Japan and environs trips and pics

[Kamakura Kid]

Put together some stuff I'd posted on other fora, thought you folks might be interested. Not all are bike trips, though. Since these are copied posts, there might be stuff you don't understand so if so please ask!

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June 23rd entry:

Well, after a very depressing trip to the tsunami devastated area on Monday, Wednesday became bright and clear around 10AM. First time I'd seen the sun since returning from Seattle (not much sun there, either) on June 9th. So, I decided to head up to some nearby mountains to see how much cornering clearance my V-Rod doesn't have. I went to the Hakone Mountains, about 45 minutes away from Kamakura. Hakone is the first set of mountains on the Tokaido Road linking Edo (old name for Tokyo) with Kyoto and points south. A little history: during the Tokugawa Shogunate era (1600-ish to 1868.), warlords were kept under control by a hostage system. Their families would have to live in Edo, and the warlords themselves were required to alternate between Edo and their home province every year. Not only did this system provide ready hostages, but also served to keep distant warlords' treasuries drained. The costs to maintain two (required) residences in Edo plus the costs to travel between Edo and their home province every year were astronomical. For example, wheeled vehicles were not allowed on these trunk roads, so everything had to be carried by porters. LOTS of porters. Hakone provided a handy chokepoint for the Tokugawa Shogunate to monitor traffic, so there was a checkpoint there. Because of the hostage system, female travelers were very strictly scrutinized. One needed a travel permit issued by the Shogunate. As this was before photography, detailed descriptions were included on the permit. If a female traveler developed a pimple, she would have to wait until it receded before she could safely pass a checkpoint.

OK, enough verbiage. Pics!

Road sign on way up to Hakone:

Closeup. During the late 70's and early 80's, the motorcyclist body count on this stretch of road became so high, the police restricted weekend access to only those motorcyclists whom had passed the very strict unlmited license skills test. Back then, failing the test a dozen times was normal, it was that strict! Most riders, including a teenaged Kamakura Kid, settled for the 400cc license, which was quite a bit easier. Five tries, on average (took me three).
So, this sign states that during the period of April 1st through November 30th, motorcycle traffic on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays is restricted from 8AM to 3PM. Motorcycles which displace more than 550cc's are exempted from this restriction.

One of my favorite signs!

Section of the Old Tokaido, original paving stones:

Lake Ashi, nestled up in the Hakone mountains. Unfortuantely, in the pic you cannot make out Mt Fuji in the background, behind the fake pirate ship.

Yes, I shop from the Aerostich catalog!

Hakone Checkpoint (reconstruction on the actual site). Sorry, but with today's yen rate it would've cost me about 6 bucks to enter the place, so I just took photos from the entrance.

 

[KTMphil]

KK-

A great read, thanks for taking the time to show us this, your helmet is interesting.

 

[Kamakura Kid]

Fuji-Hakone pass. Famous photo spot, note all the tripods.

On a clear day, one can see Mt Fuji behind Lake Ashi. Unfortunately, I got there just as some clouds swept in.

No sign to show my bike was actually there at the pass, so as a substitute I took a pic of all the waiting photographers' vehicles along with my V-Rod.

Different road on the way down

With a sobering sign at that corner

First time in the twisties in over three years, so time for a chicken strip check. On the left side I would drag the front footpeg. On the right side I would drag the lower muffler, just about where the axle is located. Yikes!

 

[Kamakura Kid]

And, about a week after that trip:

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Well, today dawned hot and bright. Yet another nice break from the rainy season. Or so I thought, turns out it was SO HOT over 40 cities had record high temps for June. Several inland cities had temps over 39 degrees centigrade! Four deaths at least, and one mass heat stroke incident where 16 high school girls at a track-and-field competition had to be carted away in ambulances.

I did not know it was so hot, or I would have stayed home. As it was, I only experienced temps in the 22-29 degrees centigrade range. Lucky me. Anyway...

