Author Topic: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan  (Read 2208 times)

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2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« on: February 28, 2021, 01:41:04 PM »
John G asked me to do this at the RTE in Mannum so here's a thread on riding in Japan in 2016, the trip that stopped me getting to a couple of RTE's when I registered.

Day One Ride Report

My ride for this trip was a Yamaha Super Tenere 1200.  This photo was taken at Anekkonohama on the coast in a city called Itoshima.



Torrential rain was the order of the day so once it hit photo opportunities were few and far between.  Unlike here where rain stops and starts in Japan when rains sets in you've got it for the whole day.  As usual I came prepared, but my hiviz in Japan is yellow, not orange.



The front camera captured absolutely nothing but I could get a bit of footage from the gopro on the back of the bike.  This was in Emukai, a town that no longer exists in it's own right as a result of the municipal mergers that were all the rage in the Heisei Era.  Much of the map of Japan nowadays is very different from the one I knew.



My pitstop for the day was at Sasebo, where it was time for a warm shower and a walk in town.  Malls like this with roofing over the top is common in many a Japanese city, and sometimes they are kilometres long.



It was only afternoon but it did look rather dark outside.



As I said photo opportunities were rare on this day, although I had fine weather for the rest of the trip.  I'll look for more photos next weekend.



« Last Edit: March 20, 2021, 07:41:27 AM by Bodø »
 
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2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan, day one part two
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2021, 04:30:58 AM »
Since I had started this I went and dug up all my Japan photos and found some more from day one:

The day started with me catching two buses and a train to pick up the bike in Fukuoka.  Carrying all this on public transport was fun.  On the last day I got smart and dumped all of it at home before returning the bike.





Bus stops in Japan tend to look like this.  I'd done my homework on what buses I had to catch but I still looked at this on the day to make sure.



I quite like this helmet although I'd prefer a full faced helmet.  I brought it here but can't actually use it due to not having the recognised accreditation on it.  This gopro was taken at the same spot as the picture of the bike in the first post.



After that the weather turned to crap and I didn't stop anywhere for photos on the day.  I had planned to ride around Hirado Island but given I wasn't going to see anything aborted that.  I did ride on the bridge across because I knew there were public toilets there (hiviz photo above) and then rode back to the Kyūshū mainland.  I hadn't had lunch so was famished by the time I got to Sasebo, Nagasaki.  I made up for it with a big dinner.



Remember Esso?  Japan still has them.



This boot developed a hole about three months prior to going over so I figured I'd take them over and dispose of them after the trip.  Plastic bags went around my feet to keep my socks dry.  I did this in Tasmania too.

« Last Edit: July 10, 2021, 08:49:10 PM by Bodø »
 
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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2021, 09:20:58 AM »
I was going to write my day two report yesterday but it turned out to be a hectic day and I forgot all about it, so here it is now.

Day Two - Nagasaki to Kumamoto Ride Report

Overnight the rain had died off and I'd barely see a drop for the rest of the trip.  First task was to load the bike.  With no panniers it was the first time for me to use the throw over saddle bags since before buying the kwaka in 2015.



In the 1400's Japan was closed off to the outside world with the exception of one country - The Netherlands, who were only allowed to trade via Nagasaki.  This area used to be called Holland Village but renamed Huis Ten Bosch quite recently.  There's a building in Nuriootpa which reminds me of this one on the outskirts of Sasebo.



Can coffee has been a big thing in Japan since I can remember, although the makers have changed names since the era I lived there and the cans are now smaller.  It's not just Cadbury doing this.  The circumference was just right to fit in the fuel lid.  That was taken at a Seven Eleven in Atago on the other side of Nagasaki which I purchased as I used their bathroom.



I'd just ridden some random road out to get there and continued along it until I hit the port at Mogi.  These concrete things in the wall of the mountain at the back is tombstones from a cemetry.



I stopped to have a chat with a bus driver in Kasugamachi and from that location could see the Kakido area of Nagasaki on the other side of the water.  The island to the far right of screen (you can only see trees) is of Maki Island.



These things eat waves.  As Japan is prone to earthquakes and the tsunamis they cause these things are dotted along the coast of Japan, usually fifty to a hundred metres out to sea.  Someone here mentioned that tsunami has a silent T, but if you pronounce it correctly it doesn't.



A random stop in the old town of Obama.  The twenty one towns and villages in the Shimabara peninsula merged to form three cities, this one becomming Unzen, name of the famous volcano in the area.



