.
It's not surprising that the manhole cover in this area has fish on it.
We snack frequently as we ride. We like to eat these biscuits with almonds, peanuts or sesame seeds because they are not too sweet and the nuts provide protein.
The rain stopped, and the scenery was beautiful as we rode along the coast.
20 kilometers later we ate a handful of coated peanuts as an easy way to get some calories.
At the next small town, their manhole cover had fish in an underwater seascape.
We stopped at a grocery store and bought food for a picnic lunch: mackerel sashimi, cucumbers stuffed with kimchi, wakkami and lotus root salads, sliced apple, rice with egg, and mochi with red bean paste.
We turned away from the coast and rode through farm land. We often saw onions drying as we rode.
We ate sesame crackers to get us fueled for the last 20 kilometers.
After washing our cycling clothes and showering, we went out for dinner at a local izakaya. Shown here is the tempura and sashimi set that Pete had.
Back in the hotel we finished our day with mint tea and chocolate.
Day 16, Niigata to Tokamachi, 118 kilometers with 1,085 meters of climbing
Niigata is a big city, so it was challenging to ride out of the downtown area. Part of the ride took us on these circular pedestrian and bikeways that wound over streets. Behind the bikeways is the Niigata Performing Arts Center called Ryutopia that features music, theater, dance, and traditional Japanese Noh.
It was fun to ride along the river, and we saw people running, walking and cycling.
We crossed the Shinano river a dozen times, stopping to check out views of the bridges.
We were riding a bit inland today, and the manhole cover featured carp fish.
We ate lunch on this bridge because there were nice views with a very wide pedestrian and cycle path.
It's starting to be rice harvesting time on Honshu. We liked this view because it shows rice fields in three different states: ready for harvest, harvested, and with rice bundles in field.
We noticed that sometimes a corner of rice field will be cut by hand and the rice bundles are left to dry there.
Lots of the rice is harvested by machine these days, but some of the rice is still dried on racks in the traditional way.
When we arrived Pete enjoyed a beer from the vending machine at our hotel.
Day 17, Tokamachi to Nagano, 96 kilometers with 1,090 meters of climbing
We were talking with Pete's sister Denise about our cycling trip. We told her, "We ride from 8 am to 4 or 5 pm, so it's our 'day job' and it's a great day job!" The beginning of today's ride took us past this pretty lake.
Then we climbed up into a forested area.
As we went through a small town, we stopped to get cash at an ATM. We’ve found that our most reliable ATMs in Japan can be found at the post office.
In a small village in the hills we stopped to admire this stone entry gate.
Here’s a close up to show the variety of plants growing on the stone.
This nice cyclist stopped to explain the six Jizos by the side of the road that we were photographing. He spoke enough English to tell us he had ridden the length of Japan when he was about our age.
We knew that Jizo is a Japanese Buddhist Bodhisattva who promised to remain on earth until all beings are saved. We learned that the six Jizos are called Lokujizo, because loku means six. Each Jizo corresponds to a different realm: human, animal, hungry ghost, hell, deva and asura. Several years ago an earthquake knocked over the first Jizo, whose face was broken.
We thought this valley was particularly scenic.
We noticed some small sized heart-shaped persimmons that were almost ripe. We had never seen such small fruits.
While riding we saw a sign "Welcome to Fruitland" and this seemed so appropriate because there were so many fruit trees. Our favorites were the apple trees laden with fruit.
The limbs of the trees have to be supported with poles to hold all the weight of the fruit.
The last hour of our ride into Nagano was in the rain. We were happy to arrive at Zenkoji temple because we were staying at a shukubo, temple lodging for lay guests. We got to take a hot bath in this big tub.
We had our own private dining room and ate a delicious vegetarian dinner. Kristina is about to pop a tempura fig into her mouth.
One of the new foods we tried was wasabi that had been cut into long strips and slightly pickled. We were surprised that it was not spicy like wasabi paste. We learned that it's the grating of the wasabi that releases the spice.
Our traditional Japanese room was decorated with pretty caligraphy, flowers and more.
Day 18, Nagano to Saku City, 72 kilometers with 1,372 meters of climbing
We got up early the next morning to go to the morning Buddhist service at Zenkoji temple. Then we came back to our private dining room for breakfast.
After breakfast we explored the beautiful Zenkoji temple complex in Nagano. Zenkoji is a pilgrimage place in Japan. The Nioman Gate is draped with traditional shoes, whose wearers are praying for good health. We were tempted to add shoes, as we will need strong legs to finish our cycling trip!
We saw another Lokujizo, group of six Jizos. It's common to see Jizo statues dressed with hats and bibs.
Zenkoji's main hall is the 3rd largest in Japan. It has burned down many times since it was founded in the 7th century and was most recently rebuilt in the 18th century.