This morning I decided today would be a great opportunity for me to test out my evaporative cooling gear (vest and neckerchief) combined with my impact armor and a mesh jacket. Better to do so on a solo ride and be able to turn back at will, instead of a group ride with friends anxious to get somewhere. I decided to go back up to Hakone, although this time using a different route up into the hills, the Toyo Tires Turnpike (toll road). Once at the top, then I would ride down the Izu Peninsula to a famous pass. Izu Pen. is shaped like a boot dagger, and the Izu Skyline is a beautiful ridgeline toll road which runs down the spine of the Izu Pen. for the duration of the "haft," then disappears into a network of roads once the peninsula broadens out into the "blade" portion. The evap gear worked out just fine, while I was sometimes warm, it was a comfortable warm. Never once did I feel like I was baking in the heat.

Once again, there were no "XXXX Pass YYYY meters" signs at any of the passes. So, even though I "bagged" about five or six passes by cheating and taking the Skyline along the Izu Pen. ridgeline, I only bothered taking pictures of two of the passes. Other places where I saw elevation signs I stopped for pics. Speaking of pics...

Izu Skyline

Unfortunately, well maintained also means a lot of the best curves had these half inch high "spoilers" to discourage speeding.

Quick dip down to the coast for lunch and gas

Objective #1

 

[KTMphil]

Now that looks fun on a bike!

 

[Kamakura Kid]

My second objective was the Old Amagi Pass Tunnel. This tunnel is famous as the setting of a very famous Japanese novel, "The Izu Dancer" by Yasunari Kawabata. Basically, while travelling down the Izu Peninsula in the early 1900's, the main character encounters a travelling entertainer/dancer at this pass. He then falls in love with said dancer and merrily proceeds to ruin his life, or hers, or both, I forget which (I read the book thirty odd years ago). Pretty much the early 20th century version of dating a stripper, I guess.

Dirt road up to the OAPT

Proof I was at the OAPT. There were a couple other motorcyclists up there, so I had one of them snap my pic.

The actual pass (highest point) is inside the tunnel. Kind of hard to make out, but one can see where the road crests by looking at proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Ideally, this "postcard" shot would feature a beautiful kimono-clad Japanese girl in it. Unfortunately, such animals were nowhere to be found at the OAPT, so you'll have to make do with my V-Rod instead.

Elevation of OAPT is at very bottom

This is what happens when the PO cuts off the "dog's butt" rear plastic rear fender off a V-Rod, and the current owner is dumb enough to go on dirt roads with the bike. My jacket is nicely splattered as well.

For you sushi aficionados, this is what a wasabi farm looks like. The plants are grown in small ponds fed by mountain spring water and must be kept cool, hence all the tents.

Typical agrarian scene in Japan

Highest marked point of today's ride

After an unmitigated downhill route from that 955 meter high point, the Toyo Tires Turnpike ends adruptly with a toll gate and a 90 degree elevated turn. On at least one occasion, I have seen a car sticking out of the roof of one of the houses immediately below the 90 degree turn.

 

[KTMphil]

Does the bike run differently at 1,000 meters elevation?

 

[Kamakura Kid]

Now for a couple of non-bike trips. First is that depressing trip I mentioned, going up to a earthquake/tsunami ravaged city.

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This past Monday, I was asked to accompany the Japan rep of a US based charity organization as he conducted a feasibility survey in Ishinomaki. Ishinomaki is reputed to be the city which suffered the most tsunami damage. I'll post a few pix here with captions, but because there are so many rather than burden this forum's server I'll post a link to the applicable PhotoBucket album. If you have a question about a specific picture, pls post here and ask.

Taking one of the Bullet trains:

Statue toppled by quake:

Toppled houses:

Burnt out elementary school:

Elementary school used as evac center. Currently 150 residents, peak was 1600. The temporary shower facilities are provided by the U.S. Army. All the rest of the green stuff is Japan Ground Self Defense Force, as well as all the personnel there.

Note high water mark at above school:

This used to be houses and fields. Now it's a small lake. Picture is taken from atop a dike about 20 feet higher than the surrounding land, 30-40 feet above the river.