I'm not sure what this sculpture in Kazusa is, but it was a nice spot to pull up, stretch the legs and have a look out into the ocean.



Dolphin watching is common in this area.  I didn't actually take a tour, but came into port to see where I'd be catching a ferry from Kuchinotsu to Amakusa in two days time.  Like addresses, dates in Japan are written starting with bigger units to smaller units (ie. YYMMDD).  Heisei 28 refers to the 28th year emperor Heisei was the emperor and can also be abbreviated to H28.  The previous era was Shōwa and is written as S followed by the year.  As I was born in this era and South Australia now uses number plates which begin with S and followed by a number my number plate here starts with S and has the number that corresponds to the year I was born.



I'd dart across to the other side of the peninsula before catching a ferry from Taira (Nagasaki) to Nagasu (Kumamoto).



None of the ferries I used on this trip used tie downs, just chocks to secure the vehicle.  The two people behind me would come and ask me about gopros after seeing I had them on both the front and the back, then went back and sussed out where they'd put it on their bikes if they bought one.



Approaching Nagasu on the other side of the Ariake Sea and almost home for the night.





« Last Edit: March 07, 2021, 04:28:02 PM by Bodø »
 
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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2021, 05:45:00 AM »
Day Three - To The Fukuoka Border And Back Ride Report

It was my daughter's birthday so I hadn't planned to ride for the day but was told to nick off for the morning and be back for lunch so I thought twist my arm and set out for the Kumamoto-Fukuoka border on national highway 3 (reason to follow).  First stop was at the michinoeki in Kahoku.



So what is a michinoeki?  I'm glad you asked.  It literally means "road station" and according to a bloke in the pub (aka Wikipedia) "a Roadside Station (道の駅, Michi no eki) is a government-designated rest area found along roads and highways in Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_station

I was a bit early so there wasn't much activity when I arrived although I did manage to buy some omiyage to take home as is Japanese tradition.



A kilometre or two up the road I arrived at the border.



So what so special about this border?  In 1991 I pushed a wheelbarrow the length of Japan and one of the few photos I have of that trip was at said border.



In those days the towns on either side were Tachibana (Fukuoka) and Kahoku (Kumamoto) but have both been absorbed into Yame and Yamaga respectively as part of the municipal mergers known as the Heiseidaigappei (the great Heisei mergers).

With said photo taken it was time to find an alternate road home.  I spotted this quarry from the top of a forest road.



Agriculture plots of land also look pretty cool from a distance.



Back down in Nagomi I snapped this bus stops.  There are some way cooler bus stops in Japan but this one was pretty snazzy for one that only gets services by a school bus.  Timetable information also said it gets on community service on wednesdays.



Same spot as the bus stop, I played this photo in the "where is this? game thread".  For memory JD got it after some clues.



Back near home it was time to refuel the bike for the next day.  Self serve service stations ar relatively new to Japan but they all have these static electricity discharge buttons you touch before grabbing a pump.



Self serve petrol pumps in Japan aren't plug and play like they are here.  You have to advise the machine what fuel you want, how you want to pay, put your cash up front, tell it if you intend to fill the tank of just want x amount of litres and so on before you get going.  Also machines will dispense you change, but it mightn't be at the pump you just used.  Fun and games !  Anyway, here's me refuelling in Arao.

https://youtu.be/-vxA130vIwA

Some screenshots of me being interviewed on television during that trip of 1991.  Oh to be 23 again.


« Last Edit: March 08, 2021, 06:25:47 AM by Bodø »
 
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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2021, 06:05:58 PM »
Day Four - Kumamoto To Kagoshima (part one)

Like always I left home in the dark because my theory is that you don't waste good daylight on streets you know.  First stop was at the local konbini (convenience store) to pick up some bentō to eat on the ferry from Nagasu (Kumamoto) to Shimabara (Nagasaki).  I miss Japanese convenience stores.  Come to think of it, this convenience store is in Fukuoka so I crossed into that and back to Kumamoto without thinking too much into it.  The border here is very much like that at Tweed Heads and Coolangatta.



Once at the ferry I paid my fare and was ushered to the front of these lorries.  Those lorries would have arrived the previous night and the drivers slept in the cab behind the driver's seat.  Ferry fares for motorcycles aren't a flat rate.  You pay depending on how much cc your bike is.





