2008 Japan Three Island Tour: March 31st:

     We woke up to a bright blue sky and great visibility! I strolled down to the hot springs at the hotel early before breakfast. It was typical in all of the places we stayed that there was not a shower or bath in our rooms, so in order to clean up; you needed to go to the public baths.  Hot springs in Japan are usually divided by sex.  (It used to be communal, but all that changed after WWII).  Many times hotels will switch the genders of the sides of the hot springs each day, so one must be able to discern the different kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese) before they make the commitment to enter.

  This particular hotel had a very good hot springs. There was no shortage of styles of baths, nor temperatures of water.  I saw bubbling hot baths, still baths, outdoor baths, back massage baths, foot massage baths, bucket massage stalls (you pull a string and a bucket of hot water, falls on you), cold water baths, and saunas. There was even a stall that had a steady stream of hot water flowing down that one only needed to step into to receive a great massage!

    I lay back in the outdoor tub and stared at the blue sky. The hot water was soothing and the air was cool and crisp.  Is it possible to be so relaxed so early in the day?  The thought of running through the gears, accelerating around a corner on a motorcycle in Japan suddenly hit me. Anticipation overwhelmed me. There was not a cloud in the sky and the sound of birdsong in the air...what a day to start the tour!!

    We rounded everyone up after breakfast, loaded into a few cars, and headed with high spirits to the motorcycle rental facility. You could tell that everyone was ready for this day! On the way there, Bob, who is usually very reserved, turned into a chatter bug. He was recounting previous motorcycle trips, and at one point, stopped himself to declare, "I am so excited!"

   When we pulled into the rental facility, all of our bikes were neatly lined up and ready to go. Everything was extremely organized. Before long, everyone was through the paperwork and ready to ride. A couple of writers for the local newspaper filtered through our group, taking interviews. It seems that our group of foreign riders presented quite an interest for the local readers.

   It is true: this was a unique activity to the Japanese. Three years ago, when I first started organizing this tour, I was told that it was unheard of in all of Japan for riders to rent bigger bikes (over 1000cc) of makes such as BMW and Triumph. We turned heads wherever we went. When we arrived at a ferry to cross from the island of Kyushu to Shikoku, the ferry staff told us that we were the first group of foreign motorcyclists they had ever seen! It seems that we were going to turn even more heads this time!

   To add to the procession, Mr. Aoyama, a good friend of our lead guide, Mr. Hirata, was at the rental facility, waiting for us. He would be riding with us for the day. And what a treat! His ride would be a 1958 BMW side car...in cherry condition! Mr. Hirata was part of a small riders club called the "BMW Flattwin Club". They were made up of around 45 members, scattered from Osaka to the southern part of Kyushu. All of them ride, of course, BMWs, and they get together periodically to ride different parts of Japan. I met them one year, when they came to Alaska to take a tour with me. Like most friendships with the Japanese, we have been riding together in different parts of the world ever since.

   Speaking of friendships with the Japanese, Van had a very touching story. 45 years ago, he had spent 6 weeks with a family in Japan on an exchange program. Since then, he had fallen out of contact. Before this tour, out of curiosity, he went to visit the family unannounced. The entire family was there, including the father and mother! When he arrived, he was treated like a long lost son! They called all of the family members, and took him out to dinner, as if time had never passed.

   When all the paperwork was finalized, pictures were taken and all the bikes had been taken out for a practice spin, we were finally ready to head out for our week of riding through Japan.

  Mr. Hirata led us directly into the mountains north, where we gained altitude and the temperature plummeted. The scenery was beautiful throughout the day. We passed many small, narrow valleys where you could see quaint little towns which seemed locked in time. The exotic rooflines of the houses coupled with lush bamboo and cherry blossoms evoked the classic Japanese scenes I had seen in art books or tapestries. 

    We climbed to the top of a pass, and you could see, looming before us, a tall volcano, covered with snow. The temperature was around 6 degrees Celsius (48 degrees) and it was a good time for the group to stop and have a hot bowl of ramen. From the parking lot of the lunch spot, you could see the snow line just above us in all directions.  Mr. Hirata approached me and said that he had a special route picked out that goes up above the snowline.