This was a real heartbreaker. Out of 100 students at this elementary school, 80 were swept away. One boy got snagged on a tree and survived. The remaining 19 happened to be absent that day. The school is in a triangular plot of land near a river mouth, and is bound by a river dike on two sides, and hills on the third. Unfortunately, the hill immediately behind the school is reinforced with a concrete face and therefore unclimbable. So, the students made for the top of the dike, but the tidal wave washed most of the dike away as well. Right now the land is being used to temporarily hold debris, but I'm pretty sure the school will eventually become a shrine/sacred land.

Link to album:
ISHINOMAKI pictures by wpb3pan - Photobucket

 

[Kamakura Kid]

Does the bike run differently at 1,000 meters elevation?

Thanks to the wonders of fuel injection, the V-Rod is just as happy at 1000m as it is at sea level!

 

[Kamakura Kid]

Next are pix from a local festival. The verbiage refers to the fact I had posted festival pix last year, but this year I wanted to take night time pix. You see, a few motorcycle fora folks in the US had kindly donated/sent rechargeable D-cell (the big ones, called #1's in Japan) batteries and chargers to help out my neighborhood during the rolling blackouts back in March/April. The wands we used at night belong to the neighborhood shrine, and at the time D-cell batteries were VERY hard to find in the area. The shrine took custody of all four donated batteries plus charger kits, and used them for this festival.

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June 11th entry

Greetings from a very soggy Japan! Right now is the monsoon season, pretty much rains for most of June and the first week or so of July. How soggy is Japan? Well, my dryer is busticated at the moment. I tried to hang laundry yesterday, as the sky was overcast but it wasn't raining. Eight hours later my clothes were still pretty damp.

Yesterday was the annual festival hosted by GOSHO Shrine. I posted pics last year so I'm not going to repeat them here. This is a link to the album with last year's pics:

GOSHO JINJA Neighborhood Festival June 2010 pictures by wpb3pan - Photobucket

The reason I'm posting a few pictures is because slmjim was kind enough to donate batteries to help out with traffic control during the rolling blackouts. Being between heating and air-conditioning, TEPCO is able to provide all necessary power for the moment, so no blackouts. The wands we had been using at night all belong to GOSHO Shrine, so the wands and all of the donated batteries/chargers are now held by the shrine to be used for the good of the neighborhood. So, I was able to get some pics of his contribution being put to good use.

Here's a couple refresher pictures. There was a lot of rumor on the internet as to whether or not the mikoshi (portable shrines) would actually go into the ocean this year. In the end, Kamakura is a seaside town and a great many residents derive their living from the sea. Keeping the gods and spririts of the ocean happy is therefore a must, hence the mikoshis have to go amphibious.

Note the tattoos on the guy in the foreground. Keeping the mikoshis from toppling into the water takes a LOT of strength to battle the waves and undertow. Therefore, area yakuza members are asked to bolster the ranks during the amphibious portion of the festival.

Leaving the beach

GOSHO Shrine lit up for the festival

Mikoshi at night. Note the wands!

Thanks once again for helping out, Jim!

 

[Kamakura Kid]

Just came back last week from this trip:

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Saipan: A Walk in the Park


Hiya folks! Just came back from a short tip to Saipan. I suddenly decided I wanted to spend July 4th (note: this is Independence Day in the US) in a place it was celebrated, and Saipan (U.S. Commonwealth) is the closest piece of the US from Japan. I know the place well as I was stationed there for 18 months courtesy of the US Navy, and have been back many times since then. I must say it is my favorite vacation spot.

It is an BEAUTIFUL island. Very hard to imagine it as the site of such an intense battle, but vestiges of WW2 are present wherever you go on the island, as you'll see.

Doctor says I need to lose about 20 more pounds, so even on vacation I started my day with an hour's walk. In this case Saipan's American Memorial Park, right across the street from my hotel. Hence the title. Please follow along...

I had many CO's during the course of my 20 year career in the Navy. My all-time favorite CO had his retirement right here in front of the flags. Even though I was living in Hawaii at the time, I flew to Saipan for his retirement ceremony.

