• Day 23 Miyanoura to Onoma 44kms 1187m
• Day 24 Onoma to Miyamora 65 km 1939m
• Day 25 Naze to Koniya. 93 kms 2332m
• Day 26 Koniya to Sasari 87 kms 1715 m
• Day 27 Sasari to Naze 85 kms 1312m
• Day 28 Motobu to Ada 90kms 872m
• Day 29 Ada to Onna 104 kms 1561 m
• Day 30. Onna to Naha 56 kms 644 m
• TOTAL TODATE. 2359kms 36,434m

2500 kms in 31 days of riding; 25 or more different islands (we lost count); several ferry rides but two (very) long ones; 9 rest days; and 36 kms of climbing (the most vertical per km of riding of our other long haul rides in Canada, New Zealand, Tasmania or SE Asia).

Our assessment? A wild success! Loved it.

Our bikes faired well. We needed the low gearing on this one to be certain. Other bikes on the tour needed frequent repairs. The route, though hard topped, was rough at times and often had menacing debris. There were broken rims, broken chains, broken derailers, many flat tires and many, many changes of break pads. For riders, there was one broken shoulder, one broken wrist and one rather impressive road rash incident. Out of 30 riders. Not bad – considering the terrain, length and considerable grade.

The weather was excellent for the most part. Still, at one time or another we used all of the gear we brought with us, even long underwear base layers, rain pants, heavy weather Arc’teryx jackets, rain booties, hoodies, toques and winter mitts. Our local Japanese expert, Kazu, kept telling us how “lucky we’ve been with weather”. Well, that changed. The weather forecast for the Island of Okinawa looked daunting to say the least with a typhoon expecting to come through about the same time we were. But first:

Yakushima Island – more monkeys than people

We circled Yakushima Island over two days and 130 kms. 90% of the island is covered in subtropical rainforest. It rains so much on this island it is said it rains 35 days a month. And yet we continued to avoid the weather with only a few showers. The island has mountains peaking over 1800 m high and despite being subtropical, they can get snow in the winter. A quote from a tourist brochure states: “Yakushima will have clear blue skies and beautiful autumn days ……. but for occasional typhoons”. A foreshadowing to be sure.

Yakusugi Cedars live over 1000 years on this island. Due to the harsh environment, poor soil and high humidity, the cedar trees grow slowly storing resin, which makes them resistant to decay and insects. This prolongs their life spans much longer than ordinary cedars. The Jomonsugi Cedar – “the lord of the forest” has a trunk circumference of 16.4 meters and is estimated to be anywhere from 2000 – 7200 years old! This reminded us of the mighty Kauri Trees of New Zealand.

Oh, and the monkeys! Everywhere! We found ourselves dodging and weaving around them at every turn. We were warned: “Don’t look at them directly and don’t engage them or stop in the middle of them. Keep riding by, “or else.” We did as advised and luckily never found out what “or else” meant. You would too if you saw their cute but decidedly menacing look.

Amami Island and TDA’s Motto – Hardship and Suffering

Hardship and suffering, we came to learn, is a badge of honor for TDA riders. The TDA alumni all talked about it and lived it and loved it. Our TDA hardship came in a couple of ways. One was our overnight ferry crossing to get to Amami Island. The ferry left at 6pm and arrived at 5am. There’s no other way to put it, this overnight ferry was inhumanely brutal. Think submarine bunks. No restaurant. No seats. Just the submarine bunks. The only way to eat dinner (we brought sushi) was to sit on deck in the dark in the wind and rain. Gear Guy longed for the comfort of our never set up, MSR Hubba Hubba tent.

We got off the ferry with little sleep (even after a good portion of Japanese whiskey) and got in the saddle while stuffing down some buns and peanut butter in the ferry parking lot, in the dark. Our ride that day was 98kms with 2,400 meters of vertical. Hardship and suffering; badge of honor with TDA. It’s part of the gig. But it’s not all like that. Some days are like a Backroads tour, 5 star. And some days are like an Outward Bound – Basic Training.

The 3 day ride around Amami was stunning. Fantastic route with no traffic, amazing landscapes and picturesque beaches. Well worth the ferry ride over. But really, we’d fly next time. Or swim. But not ferry.