   We added a layer and followed Mr. Hirata on a road that took us next to the volcano. The road was extremely twisty, and lined on both sides with snow banks. For some reason the temperature seemed to go up. Perhaps it was the clean winding road that lifted the temperature in the blood? The traffic dropped off to a slow trickle as we snaked our way up, over and through the pine forested mountainside. At times, you needed to gear all the way down to negotiate the hair pin turns. I looked down one slope, through the pine trees and could see the group stretched out before me, at least two turns ahead. The scene was surreal, as the stark contrast between the dark pine trees, white snow, and sunshine filtering down presented a dream-like scene. It was one of those moments that I wish I could have gotten a picture. In retrospect, it was not that important. Some things are best left to be remembered.

   At the end of the mountain ride we stopped for a pee break and everyone was ecstatic. They had come all this way to ride Japan, and now they knew why! Arch exclaimed, "I could ride that road over and over again!"

   After that, we got on a toll road and passed through a fairly large city and punched out to the coast. We were now riding along the Sea of Japan! The road was fairly busy with truck traffic, but the scenery kept coming. There were periodic views of the ocean, with the sun gleaming off the waves and sharp rocks jutting out, far down the coast. We would suddenly turn inland and enjoy scenes of small, terraced farms, with old Japanese-style farmhouses. The pine and bamboo forests were thick and at times formed almost a tunnel around us. There were steep, narrow gorges, then tunnels, then bridges over clear rivers.  Every narrow valley seemed to have a small, timeless village nested at the bottom of it.

   After a couple of hours, we finally turned inland for the last time of the day. The road narrowed and we rode along a small clear stream framed by a steep canyon. The one lined road was paved and clean and at every corner there was a convex mirror in which to spy for on-coming traffic.  There were times where there were no buildings in site, and I wondered where in the world I was. Is Japan really filled with so much nature?

   We pulled into the small hot springs town which would be our destination for the night. These little hot springs resort towns are generally made up of many small hotels crammed together, sharing the same source of completely natural thermal water. The place that we would be staying was the oldest in the valley. It was perched high along the hillside, and the only access to it was a set of staircases that went along a steaming hot springs trough. Natural thermal springs were literally gushing out of the hill side! There was a sign near the entrance of our hotel that stated that this fountain of thermal water had been used by the locals since 651!  It is said that the water from this area had therapeutic qualities. Our hotel in particular, had been a destination for over 1,300 years!

    It was a traditional Japanese Ryokan (travel lodge). When we entered the small town, the hotel staff (I am still trying to figure out how they knew when we would arrive) were out in the street to greet us. They were all dressed up on traditional Yukatas. The staff had not changed for the past three years! We parked our bikes in their open-aired garage, and hiked up to the lodge. There, we were greeted by the owner who offered us hot and cold drinks. In the entry room there was Kotatsu, a broad table which sets about two feet above the tatame floor and is lined with a large comforter. The idea is to put the blanket over your body, and tuck your legs under the table. The blanket is connected to the table, and the table is heated! The group sat around the table, warming up with the blanket and the aid of hot sake.....what a great way to end the riding day!

   The lodge was so small that our group took up the entire place. It had its own private hot springs, so after the riders were shown their rooms, they drifted down to the baths. The rooms were made up in the traditional Japanese way: tatame floors, a small Kotatsu, a television, sliding door closets to hold the futons, and always some sort of artistic Japanese scene in the corner (like a bamboo table with a vase holding cherry blossom stems).  Everyone seemed very pleased with the rooms.

   The dinner that night was in a large room with one long low table in the center. Each place setting offered a variety of dishes ranging from pork and vegetables to sashimi to tofu. Each setting had two separate small pots which were cradled over a steno burner. When the group was ready to eat, the staff went around the table, lighting the sternos....so your meal was cooking right in front of you! There were a variety of sauces for each dish, so we needed a bit of direction as to what sauce belonged to what dish. Once we sorted that out, the meal was on! After the meal, the riders drifted one by one back to their rooms to enjoy a good nights' sleep. What a day!