Touring Japan

silkishuge
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Location: Adelaide

Touring Japan

Postby silkishuge » Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:14 am

Mrs S and I are planning our trip to Japan some time early next year and I will have a few days to myself. I thought I would take the opportunity to do a bit of bike riding around the countryside to do a bit of site seeing. I think I will have about 3 days to do it and would be appreciate if some people to provide me wit some ideas on locations and things to see and do, where to ride, where I can hire a bike, preferably a road bike with panniers and anything else I should consider. I will probably be around Tokyo or Osaka.

Thanks,
J

rollagob
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2010 9:40 pm

Re: Touring Japan

Postby rollagob » Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:26 pm

Hi ,
if you are going to be Osaka based ,its a skip and a jump to Lake Biwa which has some very interesting cultural/historical sights around its very scenic periphery -Mt Hiei ,Hikone Castle and temples galore.I believe there are a few bicycle hire joints around Otsu ,not sure about touring specific rigs though.From Osaka one would train it to Kyoto then Otsu which is 15ks away.
If you google `cycling Lake Biwa' there should be plenty of info.
rob

twowheels
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Location: Perth

Re: Touring Japan

Postby twowheels » Thu Sep 30, 2010 12:05 am

Remember early next year will be bloody cold in Japan! or do you mean a bit later, early spring maybe?
I've been to Japan a few times, mostly the Kanto region, Tokyo, Chiba prefecture. Recently got back from Kansai region, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto and drove up past Lake Biwa to Ishikawa prefecture. From my experience, much more to see in Kansai region, though all is amazing.
Not able to help with your question about cycle hire there, but keep in mind that bikes are not allowed on commuter trains, commuters have a bike each end if they need to.

silkishuge
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Location: Adelaide

Re: Touring Japan

Postby silkishuge » Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:17 am

Thanks for the replies. Lake Biwa does sound like a good place to ride. I would also be be keen to do a bit of climbing. Are there any good places to do some climbing? A good view at the end of the climb would be a nice reward. Should I be concerned about water bottle top ups or are there convenience stores around the area.

J

Chris L
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Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:35 pm

Re: Touring Japan

Postby Chris L » Wed Oct 06, 2010 1:34 pm

silkishuge wrote:Thanks for the replies. Lake Biwa does sound like a good place to ride. I would also be be keen to do a bit of climbing. Are there any good places to do some climbing? A good view at the end of the climb would be a nice reward. Should I be concerned about water bottle top ups or are there convenience stores around the area.

J
I just came back from Japan (including camping on the shores of said Lake Biwa). From there to Kyoto I went over Prefecture road 367 (may have been 467), which cut out Otsu and gave me a decent climb. There are probably plenty of other climbs in the area too. You don't need to worry too much about water -- there are around 30 million vending machines in Japan which sell drinks for around half the price they are in Australia. I toured there in a heatwave and didn't have any real problems.

silkishuge
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Location: Adelaide

Re: Touring Japan

Postby silkishuge » Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:02 pm

Chris L wrote:
silkishuge wrote:Thanks for the replies. Lake Biwa does sound like a good place to ride. I would also be be keen to do a bit of climbing. Are there any good places to do some climbing? A good view at the end of the climb would be a nice reward. Should I be concerned about water bottle top ups or are there convenience stores around the area.

J
I just came back from Japan (including camping on the shores of said Lake Biwa). From there to Kyoto I went over Prefecture road 367 (may have been 467), which cut out Otsu and gave me a decent climb. There are probably plenty of other climbs in the area too. You don't need to worry too much about water -- there are around 30 million vending machines in Japan which sell drinks for around half the price they are in Australia. I toured there in a heatwave and didn't have any real problems.

Thanks Chris, I hope you had a good time. camping is not really my thing, but I am sure there are plenty of alternatives around. I will only have about 2 to 3 days to tour around while Mrs S is busy with her stuff.

J

twowheels
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Location: Perth

Re: Touring Japan

Postby twowheels » Thu Oct 07, 2010 1:30 am

I was beaten with the reply about the vending machines. If you find a bank of them surrounded by blue plastic tarps tread carefully. I thought the tarps were to reduce the sun hitting the machines. In fact they were shielding the porn DVDs from view!
Noticed alot more recreational cycling in Japan this time around than 5 years ago. Especially popular around what we called monkey mountain near Kyoto at Arashiyama, very nice place.