Okinawa Island

We got to Okinawa via a 10 hour ferry. It was a rough sail. It was so rough for the ferry that the Captain even cancelled one of the three scheduled stops due to unsafe docking weather. Needless to say, the ferry ride was a bit sporty. Ergo … suffering. Gravol pills went for a premium.

That said, Okinawa is simply extraordinary; known for its unique culture, subtropical climate, beautiful beaches, and complex history. It’s the largest of the Ryukyu Islands, a chain of about 150 islands stretches from southern Japan towards Taiwan. Okinawa was an independent maritime kingdom with strong trade ties to China, Korea, and Southeast Asia until the late 1800’s when Japan formally and forcibly incorporated the islands.

On April 1, 1945, Allied Forces launched the Battle of Okinawa in order to establish military bases as a launching pad to defeat the Japanese Empire. The invasion force consisted of 82,000 personnel; more than the number that invaded Normandy. The Battle of Okinawa was fierce, resulting in a quarter of a million civilian and military casualties. There were more casualties from the Battle of Okinawa than there were from both Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings combined. Historians say that this battle was a key factor leading to the use of atomic weapons.

After the war, Okinawa remained under U.S. control until its return to Japan in 1972. Today, Okinawa still hosts 31 US military bases and a 32nd was under construction, resulting in recent public demonstrations. We cycled by one military base which had a wall of armed guards to block its entrance. We whisked by uneventfully and even solicited a smile from one guard. Maybe he was a cyclist. Or maybe he wondered if we thought that the show of force seemed a little over the top? We did. But hey, we’re Canadian. Eh?

We visited the site where the initial landings of the Allied fleet took place. It consists mainly of a Memorial Museum; the Former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters; and the Urasoe Castle Ruins nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge, popularized by the movie. Interestingly, it was more balanced than the Memorials of Hiroshima. But then, it needs to be said, the Okinawans were a different society to the Japanese before and during the war years and even still to some degree. Okinawans were not only forced as civilians to bear arms and fight for the Emperor but also were prohibited from speaking their native Okinawan language. If an Okinawan was heard speaking Okinawan, he would be executed as a spy. On top of this, there were reportedly mass executions and forced suicides of Okinawans during the battle. As you can imagine, there remains a residue of how the Okinawans were treated by the Japanese during the war. A complicating backdrop to the apparently increasing US military presence.

Nevertheless, Okinawan captivates. There is an energy and spirit different than the other islands. It is the birthplace of Karate. In the 1600’s when Okinawa’s rulers imposed weapons prohibitions, Okinawans developed empty-hand combat methods inspiring the name karate, “empty hand”. Okinawa is a Blue Zone with some of the highest life expectancies and lowest rates of age-related diseases in the world.

The riding there was, well, wet. We travelled into the edge of the typhoon which devastated the Philippines. We have cycled in rain before including the tail end of a hurricane in Newfoundland and a cyclone on the South Island of New Zealand but we don’t recall being as wet as were on Okinawa. The constant menacing drizzle was frequently interrupted with crazy, blinding squalls that felt like someone was dumping buckets of water on you from all directions. This was compounded by a violent wind gusting to 80 mph at times. This continued for a full day and a half before the typhoon left us with clearing skies. Through this we learned a new hack on how to keep iPhone navigation operating during typhoons – a shower cap and hair elastic. Magic.

TDA Report Card

TDA likes to ask newbies like us to describe the tour in just one word. Deb’s word was “wabi-sabi” – beauty in imperfection and balance in asymmetry. Gear Guy’s word was “odyssey”; a long and eventful adventurous journey or experience. It was both.

In the successful TDA model, they preserve the raw adventure while still providing significant structure and organization, a safety net and opportunity for kinship. As our first long haul “guided trip” we’d say they over-delivered in almost every category. We will do another. Can’t get enough hardship.

And now to answer the most frequent question, which ride did we enjoy the most – Canada, New Zealand, Tasmania, SE Asia or Japan? Japan was a tough ride to be sure. It had the toughest vertical per km in all of our long haul rides by a long margin.

The distinct culture and language of Japan was captivating and entertaining at times. It is a land of contrasts – busy modern cities, yet deserted ghost towns; efficiency to the minute, but paper tickets for everything; clean cities, but no garbage cans; a slim and fit population in spite of stores filled with candy; quiet, shy people who simply go wild over karaoke; and maybe best of all, toilets that automatically open rather than solving the true household problem of closing the lid.

