Hi all,
This was the last weekend in Japan for me and if you have the time to read my boring monologue (written for me so I wont forget!) heres what I did...some bike parts and some tourist stuff....and video of a section of the Izu Skyline drive -no bike trip is complete without a road movie!! Photos as well....enjoy. For those who have no time to read and just watch the movie go here -
Saturday 23rd September 2006
The forecast for the weekend was rain Saturday morning and Sunday as well but they couldnt have been more wrong. Saturday was cloudy and sunny all day and Sunday was blue skies and 26oC. Perfect weather for riding! I met Yuri at 9am (which meant a 5.30am wake up for me!) at Tokyo station and with me riding pillion on the back of the Kawasaki ZRX1200, we set off through the streets of Tokyo heading for Hakone, the mountain region next to Tokyo and close to Mt. Fuji. However so was the rest of Tokyo and we spent the next hour riding on the toll road out of Tokyo with all 3 lanes full of more or less stationary traffic. This was no deterrent to Yuri however, who split lanes the whole way, keeping a constant 80km/hr, often narrowly missing the mirrors or sides of trucks (and this meant sparing my knees!) and after an hour of this I was glad of the break at the service station to stretch my legs – the ZRX1200 has a comfort zone of about 1hr and then cramp sets in! There were a lot of bikes out and a good few were parked at the bike only parking area (every service station had these –covered areas that are designed for bikes – very biker friendly. Good selection of bikes from modern Japanese bikes, to Harleys (home-made choppers and cruisers) to mopeds, to retro style bikes. At one point a brand new CBR1000 pulled in driven by this young looking small (about 5 ft tall meaning she had to stretch to reach the bars and her feet barely touched the ground!) hot Japanese biker chic, looking way too fashionable with her new Arai helmet (which she took everywhere with her -everyone else left it on their bikes -we would leave our jackets on the bike, and go away for hours and it would still be there when we got back –try that in Glasgow, Scotland!). She had parked next to Yuri and the contrast was interesting – new hot fashionista biker chic on flashy blue immaculately clean CBR10000 and torn-jeans Yuri, very experienced, older, hot biker chic riding a luggage-laden ZRX1200.
After a 30 min break we made good time (on account of Yuri cutting up traffic at every opportunity – her riding style is to sit about 3-4ft from the car in front until either it moves or she sees a chance to go round it) on the toll road to the Hakone region and the road to Lake Ashi was all twisty downhill riding which was great and we had some good views of Mt Fuji. This was a good reminder we were really in Japan! We headed first for the Hakone Shrine on the banks of Lake Ashi which is where the samurai used to stop and pray on their way from/to Edo (present day Tokyo). After a lunch of soba noodles at a roadside cafe place (empty except for us; the owner was very helpful in giving us directions to the old Tokaido road – after Yuri asked her, not believing me!), we went onto the Hakone gate just down the road. This was the gateway to Edo from about 1590 – 1868 and you were required to check your arms, and register before going onto Edo. If anyone tried to avoid the gate they were crucified and women had their heads shaved and given to anyone who wanted them! So I thought we should pay it a visit. It was interesting enough and gave a sense of early Japanese bureaucracy. After this it was a short stroll along the old Tokaido road. After this it was onward to the Izu peninsula where we were going to be staying at a guest house run by a Japanese couple who had spent 6 years in Africa –so the guest house was done with an African theme and I thought it worked very well –details can be found here – English translation available (
http://www.minamikaikisen.com/guestroom.html). We got onto the Izu Skyline Drive and there were a lot of bikes out on such a great day. Good views of the pacific ocean dotted with islands off the peninsula and all I had to do was sit back (or rather hold on) as Yuri put the bike through some tight corners at some tight angles! See my one handed video here –
not easy as trying to lean into corners and not fall off!
We finally came off the skyline drive and rode down the peninsula to the town we were staying at and after touring a hilly neighborhood, found the African/Japanese guest house we were staying at. For once we had arrived before dark (it was 5.10pm and evening sunshine was very nice –we could see the sea from the hotel! We immediately booked the next onsen slot – there were two onsen (hot spring baths that are continuously filled with hot water) and both had an outdoor onsen – a deep wooden sided bath that you could sit in up to your neck! Very hot and very relaxing. After boiling myself for 40 mins it was time to cool off and then go for dinner. There were 6 rooms in the guest house and each one was full and everyone came to dinner, some in the yukuta (long Japanese robe you wear to/from onsen). Dinner was multiple courses, each dish small but very tasty and one after another it was like a delicious surprise each time. There was also some live jazz – pianist and sax player – playing the Beatles (“Yesterday” ) and Harry Conick Jr type tunes. Very mellow! After this it was another dip in the which by now was cooler as the air temp had dropped and the wind was howling. I could now see why the Japanese love relaxing in onsen so much! Wonderful!