We were half way across the Ariake Sea when the sun eventually poked it's head out.  No tie downs on this ferry either.





Japan has plenty of thermal streams so natural hot water is quite common.  Public bath houses (sentō) and hot springs (onsen) are common, but so are these footspas (ashiyu) beside the side of the road.  Heaven knows how many hours I have wasted chewing the fat with friends whilst having my feet dangling in one of these.



I arrived at Kuchinotsu Port for my second ferry with an hour to spare so went for a walk around the town.





This was the second of three ferries I would take for the day.  From here n Kuchinotsu I would cross to the island of Amakusa.



Chocks again.



This white norpos was on the same ferry.  He's be on the third ferry as well and I had a yarn with him on that one.  Only a day trip for him.



Dinner's ready so I'll finish this off here.  To be continued...
 
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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2021, 05:32:54 AM »
Day Four - Kumamoto To Kagoshima (part two)

By this time I had already taken two ferries, one from Nagasu, Kumamoto to Shimabara, Nagasaki and another from Nagasaki to the island of Amakusa back in Kumamoto.  Like those on the Shimabara Peninsula all the towns and villages on this island merged to make one city of Amakusa with the exception of the town of Reihoku who voted to stand alone and keep its identity.  I'd just crossed this bridge to and from the island of Tsūji.  That island had a road all the way around the coast and I completed it in under twelve minutes.  I know that because the whole lot fit in on gopro file (and that inclused stopping for photos)



Here you'll see some concrete blocks thrown on the coast to crush incoming waves.  I think this side of the Japan is less susceptible to tsunamis than the east coast.



This one is only a baby but road trips in Japan mean going through tunnels.  I counted a 168 on this week's road trip.  This one was only a few metres long but the longest one I encountered on this trip was over four kilometres long.  Those were fun on the wheelbarrow trip because they took over an hour to walk through.



This is so Japan.  On a country road in the middle of nowhere you'll come around a bend and there will be vending machines.  Half the time you wonder where the electricity running them is coming from.  Did I purchase?  I think I did.



As I rocked up at the port for my third ferry they had already roped it off and was about to u-turn to go back into town for lunch when he waved me in and opened it up for me.  I was surprised because in Japan time is time and if you missed it you missed it.  He said there's no time to pay for a ticket so pay at the other end.  Chris De Burgh would be pleased I didn't pay the ferry man until he got me to the other side.  I didn't even fix a price.  This is the port in Nagashima, Kagoshima on the other side.



This is the "welcome to Nagashima" sign at said port.  I played it in the "find a town, make a word" thread and I think someone objected because it wasn't in English.  :-(((



I was on the island of Nagashima for about an hour I think.  I love these rice fields that are in a step formation.  I'd get a better photo of one the following day.



At the other end of the island I would cross this Kuronoseto bridge back to the mainland of Kyūshū.





I don't actually recall where I took this but the time properties suggest I was in Akune at the time.  I think it's the world's smallest whale.  I could be wrong.



Known as Ningyōiwa (doll rock) this formation does look like people when seen from this angle.  It's on the outskirts of Satsumasendai, by abode for the night.



After checking in to my hotel I went for a walk around town.  This is outside Sendai station.  This is not the Sendai that got hit my the tsunami just over a decade ago.  This was a small provincial city with the same English spelling but different kanji which merged with sorrounding towns and villages to become Satsumasendai.  Satsuma is the old name for Kagoshima.  The area has exploded with activity since the opening of the Kyūshū Shinkansen (bullet train) that runs from Fukuoka to Kagoshima about a decade ago and stops at Sendai station, which hasn't been renamed.



This is a commercial for the inaugural run of that shinkansen from Chūōkagoshima station, Kagoshima to Hakata station, Fukuoka.  The song is by Swedish performer Maia Hirosawa.  I boarded said shinkanse a few times later that year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eM53nOZAtk

It brought a tear to my eyes watching that just now because it coincided with the Fukushima nuclear power plant explosion, both of which just passed it's tenth anniversary.  I'm not sure why because it never had done in the past.  There was a movie on said explosion on Japanese tv on saturday night.  I've recorded it but haven't got around to watching it yet.

I love reading parking infringement signs businesses put up in Japan.  It's not regulated so places make up their own rules on how they deal with people who 'unlawfully' park on their premises.  This one says your vehicle will be taken to the wreckers at your expense.  When my sister lived in Kōbe she would often come home to find some prick parked in her spot.