It’s a lot to take in.

But when we are asked what ride we liked the most, the answer must be – the ride we happen to be on at the time, because there is always another ride….

Thanks for riding along.

Here’s a comparison of our long haul rides:

• 2025 Japan – 2259 kms and 36,000 m over 31 days of cycling 16.1 vm per km
• 2024 SE Asia – 1712 kms and 8500 m over 30 days of cycling 5.0 vm per km
• 2023 Tasmania – 1540 kms and 19,600 m over 23 days of cycling 12.7 vm per km
• 2022 New Zealand – 3000 kms and 25, 700 m over 45 days of cycling 8.6vm per km
• 2019 Canada – 9000 kms and 49,000 m over 100 days of cycling 5.6vm per km

• Osaka city tour 17 km 119m
• Day 1 Naruto – Kamiyama 63km 855m
• Day 2 Kamiyama – Iya Valley 88km 2387m
• Day 3 Iya Valley – Lake Sameura 74km 1835m
• Day 4 Lake Sameura – Mt Ishizuchi 68 km 2139 m
• Day 5 Mt Ishizuchi – Tengu – 93 km 2522 m
• Day 6 Tengu – Shimanto City 104 km 1704 m
• TOTAL TO DATE: 507 kms 11,561 m (Average of 1927 meters of elevation per cycling day – according to Ride with GPS, notorious for being high, but that’s what we’re going with)

And we’re off – traversing 7 islands in 44 days with TDA Global Cycling – the creation of Henry Gold from Toronto (Initially named Tour d’Afrique after their first and namesake trip). As our Japan trip is a new addition to their unique list of tours, Henry has joined us on this trip. He is an encyclopedia of bike packing on a global scale. He is happy to hear riders’ comments and suggestions for improvement, but usually replies with “Well after 23 years, we think we are ok doing it this way.” We are only beginning on this ride and we are still processing but the model does indeed seem to be working. You see, Founders sometimes lie, but the numbers never do. Over 60% of TDA clients return. In fact, several people have signed up for additional trips during this first 10 days! And trips of 30+ riders for long haul cycling are booked well in advance, often over a year in advance. We were lucky to get the call up as “Newbies”.

The Cyclists

30 cyclists – only 8 first timers to TDA. 1/3 Canadians. 1/2 couples. Age range from 55 – 82. Inspiring life stories, fitness and personalities. In 10 days we have biked, eaten in our yukatas (dressing gown), played games, sang at karaoke bars, shared stories and showered together in onsens (girls and guys separately) and eaten unknown items at our dinner table. The universal love of long haul bike touring is our common ground. Kindred spirits you might say.

The riders are strong and eager. A bit intimidating as such. Not a group to try and beat at anything. Even after rising to our daily 5:30 am alarm a group of riders will often hit the road before we’ve finished breakfast. One Rider is a retired Drill Sargent for the Danish Army. He leads a team we affectionately named the “Dane Train”. After a 100 km ride and 2,500 Meters of vertical he’ll gladly go for a 3 km swim in the ocean. Know what we’re saying?

The Route

As we had investigated doing this trip on our own, we have discussed what it would have taken to find these TDA routes we’ve have been on so far. “Impossible”, says Nav Guy. Katsu is our local guide. A gentle ole soul. He speaks in a tone that almost makes you sedate into a hypnotic state. Katsu spent weeks in cars, trains, ferries and bikes finding this route. He knows the areas, the town folk, the language and the local customs and folklore like the palm of his weathered hand.

The result? Seemingly endless, winding, narrow, forested, moss covered routes with breathtaking views. All seemingly custom made for cycling. No people. No vehicles. Occasional long climbs but rewarding – mesmerizing downhills. Admittedly, the Island of Shikoku is not a typical tourist destination; but really – where is everyone?

We have been shocked at the lack of population in this mountainous area. It’s a bit eerie. Many homes are deserted and even the few cities we have been in, homes and shops are boarded up. Apparently one explanation was during the boom years of the 80’s the government was building infrastructure outside the major cities to encourage the younger population to stay or move there. With oil price and interest rates increases, the economy stagnated and people actually moved to the cities on mass. Some stats show the population of the country is now 91% in urban areas. Sad to see the empty homes but it certainly has left a cycling Mecca for us bike folk.