Sunday 24th September 2006
Another early start this time 6.15am and after a hearty breakfast we took a walk down to the sea to watch the waves crashing against the rocky high cliff shoreline. Very dramatic and we were not alone -seemed this was the place for a Sunday stroll and it was really very busy. The rocky outcrops that you could stand on to watch the waves crashing, had in some places a loose rope to stop you falling over and in other places none at all. I’ve noticed that the Japanese are not particularly safety conscious when it comes to things like this, relying it seems on common sense.
After the walk we checked and hit the coast road to Atami, with long stretches of coastline where the waves would crash against the sea wall and it made for a dramatic drive as we could feel the spray on our faces. We headed for the Museum of Art (MOA) in Atami as this had been recommended in my Lonely Planet guidebook which though expensive (1600 Yen) was built into a hill side and apparently had some cool escalators that went from floor to floor –I was keen to see! Once at Atami the road to MOA was uphill, twisty with tight turns and signs saying 300m this way, the 700m that way and never really getting there until we eventually got to the top of the hill and the entrance car park, staffed by some especially efficient parking lot attendants who would screen each car as it approached as though it was a car bomb approaching a checkpoint! When ever the parking attendants changed shift they would goose-step march towards each other, stop 15 feet apart, salute each other (each wearing his parking attendant uniform, cap and dark sunglasses) and report any incidents that had occurred on their shift. Similarly when the guard on the entrance door made eye contact with the parking lot attendant they would stand to attention and salute each other. The parking lot attendant even told Yuri not to take a short-cut across the parking lot to get to the entrance instead instructed her to take the long path around. The interesting thing was there were only 4 parking spaces for VIP customers whereas the main lot was down the hill and the attendants directed everyone that way! Later on I would see another museum guard by the water Lilly pond that was modeled on Claude Monet’s painting Water Lillies (which was inside the gallery) keeping watch to make sure no one strayed from the stone path around the pond! It was lucky they didn’t carry guns!
The museum itself was built into the hillside and the escalators were indeed very cool with overhead lights that were cool space-age green that would change colour as you ascended to cool purple or space blue – very relaxing! Museum had some interesting exhibits (like a replica of the solid-gold tearoom built by the Shogun Hideyoshi in1568 to serve tea to the Emperor!) but I wasn’t really interested in the main exhibit – 300 years of makeup products! However plenty of the women were!
After the museum it was Tokyo-bound with a night of Karaoke waiting for us, and since it was now 3pm-ish on Sunday that meant lots of traffic on the 2-lane road. Of course this was no deterrent to us and Yuri ploughed in regardless up the inside of the never-ending line of traffic until we hit short stretches of toll road relief, before hitting more traffic... the constant accelerate and brake as we cut through the lines were hard on my legs and arms (the ZRX is not a tall person comfy passenger bike! Yuri is 5`2 and Im 6`4 so while she was barely touching the ground at rest I was compressed into the back seat legs and knees everywhere) and even my feet were getting numb as the passenger pegs dug into my soft-soled shoes! No comfort! But hey Im not complaining – worth every moment.
After what seemed like an eternity we eventually pulled up outside the apartment block of Yuri’s colleague, Yukiko and her family (husband and 8 year old son). The husband was a free-lance journalist, interviewing the showbiz stars and the son was a keen football player with favourite team Arsenal and favourite player – Thierry Henry! Yukiko had prepared some squid and Japanese radish especially for me to try and as everyone watched I had some – lucky it was very good and everyone was happy (especially me!) meanwhile we had a conversation where I had to speak Japanese and they English (the family) with neither of very good. Eventually we decided to shut up and go sing Karaoke. This was to be my first time! Everyone was excited (the husband Ken had been in a punk band in his youth for 5 years! and Yuri was lead guitar in a band for 4 years and plays classical piano!!) I was tone-deaf and dreading it – I cant sing at all!! The karaoke place was a collection of about 30 -40 rooms and we got a room with tv screen, and 2 phone book-size book of songs – one Japanese songs and the other Western songs. The 8 year old son was first and was very good and then it was me...I was really bad and they were very polite and clapped enthusiastically at the end but the score meter on the TV registered a 75/100 whereas everyone else was high 80s at least! However after 3 hours (yes time flies when you are belting out the hits and the beer didn’t hurt either) my score had improved to a high of 80! (the top score was 94 for the others). Good time was had by all and I can see why its so addictive! The family go every month!
So at 10pm we hit the road once again and rode through the streets of Tokyo (now lit up which was pretty cool) and after an hour got to Yuri’s place. End of another great biking weekend in Japan and the last one for this trip.
cheers
Andy (soon to leave Nagoya)