Guy getting his breakfast

These huge ships anchored off the island are part of the Navy's Maritime Prepositioing Ships program. These ships are stuffed to the gills with USMC equipment, such as M1A1 tanks parked less than five inches apart.

Managha Island, situated on the outer reef. Marine sports paradise. The orange boat you see is the launch which makes runs out to the PrePo ships six times daily.

 

[Kamakura Kid]

I'm going to post a link to my Photobucket album rather than load this server down, but I'll post a few teasers here as well, including some from previous trips which are not in that album.

Link: Saipan_2011 pictures by wpb3pan - Photobucket

There is a token motorcycle pic, but I would never ride a bike on Saipan. While the main trunk road and some of the trickiest corners are surfaced with asphalt, all of the rest of the streets are paved with a crushed coral compound. Under the right conditions, these roads develop an almost invisible sheen of algae and become treacherously slick. Many a time I've been driving along only to find myself suddenly sideways.

Coral/asphalt divide:

This is the now closed All Nippon Airwyas Hotel. The people of Saipan had a plan to refurbish it to accomodate 500 tsunami victims (at the islanders' expense) but there were not enough takers.

Pau Pau Bay, my favorite beach on Saipan, right next to the ANA Hotel

View from Mt Tapotchao, the highest point on Saipan

Beautiful scenery is always better with a pretty girl in it, in this case Jojo, whom halis from Shanghai

Sandra, a stunningly beautiful Filipina/Egyptian girl, is a good friend of mine. She and her husband (lucky dude!) own Johnny's Bar. Natsuko is their little girl.

Sunset as seen from the Oleai Beach Bar and Grill, my favorite bar in the world

Daytime at the Oleai Beach B&G

Oleai Beach B&G. Did I happen to say Oleai Beach B&G is my favorite bar in the world? Just in case I didn't, yes, Oleai Beach B&G is my favorite bar in the world.

One of these cars in the Oleai Beach B&G parking lot is obviously a rent-a-wreck driven by an budget minded tourist. Can you guess which one that is?

 

[Kamakura Kid]

KK-

A great read, thanks for taking the time to show us this, your helmet is interesting.

You, too, can sport similar ears on your own helmet!

link: http://www.aerostich.com/helmet-ears.html

 

[KTMphil]

A really nice insight to Japan & the horrific tsunami, thank you.

 

[Steve Canyon]

Would love to try this out, looks like a car park exit......

Great pictures, great bike and a great report...great to see other parts of Asia in RA...

Keep it coming

 

[Kamakura Kid]

That loop bridge is fun going up, but scary coming down. Gravity is definitely NOT your friend...

 

[Kamakura Kid]

My apologies in advance. The next few posts are trips made by car, bicycle, or on foot. I'm in the US and bike-deprived at the moment. I've a couple Japan bike trips planned for August, so pls bear with me. I will post some more bike trips then.

******* From a post dated 11 April.

Today marks the one month anniversary of the big quake/tsunami. All sorts of memorials going on. Even Mother Nature is marking the event, what with another large aftershock and many smaller ones. The big aftershock was about 4PM local, since then the TV and/or cell phone have been popping off one earthquake warning after another.

Once again your humble scribe was in the worst possible place to be when the large aftershock struck. While walking Gonzo-dog (he belongs to the local liquor store and helps me exercise) I was on a bridge crossing a rivermouth when the big one hit.

Today was a beautiful spring day, with the cherry blossoms in full bloom. Spent most of the day out and about running errands, then walking Gonzo-dog.

Cherry blossoms falling in my backyard.

Beautiful spring day, taken from Hase Temple, where the Goddess of Mercy (Kannon-sama) is honored

Cherry tree at Hase Temple

#2 Torii Gate leading to Hachiman Shrine, start of pedestrian walkway leading to shrine

Cherry tree lined walkway

As I was walking Gonzo-dog down on the beach, I noticed a huge gathering of people. Turned out to be an ecumenical memorial service for the quake/tsunami victims. I saw Christianity, Buddhism and Shintoism represented.

Gratuitous Gonzo dog shot. Tired after our long walk.

