Category: Journey to the East

We’ve had a lot of chit chat about bears. Sighting of bear activity (barked scratched, poo etc) keeps it up. One rider reminded me of this excellent educational film about bear behaviour, well worth a watch. https://youtu.be/FBlo6su5wRY?si=89K0VpMetiNfgPK4

Today is a proper rest day. A time to reflect on Japanese culture. Here’s a little introductory video I made.

Monkeys. The Japanese macaque is the only primate species (represented by two different sub-species) found in the Japan and is the most northerly living non-human primate.

Some of the birds we’ve seen are like UK species only black. Black pheasant, black kite. Any of the latter we see have missed our friendly “migrants are not welcome” signs and overshot. Cuckoos are symbols of spring – four types but I haven’t a clue what the one we saw was. I’ve never seen one before and only knew what it was because? It was going cuckoo. Natural twitcher.

Butterflies. Japan has over 250 species. So the 3 or 4 different ones we’ve got excited are put into context. Lovely though. It shows some caterpillars do make it to the other side of the road.

Flowers are an important part of Japanese culture. I have yet to discern whether weeds or wildflowers figure in that but they are pretty too.

Tomorrow start heading north. Any flat bits are being removed overnight.

Today’s ride flanked the foothills of Mt. Kurikoma, a famous inactive volcano, apparently renowned for having some of the most vibrant autumn foliage in all of Japan. Today it was a verdant paradise, glistening in both the mist and rain.

Nothing too untoward, just like a good wet day at home: no monkeys fell on us ( just scarpered); no stoating nor were we too drookit. The latter I thank our waterproofs for. ‘Twas refreshing rain. Others opinions of the severity of the day are of course available. I enjoyed it!

The towns or settlements we pass through seem to be getting poorer with more dilapidated buildings – and the occasional imaculate ones with well tended gardens. Shops selling flowers started to appear.

Another thing worth noting is Minis. Not the modern huge monstrosities. Old fashioned 1960s/70s British Leyland built. Japan’s population is not very diverse – 97.5% of the population is Japanese. Its cars are about the same proportion. The odd VW, BMW (just one Renault); Land Rover etc. By far the most common foreign car is the mini – more than I’ve seen at home in years: quite a rare sighting.

A quick Google thing comes to the rescue. “Classic (Old) Minis are immensely popular in Japan because of their incredibly compact footprint, which perfectly navigates narrow streets, coupled with a deep cultural appreciation for British heritage, retro design, and personalization. Japan has a flourishing enthusiast community dedicated to meticulously maintaining and modifying these iconic vehicles”. Google of course doesn’t speak the King’s English, I apologise for the annoying “z”.

A memorable day heading into tomorrow’s rest day.

I thought we might meet the famous Nin when we got here, but she’s nowhere to be seen. Probably off playing games somewhere.

I was sure the Romans must have reached Japan. The road out of Fukoshima was long and straight for quite a few miles. Mrs Google tells me there is no evidence one knew of the other’s existance. There may be a new story line to be developed here – a simple twist of fate, a thunbs up in a parallel universe and the next gladiator was a Samurai. To be worked on.

Sorry, just monkeying around. As was the only one we saw today (others saw a troop, or barrel): when it saw us the next view was a nice pink arse. Which reminds me: the collective noun for butterflies is a kaleidescope or flutter. Think I prefer the former. We didn’t see many today, just a few large caterpillars hoping to make it to the other side of the road. Stripped bark from where Baloo had a good old rub meant I kept pee stops to a minimum.

A beautiful dam: Surikamigawa. Provides flood defence, hydro and water supply. The route was like riding around Llyn Brianne or Elan Valley – plus monkeys and no sheep. Lovely little ascent then dropped into the next very fertile valley, heading for Tendo.

Tomorrow we don the galoshes.

You’d never know today was spent in what seems like a disaster area. We cycled around and on Mount Bandai.

Mount Bandai (Bandai-san) last erupted on July 15, 1888.  The cataclysmic event involved a massive steam-driven explosion that triggered a collapse of the northern side of the mountain. The resulting debris avalanche wiped out several villages, claimed hundreds of lives, and dammed rivers to create the scenic Urabandai lake district, including Lake Hibara and the Goshiki-numa (five-colored) ponds. Since then, the volcano has remained dormant, thankfully.

Then there’s the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011. I wonder why this lodges more in my memory than the tsunami which caused it.

Known in Japan as the “Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster”  – 19,759 deaths. The earthquake was the most powerful ever recorded in Japan, and the fourth most powerful recorded in the world since modern seismography began in 1900. It triggered a powerful tsunami waves that may have reached heights of up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) and which traveled at 700 km/h (435 mph) and up to 10 km (6 mi) inland.

Today it’s a gorgeous ride, busy with a rather testy cycling event going the other way. Their challenge is 197 km (why not 200?) and 4750m of ascent. Most of them waved cheerily to us. The chap doing it on a Brompton seemed not to be so relaxed.

We didn’t get to see the 5 different colours of the lakes. Just a thick cloud we cycled down through. Atmospheric and freezing.

A local street party welcomed us, or rather the sumo wrestling win.

Aizu-Wakamatsu, located in Fukushima Prefecture, is Japan’s premier “Samurai City”. Famous for its pivotal role in the 1868 Boshin War, it offers a deep dive into feudal history, traditional hot springs, award-winning sake, and stunning mountain scenery.

We got to the hotel, got lost in the hotel and relaxed leaving our inner Samurai to focus on refueling.

A delightful day cycling on mainly quiet roads, flourishing forests framed with fabulous trees of many types. Good hiding places for the bears we’ve had stern warnings about what to do. Here’s a fun story about Hercules the Bear: https://youtu.be/aOab6D7q06c?si=Jkvo0GNAI6mg08En

So we need to channel our inner Baloo for the next stretch of “Wild Japan”. If today’s contrast of hills and remote rural farmsteads is anything to go by, it’ll be fun. Temperatures too are getting towards what we’re used to – a balmy 12.4C today.

Tomorrow things may heat up as we get to Fukushima.