Chris L
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Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:35 pm

Re: Touring Japan

Postby Chris L » Thu Oct 07, 2010 7:34 am

Get a copy of the Touring Mapple for the area. I think you'll be looking for the Kansai volume. It's in Japanese, but still fairly easy to read the maps, and it shows plenty of minor roads that will have relatively little traffic.

silkishuge
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Re: Touring Japan

Postby silkishuge » Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:11 am

Chris L wrote:Get a copy of the Touring Mapple for the area. I think you'll be looking for the Kansai volume. It's in Japanese, but still fairly easy to read the maps, and it shows plenty of minor roads that will have relatively little traffic.
Thanks Chris, I guess I can direct some questions to Mrs S. In the mean time, it would be wise to brush up on my Japanese.

J

robsta
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:20 pm
Location: Gold Coast

Re: Touring Japan

Postby robsta » Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:06 pm

Hi
With regard to bike hire. If you can not find anything else it is sometimes possible to hire a bike at the larger bike parking garages. Mostly these would be the typical commuter bike, mudguards, no top tube, basket on the front.

The multi level bike garages tend to be near train stations in busy areas. You tend to need multiple forms of i.d., and somebody with fluent Japanese.

The guys at tokyo cycle club may be able to help.

Hope you have a great trip. I spend a lot of time in Japan and love it. Even if you can not secure a touring bike it is quite realistic to tour using a `mamichari`.
Rob

Chris L
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Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:35 pm

Re: Touring Japan

Postby Chris L » Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:18 pm

Finally, this site may be able to help you:

http://www.japancycling.org/v2/

taiFu
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:20 am

Re: Touring Japan

Postby taiFu » Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:49 pm

twowheels wrote:Not able to help with your question about cycle hire there, but keep in mind that bikes are not allowed on commuter trains, commuters have a bike each end if they need to.
Just to add to this I think you are allowed if the are in a bag / covered appropriately..

silkishuge
Posts: 2083
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:07 am
Location: Adelaide

Re: Touring Japan

Postby silkishuge » Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:58 pm

Chris L wrote:Finally, this site may be able to help you:

http://www.japancycling.org/v2/

Thanks Chris, I already had a look at the site and did not really find much useful information. Seems like it needs an update.

Yes, I have heard that bikes in bags are permitted on trains.

J

twowheels
Posts: 1437
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Location: Perth

Re: Touring Japan

Postby twowheels » Fri Oct 08, 2010 8:43 pm

taiFu wrote:
twowheels wrote:Not able to help with your question about cycle hire there, but keep in mind that bikes are not allowed on commuter trains, commuters have a bike each end if they need to.
Just to add to this I think you are allowed if the are in a bag / covered appropriately..
yes bags are allowed on trains.

silkishuge
Posts: 2083
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:07 am
Location: Adelaide

Re: Touring Japan

Postby silkishuge » Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:22 am

Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the replies. As some of you might have guessed, we did not leave for Japan in March. About 6 weeks before the trip, I was in a naasty bike accident that left me in hospital for a week, 2 operations and slow recovery. One week before the trip, I asked the doctor/surgeon if I could go on the trip and he said it should not be a problem but no riding. Mrs S was happy but I was a little disappointed that I would not be able to ride in Japan. Than a few days later, the Japan earthquake struck and we cancelled our trip. Thank God that her family was alright. Father-inlaw works up in Fukushima on a regular basis but he was in Tokyo at the time of the earthquake.
Anyway, long story short, we changed our flight dates and will be leaving for Japane in a few weeks. I got onto Tokyo Cycling Club and found a few interesting blogs. I posted some questionsa, but no was able to provide help.
I will have 3 days of free time. My plan was to ride to Nagoya using Route 299 on Day 1 stay the night, either head back to Tokyo or continue on to Kyoto via Lake Biwa on the second day. I might have to split the second part of the trip into two days from Nagoya to Kyoto but the first day of the ride should give me some nice climbs.

I have decided to bring my bike. We will be flying SQ but I am not sure about cost of brining bike along. I have checked out bikes for sale on Tokyo Clcing Club website and all the bikes for sale are too large.

Comments anyone?

Jon

silkishuge
Posts: 2083
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:07 am
Location: Adelaide

Re: Touring Japan

Postby silkishuge » Tue Oct 04, 2011 3:57 pm

Excited about the trip. I managed to work out the routes I will use. The first day is the hardest, while the second day will give me some time to recover.

This is the ride route I decided to take.

Day 1
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/53048318

Day 2
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/53048582

Day 3
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/53048842

Jon :D

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