The population of Japan was as high as 128 million in 2010 and it has dropped to 122 million currently. With the current birth rate of 1.3 children per woman, locals say that drop is destined to continue for some time.

Accommodation

TDA builds routes around biking, not accommodation. That fits our style, so we were prepared for small and VERY simple. So far only 1 room would not pass the “Tent” test; that is, we’d rather be in a tent. It was bit damp. And cold. And there were shared bathrooms and showers. Okay, it was a bit more than damp. Gear Guy opened an umbrella in the middle of the night, “Is it raining?” Sleeping on the floor in a traditional ryokan is fine, as long as there are 12 inch cushions.

The Food

The food continues to amaze. Our dinners are a formal Japanese style – with many, many, many small dishes of interesting, often unknown items. The raw eggs and whole fried fish for breakfast are awesome for only one member of our team. But the presentation and the flavours are incredible. Even our roadside lunches are delicious, but they are usually at the top of a hill after 70 kms so they could serve just about anything.

Cultural Tidbit

Japanese forest bathing, known as Shinrin-yoku is a practice that involves immersing oneself in a forest environment to promote relaxation, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being. It’s not about hiking, exercising, or accomplishing anything—it’s about being present in nature and engaging your senses. So, “forest bathing” means bathing in the forest atmosphere, not with water, but with your senses. It was developed in the 1980’s as a response to growing urban stress and tech overload and is now part of Japan’s national public health program. Maybe they are onto something?

Art

We are not experts when it comes to art, but the Japanese can turn anything into an art form: Sumo wrestling, gardening, architecture, food, roads, bridges, manhole covers and yes, even attention seeking toilets (thanks Gord)…

Also The Land of:

• 123 million people. That’s 3 times the number of people in Canada. Moreover, Japan has a land area of 377,975 sq kms compared to Canada’s 9,984,670 sq kms. That means that Japan is about 80 times more populated per sq km than Canada.
• the most populous urban area in the world with Tokyo metropolitan area home to over 37 million people.
• many, many islands – there are 4 main islands and 6800 smaller ones. No wonder there were reports of Japanese soldiers being stranded on a small island many years after the war ended without knowing that the war had ended.
• 80,000 Buddhist Temples nationwide. And if you get bored of Buddhist Temples, there are another 100,000 Shinto Shrines! Gear Guy loves Temples and Shrines!
• the Shinkansen bullet trains run at almost 300kmph and are famously on time. A delay of even 1 minute comes with a certificate of apology
• toilets with a heated seat, bidet, dryers, music…. Jay takes a pillow to the can.
• politeness is a way of life – bowing is a traditional gesture used to greet, apologize and show respect
• more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other country
• slurping noodles is good manners
• one of the highest life expectancies in the world – women 87 years men 81 years. May be directly correlated to politeness, eating good food and slurping?
• 4 million vending machines – selling everything from drinks, umbrellas, eggs and hot meals. We ordered two warm beer from one. Yum.
• about 1,500 earthquakes a year, most minor. Buildings and trains are engineered with advanced quake-resistant technology.

We’re stoked to start a bike packing trip we’ve craved for some time now…… Japan.  We arrived in Osaka on September 23 and we’ll be in Japan for 2 months. Our planned bicycle route will take us around 2500 km and over 46,000 m of elevation in 44 riding days. Apparently it’s hilly in Japan.  There is more vertical per km than there was in Tasmania; which was slightly more per km than New Zealand and SE Asia; which was slightly more than Canada.   The upward hockey stick vertical per km trend is making me wonder if our unanimous route voting system actually works. But here we are.  

We approached this trip a little differently than in the past.  Our travel plan for long haul rides pretty much consisted of 1. Buy a one-way ticket; 2. Get off plane; and 3. Start riding.…. No reservations, no distinct route, just a general direction. But there are three things that made us switch it up for Japan. First, though we tried for months, we couldn’t find anyone to assist us with routing a long haul bike trip in Japan. Long haul bike touring is still in its infancy in Japan it appears. There are certainly you-tubes of biking dudes riding Japan’s four main islands tip to tip, but invariably they end up at one time or another in a paralyzingly frightening Japan tunnel with no shoulders, no lights and massive trucks. There would have been some serious team discourse if we got trapped on a tunnel like that. Nough said. The language barrier is another thing. Google translate is an amazing game changer, but there is still a lag when it comes to bike touring routes when trying to convey what we are looking for. And the last thing is that we find the population density rather daunting to construct safe bike routing. All that to say that we joined a Canadian bike tour company – TDA Global Cycling. We have been following TDA for awhile now. They make no bones about it. It’s a bike trip, not a hotel trip. Accommodations are decent for the most part they say. Seems to suit our style. But it’s new for us. Call it an experiment. We’ll let you know how it works out.