 

[Kamakura Kid]

************April 15th post.

Night before last, I had to hit the rack early for a zero-five-hundred wakeup. You see, my friend Brian, a shipmate from USS Firstship and also USS Thirdship, has been in Japan for the past month. Reserve duty up at Commander, US Forces Japan helping to coordinate US and Japanese military disaster efforts. His stint was up yesterday, and he had a free day before leaving the country today. I offered to drive him up and around the Mt Fuji area, so he could take pics (he is an avid photographer). He's gong to send me the 'trons soon, but I also took some pix with my cell phone.

About 6AM, I had to stop and take some pics of the road I was on. Luckily I was the only one on the road that early. Just a typical road through a typical housing area, but beautiful this time of year.

My best photo of the day, taken from the Shiraito (White Thread) waterfall.

From the town of Yui, an old post town on the Tokaido Highway linking Tokyo and Kyoto.
(maybe later, PhotoBucket not cooperating)

Stopped at Odawara Castle, where the cherry blossoms were AWESOME. Sorry, no photos of the castle itself due to the position of the sun, but the castle is a reconstructed fake anyway. The grounds and rockworks are largely the originals, though.

EDIT: For some reason, PhotoBucket is really not liking that picture of Yui. Bummer. So, as a substitute, here is a picture of another type of beautiful blossom which was fairly common at Odawara Castle as well.

 

[Kamakura Kid]

*********April 17th post.

Spent the last Fri and Sat days on my bike, really tired when I got home so I flamed out w/o checking out the news.

Saturday was kind of eerie. Just as I was about to take off for a ride with friends along the coast, there was a major aftershock. Not wanting to be swept off the beach road by a tsunami, I checked the epicenter location. Turned out it was an inland epicenter, so no tsunami threat. Whew!

Today, Sunday, was the traditional samurai mounted archery contest (yabusame) held at Hachiman Shrine here in Kamakura. Our group of warrior wannabes was asked to kit out and participate in a donation drive. Good thing we did. Attractive indeed are the three Miss Kamakuras (2011 edition) but they were kind of lost in the crowd which had gathered at Hachiman Shrine for the festival. Whereas 14 up-armoured samurai warriors, plus one warrior monk, had no problem attracting attention.

Gathering for the blessing ceremony

Blessing ceremony in progress

Some highly attractive female grooms/pages

A shrine virgin (we assume in good faith, anyway) tending to her flock of not-so-good fortunes. If you buy a fortune and its good, you keep it. If its bad, you tie it off to either this rack or a nearby holy tree in the hopes the shrine deity will run interference for you.

One of the horses

Hachiman Shine itself is up on top of the hill, in the foreground is the ceremonial pavilion, most famous for being the location where Lady Shizuka (my lord's true love) was forced to dance in front of Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo.

wikipedia link for Lady Shizuka Shizuka Gozen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have no idea what this huge rack of sake casks is supposed to represent, other than one heckuva good party

Me with a cute little gal wearing the traditional Japanese (since about 1900) attire for a girl whom graduated college this spring. The outfit, and girls wearing it, are called hai-kara, which is a shortened Japanese version of the words "high collar" meaning high class society during Meiji era Japan. Why that term became associated with female collge grads I have no idea. I had to blank out the gal's face a bit since I didn't seek her permission to post a pic of her.

For the ladies: a beefcake shot of two of the local ricksha company boys. Their job entails having their picture taken with tourists, so no worries about posting their image here.

Me with a couple gals whom wanted their picture taken with me. Why the Japanese, especially girls, feel they need to flash the "peace" symbol while getting their picture taken is beyond me, but its been a ubiquitous gesture for as long as I can remember.

