Tendo to Hiraizumi

June 8, 2009

A ride on a bus took us to our starting point today and once on our bikes we began the longest climb of a day that featured nine climbs worthy of note by our navigation software. Nothing like getting the biggest and baddest out of the way first. As climbs go, it was scenic, taking a less traveled and as a result, steeper route. After zig-zagging through numerous switchbacks and densely treed forest, we came out into an alpine meadow that covered the apex of our climb. This meadow was home to a small farm and cattle ranching homestead and offered some outstanding vistas to go along with its outstandingly unending switchbacks. It offered plenty of excuses for stopping to just take it all in.

While this was the big climb of the day the remaining eight climbs made up for their shortness by often being fairly steep. It is good that we now all have strong climbing legs that get us up the hills even if that journey is a slow one. I just try to do my own ride and not worry about who passes me. I know that it is inevitable that some will. However, we all get to the same place and even the slowest of us is doing something that 99% of the world’s population will never try.

Along today’s route I was able to see more of Japan’s charmingly different way at looking at road and other signage. Cute cartoon characters seem to be mandated for nearly every cautionary sign, advertisement or possibly because someone just feels like adding a personal touch to the landscape. I have some examples below that represent only a few of the multitude that I have see and taken time to photograph.

Tomorrow, June 9th is a rest day at a resort spa some distance from the nearby small village. It will be pouring rain and the resort has all that I need to spend a comfortable day relaxing. I may not post anything about it and instead get caught up with my email and maybe write these words.

Fukushima to Tendo

June 7, 2023

There are climbs and there are climbs or to put it another way, all climbs are not created equal. Back at home the climbs tend to be steep but short. Some, like the Foymount climb are so steep that many cyclists avoid it but just as many seek it out for the challenge. Japan is something completely different. To begin with, Japan’s geography is hilly to the point of being mountainous. Don’t go looking for the wide open Oklahoma plains here. Sure, Japan does have some flat rides but if you are going any significant distance, you are going to need your granny gears. This brings me to my point, some climbs are long and fairly steep grinds where you may have ten to fifteen kilometers to rise up over a thousand meters of elevation. On those climbs I just tuck in and keep cranking until I get to the top and try my best to ignore the various complaints coming from various body parts.

However, other climbs can be leisurely with the grade ranging from one to three percent with a small four or five percent every so often. Anyone who has done a lot of climbing on two wheels would find such a climb a bit taxing but enjoyable with plenty of time to soak in the scenery and with the knowledge that there may be a nice gentle downhill to follow.

Traffic can also make a difference as can road conditions. Worst case scenario for me is a steep climb on a road with no shoulders, a deep ditch and heavy traffic. I hit one like this and Korea and it caused me to walk my bike for most of a kilometer, something I have never had to do on any other long trip. Today we had a long climb using a road along a man made lake above a dam. It was generally uphill and while the total climb was around 500 meters, it was so gradual that it conserved plenty of energy for gawking at the surroundings. This held true until our directions told us to turn right and the only thing to our right was a very steep hill that seemed to go on forever. The turn took us up at a much greater rate but we rode past some major engineering where Japanese engineers have designed massive reinforced cement structures that are drilled and tied into the rock surface to control landslides. Impressive!

We also rode rode through a logging area where Japanese loggers seem to harvest trees from some of the steepest hillsides. They do this in Canada and other parts of the world as well but it is still impressive to see it. Of course, in a land where earthquakes and flash floods are common you can also see the scars where improper logging has altered the landscape.

Our destination today is the city of Tendo. From what I have seen of it, it appears to be a working class community that is also home to a famous temple. This temple is reached through a climb of a thousand steps. For me, it was one climb too many. However, I do have a lovely, traditional Japanese room to relax in.

Nasu to Aixawakamatsu

June 5, 2023

The folks who organize this tour call this segment, “Wild Japan.” We were told that we might now see monkeys, bears and other wildlife including the Japanese raccoon-dog. Having already seen monkeys in some other less populated parts of Japan, I was not sure what made this segment different and I still don’t. I did not see any monkeys but someone did see a mother bear and her cubs; however, I did see Japan’s raccoon-dog also known as the tanuki. This strange beast is what its name implies a creature that looks as though a raccoon and a dog got together in conjugal bliss and produced offspring. According to Japanese folklore, the tanuki have had a significant role since ancient times. The legendary tanuki are reputed to be mischievous and jolly, masters of disguise and shape shifting but somewhat gullible and absentminded. The animals have also been common in Japanese art, particularly as subjects for statues.

