Tokyo: We Made It!

We're bikeless tourists now: At the Sensoji Temple in Tokyo

Scenes from our last day's ride into Tokyo:

A training session for water rescue

A Plethora of Bike Paths as We Approach Tokyo

Our 67-mile ride today began about 100 miles from Tokyo. The entire region we travelled through is very built up and heavily populated, with busy roads. What could have been a dreadful biking day – sharing the roads with cars and trucks whizzing by at close quarters – was instead a delightful day spent mostly on bike paths. There were paths adjacent to highways, paths along rivers and canals, paths on bridges (and even one bridge just for bikes, adjacent to the bridge for motorized vehicles), and paths through fields and woods. [As an aside: it's too bad that Americans, with their anti-tax obsession, choose to largely forego the pleasures of community amenities that improve the quality of life, such as bike paths, as well as more important benefits such as good universal health care.]

On our trip overall, the vast majority of our riding has been on roads, but bike paths have been very helpful when we've been in or close to urban areas. We're very grateful to Thomas Holvoet of Japan Biking, who charted out a great route for our entire trip. His knowledge of biking in Japan allowed him to find the best roads and bike paths everywhere we went.

On our ride, we were impressed by the numerous athletic facilities that we passed, most of which were full of activity. We rode by multiple baseball fields, golf courses, golf driving ranges, and fields used for a game that looked like a cross between croquet and par-3 golf.

The endpoint of our ride was Kawagoe, a bustling city of 350,000 located 30 miles from Tokyo. Kawagoe is a popular tourist destination because of its proximity to Tokyo and its many historic buildings of the so-called Kurazukuri ("warehouse") style that were originally built for wealthy merchants.

Bike path beside a highway

Bike path parallel to a highway

Bike path on a bridge

Cyclists get their own bridge, adjacent to the bridge for cars and trucks

Bike path in a city

Bike path in the woods

Bike path adjacent to a golf course

Baseball diamond along our route

Field for croquet/golf game

Biking in Kawagoe along a street with traditional Kurazukuri architecture

Our Last Day in the Japanese Alps: A Long, Steady Ascent Followed by Steep Hairpin Turns on Descent

Today was the last of our three days biking in the Japanese Alps. We began the day at an altitude of 1500 feet and, over a stretch of 25 miles, climbed steadily to 3250 feet. The scenery during the climb had two elements: there were large mountains looming above us in all directions, and the road itself was lined almost continuously by commercial establishments (mostly large stores).

As soon as we reached the top of our climb and began to descend, things changed dramatically. Over the first seven miles of our descent, we dropped fairly steeply back to an altitude of 1500 feet on an incredibly windy road full of hairpin turns. That 7-mile stretch of road was in a wildlife preserve, so there were no buildings at all, just forest.

Once the hairpin turn road ended, our ride continued until we reached our destination, a beautiful spa hotel. Our hotel room had its own hot tub and a large window that allowed us to watch the loud and colorful afternoon thunderstorm (which developed seemingly out of nowhere after yet another day riding in perfect weather).

Early in our ride today, leaving the town of Ueda

Mountains looming over a field for a golf-like game

A town nestled in the mountains

Roadside store during our ascent

We made it to the top of our ascent!

Part of our route map today: seven miles of hairpin turns 

Carol is barely visible as she rounds one of the many hairpin turns

We stopped briefly on our descent to view this old railroad bridge 

In front of our spa hotel

Our hotel room

Enjoying a relaxing dinner

A Boston Red Sox Fan in the Alps

We spent last night in a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn), located in the town of Iiyama (population 24000), run by a wonderful couple who spoke a little English. This morning, when the husband learned that we live in Boston, his face lit up as he said: "Red Sox! Manager Bobby Valentine. Daisuke. Hideo Nomo." [Note: Bobby Valentine is the current manager of the Red Sox, and Daisuke ("Dice-K") Matsuzaka and Hideo Nomo are Japanese pitchers who have played for the Red Sox.] He then took a picture of us together with our bikes to post on Facebook.

The Japanese are clearly very much into baseball. We've seen numerous baseball diamonds in parks and in athletic fields adjacent to schools, and have often witnessed games being played by kids. Posters of local teams are common, and shops sell team baseball hats. Beyond baseball, the Japanese seem to be fit and active, as we have often see cyclists (including serious racers) and joggers throughout our trip.

Approximately 20 miles into our ride today, we reached Nagano, site of the 1998 Winter Olympics. We took the opportunity to view three of the Olympic buildings: the Olympic Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies were held (now used as a baseball stadium); the M-Wave building, where speed skating events were held; and the White Ring, where figure skating took place.

We were surrounded by mountains during today's ride in the Alps, but unfortunately our views of them were limited by haze and clouds. We even experienced a little rain for the first time on our trip, after 22 days of perfect biking weather.

Our innkeepers in Iiyama

Peaks shrouded in clouds

Passing a group of joggers

A serene park

Nagano Olympic Stadium

"White Ring": site of Olympic figure skating events

"M-Wave": site of Olympic speed skating events

Quiet, tasteful street leaving Nagano :)

Baseball poster in a shop window

Fishing Villages and Ski Resorts on Today's Ride

Our 54-mile route today began with a 27-mile ride along the Sea of Japan. We went through a number of fishing villages and towns, as well as considerable stretches on an excellent, well-maintained bike path.

Our route then turned inland, beginning our 6-day crossing of the island of Honshu to reach Tokyo. Almost immediately, we began our ascent into the Japanese Alps, a mountain range that occupies a substantial portion of central Honshu. The highest peaks are above 10,000 feet, one of which is an active volcano near our route that erupted most recently in 1980. We saw numerous snow-covered peaks as we cycled, and even biked right by some patches of snow when we hit our day's high point of 2000 feet.

The endpoint of our ride today was the town of Iiyama, which is 20 miles from Nagano, the site of the 1998 winter Olympics. There are 4 ski mountains in Iiyama, and many more ski resorts nearby.

Biking along the sea

Interesting mix of the old Japan (a shrine) & the new Japan (a cellphone tower) on this small island

A terrific bike path along the coast

Cycling along the coastal bike path

Cycling through a fishing village

Fishing boats and gear

Roadside stall selling large crabs

Cycling in the Japanese Alps

Ascending further into the Alps

Patches of snow (partly covered by dirt) by the roadside near the high point of our ride today