 

[Kamakura Kid]

*********April 25th

So right now I'm in the midst of a trip to Sasebo, Japan, deep within the 60HZ half of Japan. My main purpose is to buy a portable generator, which are unobtanium in the 50Hz half of Japan where I live and where the earthquake/tsunami occurred. but I'm also visiting friends. Left late Friday afternoon and spent the first night in Fuji city, where I linked up with a high school classmate whom I haven't seen since, well, high school. Fuji city to my next destination, Fukuoka city, is either a hard one day trip or an easy overnighter. I chose the latter and spent the night in Okayama city. I got there about 5PM, so after I checked into the hotel I took a long walk to exercise my legs and hopefully my eyes. Okayama is a rather provincial city, so unfortunately my eyes didn't get much exercise. Oh well...

What Okayama does have is an old school covered shopping street. Usually each city has one, but these are becoming fewer and farther between in the Tokyo Met. area as it kludges into one big suburban collective.

Some interesting shop names:

Noticed a big to-do at a department store, turned out to be a meet and greet session for the all girl heavy metal band SCANDAL. They came out a couple years ago as a high school girl themed band, it was big news because at the time the drummer was actually a high school student. The "no photography" Nazis were out in force, unfortunately, but I was able to sneak a pic of what the gals looked like from behind.

Had I been able to take of pic of the girls' front side, you would have seen something like this:

Normally the Japanese are a very law abiding people, so I wondered about this spectacle:

Stoped in at a burger joint for my dinner.
Food tastes better when it is prepared in front of you by a cute girl.
Food tastes A LOT better when it is prepared in front of you by a cute girl wearing a short skirt.

 

[Kamakura Kid]

********April 26th

When travelling within Japan, the inexpensive place to stay is the business hotel. Since most Japanese businessmen travel by train, these are located close to railway stations in the central areas of cities. Land is therefore at a premium and expensive, so these hotels have tiny rooms. While business hotels are starting to show up near expressway interchanges, the "efficiency" motif remains the same. (What are more common around expressway intersections are Japan's "love hotels" where one rents rooms by the hour.)

At a business hotel, the whole room is the size of a walk-in closet. You have a bed, a small desk, and just enough room to turn around.

Definitely not conducive to any cat swinging.

What is techincally a full bathroom, about the size of a closet.

Even the parking lot is compressed.

Back on the expressway, saw some nice vintage Kawi's.

Crossing the bridge which spans the Shimonoseki Straits, between Honshu and Kyushu islands.

 

[Kamakura Kid]

*********April 29

Another parking solution. This is what a "tray-and-lift" type parking structure looks like.

Driveway. Note 90 degree approach and turntable. You drive onto the turntable, the turntable spins you so you are facing the doors, then you drive forwards onto the tray. The tray then spins your car around so its now facing outwards, then goes up and parks your car in a slot.:

Door to parking structure:

Car comes out, spins on turntable, and is gone:

Peek inside, empty space:

A minute or so later, my car arrives:

You can see the circular mark made on the floor by the spinning mechanism:

Close up:

Go inside to retrieve my car, look up to see other cars parked in their slots:

40 car parking structure attached to hotel:

 

[Kamakura Kid]

*********April 30th

On a more pleasant note, May 5th is the Childrens' Day holiday in Japan. There actually used to be a separate Girls' Day (3/3) and a Boys' Day (5/5), but a few years back the Govt decided to combine them into one Children's Day, then made it a National Holiday to ease the pain.

People still insist on celebrating Girls' Day and Boys' Day separately, so in March familes put up a display of Imperial Court figurines. On Boys' Day, families hoist pennants stylized as carp (koi-nobori), the image being that of carp swimming upstream to spawn. During one of my trips around Sasebo, I saw this farmhouse with a very nice display.

********* and with that, I wrap up my backlog. This weekend I'm planning on taking a jet boat trip on the Rogue River, a "wild and scenic" river in Oregon state. I'll post some pix of that trip if anyone wants me to. Figured since not only is there no motorcycle involved, its not in Asia so I had better ask first.

 

[Steve Canyon]

Great report, interesting stuff...

Like to see more of your pictures.....it is Asia after all...

Love the old Kwakers... :RO

 

[KTMphil]

Really fun and different, you've got to love japan! Thanks so much.