As for bears, Japan has two species, the Asian brown bear and the moon bear which is basically a black bear with a white crest on its breast. I did not see either one but one of our riders did see a mother and her cubs.

Our lunch was on the shore of Lake Inawashirowith a view of two active volcanoes. Across the lake is Mount Bandai, an active volcano that in 1888 killed over 5,000 people. Much like the Mount St. Helens incident in the United States, an exploding water vapor event blew out the side of the caldera creating a landslide wiping out everything in its path. If you look at the photo, I have indicated the area that blew out. If you look closely you can still see some signs of current activity.

Once out of the hills I was back into rice farming country where I was able to get a picture of a woman using a specialized tractor to plant rice sprouts. I also stopped into yet another shrine where I snapped a picture of a statue of a man speaking with a bird discussing the speed of the bird and the need of the man to move along a path that was pestered by snakes.

Even though we had a 100 kilometer ride with around 1,500 meters of climbing I arrived at our hotel an hour before our rooms were ready. It was a perfect moment to visit a nearby sake distiller. After two sake samplers we took a tour of the distillery and sampled their various products afterwards. In Ian Flemmings, You Only Live Twice, Tiger Tanaka tells James Bond, “First you drink the sake, then the sake drinks you.” I now understand that quote.

June 3, 2023

Typhoon Mawar decided to sleep in this morning and was reluctant to leave the Tokyo area. After pounding the city with rain for the the last 24 hours she decided to give it another ten to remember her by. In actuality she did next to no damage to The City of 808 Villages as she swept by but she did make for an unpleasant day and night. My evening walk for dinner turned into a mad dash to a convenience store for whatever I could grab. This morning when the downpours finally tapered down to some sprinkles, I decided to head out for some last minute gear replacement before starting my day. That short delay cost me a chance to buy tickets for an attraction I was interested in but while disappointing, was no great loss.

Instead I went to Tokyo’s impressive Skytree, the tallest structure in Japan and platform for communication arrays, shopping and gawking from a height. With the final addition of a communications mast in 2011 it became the tallest tower in the world at 634 meters (2,080 ft). There are observation decks at the 350 and 450 meter levels which are reached by high speed elevators that can lift 40 people at 600 meters (1968 feet) per speedy minute or 22 vertical miles per hour. While the view was not great with the Mawar’s last gasp still swirling around, it was still quite impressive. I have included a downloaded view along with what I was actually able to see for comparison.

After a stop at the Skytree food court for a surprisingly good and inexpensive lunch, I decided to do a Crocodile Dundee style Walkabout and just see where I wound up. I picked a direction and started out eventually coming upon a linear park that went on through a number of blocks of tall residential apartments. Within its confined spaces I found a very industrial urban fishing spot as well as a landscaped area complete with waterfall and rocky stream. It seems as though this park like every green space in Tokyo is a mecca for dog owners. I guess the pooches have to make do with what they can find for toilet facilitates. To a dog, all were of the smaller breed sizes, compact dogs for compact green spaces.

Where the park ended I went up onto surface streets and just kept walking through some of the former 808 villages that mostly looked to have been rebuilt into modern mid-rise residential areas with shops at street level. This occasionally melded into business like concrete canyons as I headed mostly south and west. Occasionally, I stopped at a bench, when I could find one, to read a bit, glance at Google Maps and do a bit of people watching.

Eventually my travels took me to the Imperial palace, home to Emperor Naruhito, who acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne on 1 May 2019, beginning the Reiwa era, following the abdication of his father, Akihito. He is the 126th monarch according to Japan’s traditional order of succession. (this from Wikipedia) Like the former Queen and now current King of England, his role is ceremonial and he is forbidden to make political statements. Still, he lives in a nice house with lavish grounds on the former site of Edo Castle, the seat of the Tokugawa shogun who ruled Japan from 1603 until 1867. His palace is surrounded by a mote and the grounds outside the mote are popular with joggers. It is not known if the Emperor ever tosses a line over the palace wall to catch fish but given the Japanese interest in this sport, it would not surprise me to know that he might when no one is watching.

From the palace I decided to skip the long and somewhat boring walk back to the hotel so I ducked underground and took my chances at following Google’s subway directions. Despite my penchant for sometimes heading the wrong way, I made it back without a single inadvertent adventure.

