The sight of us on our tandem bike surprises people who see us. We got shouts and waves from this Japanese tour group as we rode past.
On this day’s route was Old Sato Pass. A Japanese hiker took our photo in front of the sign.
The pass was incredibly steep but not too long, so we were able to push our bike up it without much trouble.
The view of the coast from the top was great.
At about 30 Km we heard a noise like a gunshot. Uh-oh, our rear tire had blown out, putting holes in both the inner tube and tire (which is unusual). Luckily a very friendly Japanese man, Unno-san, helped us by driving Pete to a nearby bike shop. We are now carrying a spare tire.
We always enjoy riding along the coast.
Here the highway was built out over the sea.
We climbed up along the coast, feeling like we were making pretty good time in spite of the tire problem.
Then we came to a big road closure. The road had been washed away last year, and a tunnel was being built. So we had to turn back and figure out an alternate route over the mountain.
We stopped at this temple complex to look at the map.
We were feeling punchy, so we took these goofy Samurai photos.
The temple had this beautiful lantern.
It was getting late, so we decided to stay in Yaizu City (rather than our original destination Omaezaki). After showering, we walked next door to a ramen shop and each had a nice, warm bowl of goodness.
Day 23, Yaizu City to Hamamatsu, 89 kilometers with 610 meters of climbing
We've been lucky with not having to ride in the rain for over a week. But today we rode half the day in the rain. We were in a big tea growing area of Japan, and we saw lots of tea hedges.
The landscape of tea fields was beautiful.
This small shrine had a bottle of sake and a cup as an offering.
The town of Kikugawa’s manhole cover was a woman harvesting tea into a basket.
We even saw tea bushes growing right next to houses. They looked like topiary with their manicured forms.
We have been amazed with how many hair salons there are in Japan. Every day as we ride we see 15-20 shops, most with barber poles. Even the smallest town or village that doesn't seem to have a grocery store will have a hair salon.
There are more barbershops than there are convenience stores, but there are enough convenience stores for us to get water and food as we ride. Some even have softo!
We rode on the Pacific Coast Bike Trail, feeling how nice it was to be by the Pacific Ocean.
We cruised through the waterfront park to see the huge Torii gate in the bay.
And saw also a giant PokeStop with lots of people using their phones to collect Poke eggs and Poke Balls. We’re giving a special shout out to Pete’s sisters Denise and Csilla who are Pokemon addicts!
Our hotel was right on the water and had wonderful views. We think the stakes in the bay are part of a scallop farm.
At our hotel we ate the best dinner we’ve had on the tour so far!
Starting with “drinking food”, we had jumbo prawns, crab roe, candied-pickled tiny fish, and other pickles with sake.
The next course was five types of sashimi served with daikon, sprouts, ginger and wasabi.
On the left are bamboo shoots with nori, and on the right is chawanmushi, an egg custard that is one of our favorite Japanese dishes.
Grilled fish was served with an onion paste and yuzu, Japanese citrus.
Kristina’s favorite dish was the crab gratin served in a crab shell. It’s next to eggplant roasted with a miso meat sauce that was delicious too.
We like the simple fruit desserts of Japan. The melons they grow here are so flavorful!
Day 24, Hamamatsu to Ise, 76 kilometers with 815 meters of climbing
No rain today, instead it was mostly sunny and very humid. We cooled off with softos. Kristina is holding melon and vanilla cones.
After yesterday’s rain Pete oiled our chain so that shifting gears was nice and smooth.
We rode along the coast and noticed this painted manhole cover that could have been for a California or Hawaii beach town.
A nice cyclist took our photo while we were stopped to enjoy the view of the beach.
The bike path along the beach was fun to ride. Here’s Kristina's view looking forward.
And here's the view looking back. There were helmets on posts as a sculpture of sorts.
At this point on the route we were stopped by road construction. Luckily the sign on the left shows a short detour around it.
We took a 1-hour ferry ride from Irago to Toba, then rode inland toward Ise. As we got into Ise, we saw this charming bridge in a park.
Ise is known for Ise Jingu, the holiest Shinto shrine in Japan. It was common to make a pilgrimage to Ise during the Edo period, 1600-1850, to visit the shrine. To commemorate this tradition the manhole covers in Ise show pilgrims.
We didn’t have time to go to Ise Jingu, but we did ride by these impressive lanterns.
We noticed that the houses in town had these decorations hanging over their front doors, and we think they are a harvest symbol.
We arrived at the quaint, old ryokan where we stayed.
We loved the look of this wooden table holding the flowers. It was nice to see the garden courtyard from the entryway.
And here’s a view of the courtyard from the second floor.
That evening we took a stroll along the canal in the old part of Ise.
Day 25, Ise to Oyodo, 112 kilometers with 1,577 meters of climbing
Today we rode in the typhoon Malacas! We left Ise at 6:30 am in a light rain. We noticed that people were commuting in rain gear, and we even saw a few people riding a bike holding an umbrella.
These beautiful red flowers are all over Shikoku.