 

[Kamakura Kid]

Prelude - the night prior to departure:

WP Bill (aka Kamakura Kid), watching for the umpteenth time the stunning scenery of the Sakai Moving Center TV ad, mutters to himself also for the umpteenth time," I really have to call them and find out where that ad was filmed. I'd sure like to see it for myself."

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Monday, I took off on a long awaited and much delayed/changed trip to Nagano Prefecture, Japan's arguably most mountainous prefecture. Considering it contains half of Japan's Northern Alps, all of the Central Alps, and half of the Southern Alps, I tend to agree with that characterization. First I was supposed to ride along with a good friend, someone whom I have known since high school days. Unfortunately, he sprained his ankle on a scooter (dangerous, those things!) and is on crutches for a while. I was also supposed to go two weeks ago, but a HUGE typhoon decided it wanted to visit the same area at about the same timeframe, so I had to delay the trip. Finally, all the pieces fell into place and I was off!

160 pictures (and that was after I deleted about a third) so I'm going to post a link and just present highlights here.
Nagano Pref Sept_2011 pictures by wpb3pan - Photobucket

My first destination was Zenkou Temple, in the city of Nagano. Zenkou Temple is one of the most important religious centers in Japan. There is something special about this place, I've been there twice and each time I've walked away exceedingly refreshed. My transit to Nagano-city took me past Mt Fuji (already posted pictures earlier) and cut across the slopes of the Yatsugatake massif (shrouded in clouds). After a drenching rainstorm, I arrived at Nagano around 7PM. At 6AM, I left the hotel, found a cab and took it up to Zenkou Temple. I got there just in time to be blessed by the high priest as he made his way to the temple. People line up alongside the pavestones, get on their knees, and bow. The priest then touches each person's head with his wand.

Then, I walked down the 1.3 kilometer promenade to Nagano train station, where my hotel was located. Lots of interesting sights along that promenade.

My next destination was Hakuba (White Horse), site of the ski events for the 1998 Nagano winter Olympics. Spent many a ski season there growing up, even organized a ski club at my high school and made a trip to one of the resorts in the Hakuba area, Tsugaike Heights.

Next destination was Matsumoto city, famed for its authentic feudal castle. Most of the castles you see in Japan today are reconstructions, there are only 11 which actually date back to the feudal era. Not only is Matsumoto is rare enough in that aspect, it is even rarer because it is black, not whitewashed like most of the castles.

Came back to the parking lot, saw this interesting bike parked next to mine:

 

[Kamakura Kid]

Next destination was Narai-shuku, a post town on the Nakasendo. Remember my previous pictures of the Tokaido? Same concept, different route.

Spent that evening at Ina city, about an hour's ride from Narai-shuku, and located between the Central and Southern Alps. Woke up for my morning walk to find to a stunningly beautiful dawn.

Next destination was the town of Takatoh, about 20 minutes away. I had seen a movie located/filmed there, and had always wanted to visit. Takatoh translates to "High and Far." Pretty cool name for a town, yes?

 

[Kamakura Kid]

Next was the main highlight of this trip, a trek down National Highway 152, which skirts the Southern Alps as it meanders on down to the Pacific. While 152 is technically a national highway, that's only because of the way the road was funded. Most of the road, especailly those portions which connect villages. is barely one lane wide. Great road for a bike, hate to have to travel it by car. There were a couple of places where the road was so narrow, I'd have to rub KY on the sides of my car (Nissan Teana, equivalent to an Altima in the US) to squeeze it between a sheer rock face and the guardrail. The scenery, however, was fantastic.

Around lunchtime, I realized I had left my arm protectors back at the Ina hotel. Drats! I stopped at a gas station in Kamimura village to plot my next steps. Discussing my plight with the attendants, they told me I was near a link road which would have me on the Chuo Expressway in about an hour. Once on the expressway, it was only 40 minutes to Ina. Trying to determine where I should rejoin 152, I asked the nice lady about the scenery betweeen that link road and the next link road which was about 30km further south. She told me that I wouldn't miss much by skipping the next 30km stretch of 152, but if I had the time I ought to see Shirabiso Pass, which was accessed via a loop road which started and ended in Kammimura village. Oh, by the way, I'll also be able to see Shimokuri Village, where the Sakai Moving Center commercial was filmed.