June 2, 2023

We arrived in Tokyo to warm weather and sunshine but Mother Nature had other plans for the next day. A typhoon out in the Pacific decided to confound 99% of the storm tracks and slip along the coast of Japan, well out to sea but close enough to blot out the sun and deliver tropical like rains with some strong winds thrown in for kicks. Fortunately, we did not have to ride in it but walking we did.

I had two events scheduled for this day. One was a day long walking tour of some of Tokyo’s sights and the other was tickets to a Japanese major league baseball game. The tour happened but the valiant Tokyo Sparrows refused to fly.

With rain coming down in sheets our indefatigable tour guide Ivette met us at the hotel lobby with a smiling face and a disposition so sunny that it nearly drove away the showers, nearly! With her ten charges in tow she led the way to the train station and through the maze of turnstiles and platform to our first stop, the shrine to Emperor Meiji. Emperor Meiji’s reign marked the end of the era of Shoguns and Samurai and the beginnings of modern Japan. With a bit of a nudge through American gunboat diplomacy courtesy of Commodore Matthew Perry, Japan recognized that it needed to modernize and the Samurai and Shoguns were not getting the job done. Emperor Meiji recognized this and led his people into the modern area. For this he is venerated as a god like being with a shrine dedicated to his spirit. People visit it to ask for various support and favors. You can buy various talismans there to promote all sorts of good things such as healthy mind and body or doing well on exams. Rather or not they work is up to you and the power of positive thinking.

From the shrine we visited other sites such as the busiest street crossing in the world at what some call Tokyo’s Times Square. Here the busiest mass transit hub in Japan spits out over 2 million people each day, all of whom need to get across the street. Luckily, we visited during torrential rains and at a slow time of the day so we did not experience the full crush of the masses. However we did get a moment to look at a statue of a loyal dog who waited nine years, sitting outside the station every day waiting for his master to return. His master had passed away while at work but no one could convince the dog to abandon his daily wait for the man who never returned. Such loyalty must be rewarded and his image is now as eternal as his patience.

Our final stop was at a recreation of a Saga Town as it would have looked at the end of the Edo period around the year 1840. It faithfully recreates and and tells the story of town life complete with sound effects and docets that were able to fill in the few details that our guide was unsure of.

For a drippy, wet day it turned out to be a great experience with a nice lunch added to the bargain. Our guide, Ivette was a Hungarian married to a Japanese and living in japan for nearly half her life. Her knowledge and language skills were excellent and she turned a gray day into a bright experience.

Lake Kaeaguchi to Tokyo

June 1, 2023

Our Tokyo adventure started with a long morning at Lake Kaeaguchi with time to explore while we waited for our bus and two hour ride into Tokyo. Japanese hotels are very strict about check in times so arriving too early was not a good idea. Riding bicycles into to Tokyo, while possible would have taken us through some very industrial areas and heavy traffic. The wise folks at TDA Global Cycling decided to have us avoid that part of the Japanese experience.

Mount Fuji is very shy. Most of the time she hides her mighty peak in the clouds only allowing the most brief glimpses this time of the year and those during the cooler early morning hours. Between 4:00 and 6:00 am she decided to shed her misty cloak and reveal herself. I missed the earlier show but managed to catch the 6:00 final act. It was worth waiting for.

A walk around Lake Kaeaguchi is a walk through an area devoted to tourism. Hotels upon hotels take up all the good real estate with some cut into the side of the steep hills that line part of the lake. Still, there are some hidden local touches such as the two shrines that I found in my travels. One was well up a somewhat unused path behind our hotel. I was told the idol within it was a Buddha but that Japanese frequently invoke both Buddhist and Shinto images in their shrines. This small one may have been to honor the spirits of that hillside. Further along the lake was a more elaborate shrine with a well defined path leading to it. This shrine was used to pray for easy childbirth as well as grandchildren.

My final stop in my walk around the lake was at an amazing sculpture depicting two women as polar opposites dancing around a vase. One signifying the positive and the other the negative but combining to portray the drama of two opposites coming together to become one in the never ending renewal of life. A yin-yang moment. The sculpture was created by Seibo Kitamura, Japan’s greatest sculptor, who at the age of 101 visited Lake Kaeaguchi and was so moved by its beauty that he created this statue to symbolize man’s quest to understand the eternal essence of the universe.