The lion was atop a huge incense burner in front of the main hall.
This is the symbol for Zenkoji, and it appears above the entry gate to the temple.
It's a tradition to make a wish by writing it on a wooden card and hanging it at the temple.
It was raining as we toured the complex, but the temperature was comfortable. Kristina is in front of the lotus pond with the Sanmon, main gate, behind her.
We liked seeing traditional umbrellas drying around the temple complex.
This is the beautiful bell tower. The sound of the bell is on the 100 Soundscapes of Japan list.
There are many lanterns surrounding the main hall. We especially liked it when lanterns were under well-shaped conifers. Some of the trees were quite old and needed pole supports.
We saw other Jizo sculptures. This one was in front of a smaller temple that had charming bell-shaped windows.
Then it was time to get riding. As we started out of Nagano, we spotted this mural of John Coltrane. It's been fun to hear lots of good jazz as we travel around Japan.
Occasionally the manhole covers are painted, which really shows off this fish design.
We feel fortunate for many things, and one of them is that we started training for this cycling trip back in April. Today's route took us through this valley with rice and up into the hills and clouds.
We appreciate the attention to detail of the Japanese. How beautifully someone has stacked this wood.
Day 19, Saku City to Nirasaki, 77 kilometers with 1,513 meters of climbing
We stayed at a comfortable Japanese bed and breakfast hotel. Their garden was lovely.
Japan is quite hilly, and because they get so much rain, it's quite a challenge to hold the hills above the roads in place. Here Pete and the bike are below one of these impressive concrete walls.
We climbed a lot today, including two categorized climbs (by Tour de France standards). The first was an hors categorie (HC) climb, which is the most difficult. It was 8 kilometers with an 8% average grade and maximum grade of 18%. We certainly aren’t riding at a racing pace! Kristina took a rest part way up and checked out this lake.
The HC climb took us to our highest point on the tour so far, 1,620 meters. We liked seeing this stone marker at the peak, even though we couldn't read it.
There were beautiful views on the descent, but we broke a spoke.
The second climb was a category 2 climb for 8 kilometers that averaged 5% grade with a maximum of 12%. Kristina is next to an engraved stone boulder and the beginning of fall foliage is starting to show.
After finishing our ride for the day, we took the wheel to Kofu and got the spoke repaired. Pete is on the train heading back to our hotel in this photo.
Day 20, Nirasaki to Fujinomiya, 87 kilometers with 1,513 meters of climbing
It was cloudy but dry as we started riding.
As we rode through Kofu we saw these classic Minis. While we liked them, currently we prefer our two wheels to any car!
One of today's manhole cover featured a flying crane.
This persimmon tree is more like what we see in the US. The heart-shaped persimmon is called hachiya in Japanese.
The large fruits were just barely starting to turn orange. After they have ripened and dried, it becomes a delicious treat called hoshigaki that our friends Lance and Laura make.
We started climbing up into the mountains, then stopped for a rest at a temple.
During the third week of our cycling trip, we realized that we were undertaking the hardest endurance event we've ever attempted. The road turned into gravel, so we had to push the bike up hill about 5 kilometers. It was hard work!
The hills were steep and even the trees were having trouble holding on.
The views of Kofu were great.
Then we walked the bike 4 kilometers down the other side.
We were happy when we were able to ride on pavement again. We stopped for lunch at this roadside vegetable stand and restaurant.
We had a brief chat in our limited Japanese with this woman who cooked us lunch.
Pete had tonkatsu, fried pork, and Kristina had kake udon, noodle soup.
After all the extra time it took to push the bike, it was getting late when we arrived at Kotosuki Lake, so we didn’t ride around it.
But we had time for softos! Pete is holding grape and vanilla cones.
We made it to Fujinomiya by 6 pm. We were greeted by the Tokiwa Guesthouse owner and his cute puppy.
Here's Pete with our host, Daisuke-san. He has climbed Mt Fuji many times.
Day 21, Rest Day in Fujinomiya
We were feeling like we needed to take it easy on our rest day. We found a nice coffee shop.
The manhole covers in Fujinomiya feature Mt Fuji.
The day started our cloudy, obscuring Mt Fuji. So Pete put on the hotel’s Mt Fuji costume so we could "see the mountain".
And Kristina modeled it too.
We had a tasty lunch at this small ramen shop. This is Kyushu-style ramen.
When the clouds cleared a bit we got a partial view of the 3,776 meter peak, wow!
For dinner we had Korean barbecue at Porkman Restaurant.
Pete is working the grill to cook us pork belly and pork shoulder that we then rolled in lettuce leaves with kimchi - yum! It was a rejuvenating day.
We are over halfway on our Length of Japan tour! Next we'll continue riding down Honshu to the southeast coast and cross over to Shikoku.