WOO HOO! So, I made my way to the Chuo, retrieved my protectors, and spent the night at Iida city, which is where I got on/off the Chuo. Spent a pleasant hour at the Iida HD shop, Fukuzawa Motors. The shop is operated by a father/son team. I discussed my next day's planned route with the patriarch. He made a few recommendations, which I gladly took.

Left Iida at dawn and made it up to Shirabiso Pass. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. There was a lodge at the Pass, where one could simultaneously see the Central Alps to the East and the Southern Alps to the west.

 

[Kamakura Kid]

After leaving Shirabiso Pass, it was a 14km trip to Shimokuri Village. On the way I passed what is an asteroid formed crater. Since it hit a steep slope which has since filled in with scree and trees, it was difficult to see the topography, but the sign sezs its a crater, so a crater it must be. It sorta kinda looked scooped out, I guess. I took some pics, pls judge for yourselves.

Arrived at Shirabiso village to find out the viewpoint from where the ad was filmed was actually a short hike away from the village and not accessible by vehicle. DRATS!!! The hike was advertised as 15 minutes, so I made a rare exception to my rule of "If I can't see it from the driver's seat of my car or the saddle of my bike, I ain't gonna see it." So, about 30 minutes later, after traversing a steep slope (more like a cliff) on a footpath barely a foot wide in some places, while dressed in ATGATT and lugging my 3/4 helmet, I arrived at the viewpoint. This is the famous view:

And to prove I actually made the trek instead of borrowing someone else's photo, behold this:

The guy that took my photo for me actually rode a frickin' BICYCLE to the village, which I'm going to say is about 1500 meters in elevation. He's probably one of the few people who could make that "15 minute hike" actually in 15 minutes. Here's his pic:

This is the view from Shimokuri Village proper:

After that, I descended the road down to Kamimura Village, and gassed up at the same gas station almost exactly 24 hours after my first visit there. The nice lady whom I talked with yesterday wasn't working there that day, nor was the young man whom liked the V-Rod so much. However, just as I was about to leave, the lady stopped by to pick up some paperwork. I was able to thank her profusely for turning me onto the Shirabiso/Shimokuri route.

Leaving Kamimura Village, I stayed on 152 for a couple more hours, then turned off it to ride the " Tenryu Super Forest Road" which runs for 36km along a high ridgeline. This was the route change recommended by Fukuzawa-san, the owner of the Iida HD shop. Fantastic views of both the Central and Southern Alps!

Left the TSFR to find out parts of it were used as an informal test course by the designer of the original Datsun 240Z. Coolness!

With that, I ended my trip. Cut across some prime tea growing country to the Oh-i River Valley. My original intent was to snap a shop of my bike against a backdrop of a real steam locomotive pulling a train on the Oh-i River railway, but found out the steam locomotive only runs on weekends and holidays. Bummer, but the genesis of a future bike trip.

Descended the Oh-i River valley to Shimada city, and got on the Tomei Expressway about 5PM. Home by 9PM. On the way, took some pics of an auto dealer named Future Auto Garage.

 

[KTMphil]

Great to see new touring areas - Thankyou!

 

[Steve Canyon]

This could be the Swiss Alps....

So alike...

Interesting marking on the building..

Swastika??

Great report, Japan looks really nice, great to see some more of it.. :RO

Thanks for the post...

 

[Kamakura Kid]

Yup, that's a swastika. It was a symbol of enlightenment and/or good luck for a couple millenia before Hitler subverted it and gave it an evil connotation. My Dad, born in the US in 1906, said when he was growing up, he would draw swastikas on stuff as a good luck symbol. Obviously he stopped that practice in the mid 1930's. There are some whom say Hitler "reversed" the swastika, normally a clockwise rotating wheel which "they" say symbolizes bringing in the light, to symbolize bringing in the darkness, but I think that's hogwash. Temples in Japan have the swastika spinning both ways, although I will say the clockwise wheel is much more common.