2008 Japan Three Island Tour: April 3rd:

  <Again, the skies were clear blue! After breakfast the group loaded into the van and Akiko drove them up the hill to a small hot springs town wedged into narrow valley called Kurokawa. Of the hot springs towns on Kyushu, this is perhaps the most famous of them all. The streets are very narrow, and the town is made up of a conglomeration of hot springs hotels, curio shops ....and a couple of vending machines. >

There is only enough space for one one-laned road to go through. A river runs right down the middle of the down and a stroll along it makes for a very tranquil Japanese experience: Cherry blossoms hanging over a clear stream rushing over boulders.

   Meanwhile, Arch and Dale took off to do some early morning riding. After about an hour, both parties were back, and we were ready to go. At this time, more of the Flattwin Club members were arriving to join us for the ride: Mr. Nakano, with his 1965 BMW R50 and Mr. Yoshikawa with his BMW 1960 R50S.    (Mr. Nakano had ridden that same bike across Russia 5 years earlier.) Both of the bikes were is cherry condition. They came to join us for a couple of days of riding.

    We headed south toward the Mr. Aso area, home to the largest caldera in the world. The schedule was not a long, but would be fun. Mr. Hirata had picked out a series of roads that linked together with minimal stop lights and maximum riding pleasure. The route he had chosen was known for the best riding in Kyushu. He also had some secrets up his sleeves....

   We rode to the edge of the caldera and looked down. The circumference is so large, that it is difficult to perceive the actual caldera. A vast plane of farms and towns stretched out below us. Only the distant mountains showed a clear delineation where the caldera was. We could see across the valley the volcano Mt. Aso and a its steaming top. We could also see all the motorcycles coming and going to this lookout and realized that this was where the locals rode. I heard that on any given Sunday, there were around 300-400 bikes in the parking lot.

  After a few minutes, we jumped on our bikes and went for a terrific ride. We followed a road that snaked all the way down to the bottom of the broad caldera. The road, again, was in terrific condition. As the bottom, we journeyed across to the other side and started to climb up to Mr. Aso. The route would take us on a big circle by the steaming volcano. Climbing up, the road was lined with pine and cedar trees. The trees broke away to open pastures lined with wooden fences. Looking back, you could see a sweeping view of the caldera and across the valley to where the lookout was.  Several steaming volcanoes could be seen at once. Lunchtime was in the shadow of Mt. Aso.

    After lunch, we continued down the other side of the volcano. The road was incredibly twisty and at times you could see the road staircase below. The rest of the afternoon the riding went on like this: up over a pass, down the other side, across the farmland, up over another pass....it just would not stop!

   We finally pulled into our hotel at around 5:45PM that afternoon. So much for a short day! Though we only logged 165 kilometers, it was full of great turns, superb vistas, open roads and riding friends.

  That night, we sat at dinner and one of the Japanese riders admitted that at the age of 75, he had never ridden with foreigners before. He said that it was a great experience! Arch spoke for the rest of us by saying that it was a great honor to ride with some local Japanese riders and that even though we can't speak the same language, we can communicate by riding together. A round of applause filled the room. For everyone, this was a most memorable day.