The rain became heavy so we stopped at a convenience store and put shower caps over our helmets, which helped keep our heads drier.
We were able to snap a quick photo of this funny rooster and chicken sign, then we had to put the camera away so it wouldn’t get too wet.
We noticed we had two broken spokes at about 75 kilometers, but luckily the wheel was not very wobbly and we could still ride. Our last hour of riding was in heavy wind and rain as the typhoon swept though. After hot showers and lots of laundry, we went out to an okonomiyaki restaurant.
Okonomyaki is a savory pancake. The word means “as you like it” because you can choose what ingredients you want included. We chose the pork modern special pancake with noodles. The cook was a master of the grill, and she was able to flip this huge savory pancake with ease. She topped it with a fried egg.
The pancake was served on a hot griddle in front of us, to keep it warm while we ate.
Topped with okonomyaki sauce and mayonnaise, it was really delicious and filling. We ate it all because we had worked so hard riding in the typhoon!
Day 26, Oyodo to Tokushima, 83 kilometers with 500 meters of climbing
Amazingly it was clear the next morning in Oyodo. We ate a traditional Japanese breakfast in our room.
We are big tea drinkers, so we like the green tea that is served everywhere in Japan.
Here's Kristina in the foyer of the inn with our host Harada-san. He was so understanding when we arrived wet and dirty the previous day.
Harada-San had traveled around the US and spoke English, so we were able to talk with him about our travels. We hated to say good-bye.
As we started to ride we were surprised that we didn't see any signs of typhoon Malakas' impact.
It was only when we crossed the Yoshino River that the result of all the rainfall was visible: the river was still swollen and churning.
It’s nice to ride on bridges here that have a separate lane for bikes and pedestrians.
We spotted this dragon on a temizuya, purification fountain, at a Shinto shrine.
From this angle the dragon seemed to be looking at us.
We rode along the R-1 Bike Route for about 50 kilometers, which was well-marked and mostly separated from motorized vehicles.
The only limitations were the barricades to prevent vehicles from entering the path, as they make the path so narrow that we can't fit through without us stopping and walking the bike.
To get through this one we even had to take off one of our panniers!
After the bike path ended we used this elaborate bridge network to cross two rivers and a street. Then we took a ferry from Honshu Island to Shikoku Island.
When we arrived in Tokushima, we parked our tandem in the underground bike parking lot. We couldn’t believe how many bikes there were!
Day 27, Rest Day in Tokushima
We took our rear wheel to a bike shop to have the spokes repaired. We walked through Tokushima Park to get there. If you look closely, there are two gaps from the missing spokes.
The park had the ruins of a castle, but we only saw the moat and grounds as we walked through it.
Pete is showing the lunch ticket he just purchased from this ramen restaurant's vending machine.
And here's his Tokushima-style ramen with two types of pork, yum!
Day 28, Tokushima to Kaiyo-cho, 104 kilometers with 1,182 meters of climbing
After a nice rest day and with our repaired wheel, we were ready to ride. Kristina is in front of a Jizo shrine that we rode by.
We noticed a new figure in the shrines. This is a myoo, a wisdom king, who holds a sword in his right hands and a rope in his left. Myoos scowl at the world and use their power to punish evil and wickedness.
It was especially pretty to ride on the forested, back roads of Shikoku.
There was some evidence of typhoon Malacas too, mostly in debris on the roads. Lots of unripe chestnuts had been blown off the trees.
The Naka River still looked churned up.
This nice man stopped to talk with us as we were photographing the river. We think, give our limited Japanese, that he was telling us he had completed a cycling tour of Japan in his youth.
Next we visited Tairyu-ji, temple 25 on the Shikoku pilgrimage route. We rode the aerial tram up to the temple.
Here’s the view of Naka town from the Tairyu-ji ropeway.
This figure is Kūkai, the Japanese monk and founder of Shingon Buddhism. It is thought that the Shikoku Pilgrimage is a journey through the areas where Kūkai performed ascetic religious training in his youth. After his death, the emperor gave him the honorary name of Kōbō Daishi.
There are 88 temples on the Shikoku pilgrimage route, and many people make it a key life goal to visit them all. Here you can see pilgrims walking up the steep steps to the Tairyu-ji main temple.
There were many mature trees around the temple complex. The main temple is partially hidden in all the foliage.
We liked this image of the two people embracing but we don’t know anything about it.
At Tairyu-ji even the banisters are decorated with bibs. We think it’s the same practice as putting hats and bibs on the Jizos.
All the Tairyu-ji buildings were wooden.
The elaborately carved eaves often had dragons.
We liked the phoenix lanterns.
Then we rode the tram down and got back on our bike. The views of the tree-covered hills were wonderful as we rode.
We went out to the coast, happy to see the Pacific Ocean again!
We finished the day at a charming pension nestled in this beautiful cove. Here Kristina is on the balcony of our room.
Next we continue riding on Shikoku, then we take a ferry to Kyushu Island for the final days of our tour.