We had a week prior to getting in the saddle, so we were sightseeing in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Japan is astonishingly clean and unexpectedly quiet. Even the garbage trucks are new and clean, looking more like RVs than garbage trucks. It seems there are no horns in vehicles because you just don’t hear them. Loud noises are considered impolite. One other observation about Japan – it’s also unnervingly friendly.

We saw a lot of temples, shrines, palaces, shogun homes, gardens and forts. Not Gear Guy’s favourite list of activities. The tour of the National Museum on the other hand was outstanding. Ancient displays of artwork, tools, weapons and naturally, Samurai swords. Fascinating that ancient Japanese paper, called washi, is known for its durability, resulting in preserved scrolls dated from the 1300’s. There were also displays of pottery from 300 BC. All wonderfully choreographed. It was perhaps fortunate there were no Samurai swords on display in any of the Temples or Shrines or “I’m done with Temples” Guy would have surely opted for an honourable self-dispatch by Seppucu (or Hará Kari). That, or perhaps I would have just handed him a sword.

The Samarai dynasty which ended “only” 150 years ago after ruling Japan for over 700 years, feels like yesterday – its influence everywhere.  We inquired if we can still train to be a ninja.  Apparently, we both (even Gear Guy) have a better chance of getting in as a Geiko (geisha) as none of the young Japanese girls want to do the training any more. Which gives you some idea of how hard up they are at attracting Geisha apprentices.  

Thank you Andrea for the ubiquitous custom Fernie hat that Jay won’t remove!

The only place on our planet where sumo wrestling is “officially” practised is in Japan, a cultural phenomenon that has been going on for thousands of years. There are about 600 wrestlers in Japan, mostly Japanese but some from Mongolia and elsewhere. There are about 45 “stables” in Tokyo where typically 14 wrestlers live, eat train and compete together. We attended an up close and personal Sumo wrestling practice. Maybe too up close and personal? To say that Sumo Wrestlers are big, strong and powerful is like saying MacDavid can score. It’s not saying enough. Sumo Wrestlers are also startlingly fast, flexible and agile. I mean, they can move like a drone. As they accelerated their massive bulk forward and laterally they would kick up sand and dust on us spectators sitting around the Sumo Ring (the dohyo). Sumo wrestlers also sweat. They pour sweat. Like a race horse. Sweat travels. By the end of the session, it was us that needed a bath!

The wrestlers are big. Did I mention that? It made Gear Guy conjecture about the size of the Mothers that gave life to these monstrous lads. Like, congratulations, you have a bouncing baby boy weighing in at 25 lbs, 3 ounces.

Kyoto was enchantingly Zen like – more traditional – no buildings over 10 stories so one can see the mountains surrounding the area.  Enjoyed a Geisha dance, amazing strength and poise – but we were glad it didn’t last all day.  Some more than others. Went to a tea ceremony which was filled with rules which we found entertaining even though they were not meant to be.  Jay balanced this off with a double Sake tasting afterward.

The food – oh my – the food. Already declared “The Best Sushi in the World” we have eaten sashimi, sushi, tempuraed unknown items, yakisoba, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, kushikatsu…

Some of us ate more questionable items:

We signed up for a cooking class – how hard can it be given the food is mostly raw? This is my kind of cooking specialty! We loved the experience, but it is very clear to us now why the Japanese population are very trim in apperance. The cooking process for Japanese food is painstakingly, well, painful.

Osaka has a very different feel – young, vibrant with lots of nightlife we happily avoided. World Expo here we had planned to see is decidedly overcrowded, which is intimidating given the crowds we have already run into. Apparently people with reservations were not getting in for 3 hours and then it was a 7 hour wait to get into a pavilion.  We spoke to a couple that confirmed the reviews I had read and not shared with Jay – including:  “I even had to queue to write this review”. So we wandered around Osaka, marvelling at the sights.

 Next update – from the saddle.