Bar major highways and connecting roads streets in Japan don't usually have street names, so to find one of local roads in Satsumasendai both having one was rare.  They may have done it to make it easier for foreign tourists.  I remember an era when no Japanese road signs had English on them.  Nowadays they all do.  To be honest I hate it.



I saw a lot of electric vehicle charging stations on this trip.  At the time they were extremely rare in Adelaide so it was a bit of a novelty for me.



I'd used google maps to plan each day of the trip before leaving Adelaide, but this is the only day where the whole day I stuck to the planned course.  Every other day was affected by weather, me making wrong turns or simply changing my mind.

« Last Edit: March 15, 2021, 07:51:23 AM by Bodø »
 
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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2021, 04:19:06 AM »
Day Five - Kagoshima To Miyazaki

The English translation is someone brief compared to the Japanese above it.  Ironically I didn't sleep all that well.



Eventually I got up at 01:30 and went for a walk to the lobby.  The reception was closed off.  This was actually what greeted me when I arrived at 14:30 the previous day.  A lot of business hotels in Japan do this.  Reception opens at 15:00 until about midnight.  You can't check in outside those hours.



Then I went to the public bath on the ground floor.  No one was around so I went back and got my camera.  Women got to use it it from 16:00-20:00 and men from 20:00 until morning.  The curtin on the entrance denotes this as well.  When it's red it's women's time, blue is men's time.



A lot of places in Japan will deny you entry if you have tattoos.  Traditionally tattoos were associated with Yakuza and crime syndicates.



The actual bath.  I actually miss having a bath where the water stays hot.  Typically public bath house baths are kept at 42°C.  Sit in them long enough and you hop out like the Polish flag.  Red on the bottom, white on top.



Five photos down and I haven't even left the hotel.  I was well and truly bored so I departed in the dark.  The national emblems don't play hopscotch on the road here so it was quite safe - provided you stay away from the drains.  I've got a photo of said drains from the last day.  I refuelled once in every prefecture except Saga.  Actually I overnighted in every prefecture except Saga.  Anyway, I refuelled at this mobil in Minamisatsuma.  The irony of me being that prick parked in a bus stop.



It's been ten years now since the Fukushima nuclear power plant explosion.  My previous return to Japan was in 2012 a year after that.  Between 2012 and 2016 I noticed that solar farms and wind farms have popped up all over the place.  These were in Makurazaki.  Japan has an abundance of thermal springs that could generate electricity but I think they went nuclear because they are a "high tech" country and hot water simply wasn't high tech enough for them.





This helicopter was in Makurazaki too.  I have no idea why it has a hole in the window.



Kaimondake is often referred to the Mount Fuji of Kyūshū.  Shape wise I can see it, but there actually is a Mount Fuji in Nagasaki.  Actually there are a few Mount Fujis dotted around the country.  I played a photo of this one in the where is this thread.



I arrived at the fifth and final ferry for this trip with about an hour and forty minutes to kill before departure.  This would be my downfall as having so much time I had a look at everything in the area which included a map showing a forest road as an alternative to the highway I planned to take later in the day, so I opted to do that.  That decision would make this the longest day I had on road on this trip.



This bus stop had me scratching my head.  The times and route description for the top was for monday, wednesday and friday.  The times and route description below were for tuesday, thursday and saturday.  The times and route description for both were identical so I couldn't see why they were listed separately.  Upon my return I wrote an email to the Ibusuki City Council to ask why.  Apparently it's a loop service that goes in alternate directions every other day and they separated it so people didn't get confused.  If you ask me having identical times and identical route description is more confusing.  I think they imported their logic from Adelaide metro.





Another norpos I had a chat with the owner of.  They were riding two up from Tōkyō for a week.



Finally my ship came in.





On the other side of Kagoshima bay I was heading for Kyūshū's most southern point, Cape Sata.  I stopped at this co-op to buy lunch and sat in the car park and ate it.  Here a tunnel was under construction.  I'd passed the other side of it moments earlier.  Length wise it was about that of the Heysen tunnels in Adelaide and is probably complete now.



One more look at Kaimondake, this time from the other side of the bay.



I didn't expect to see this.  Two kilometre's short of the Cape Sata memorial the road was closed for construction.  There was a shuttle bus to take people there but the security guard couldn't tell me when it would arrive, the line for it was long and it was quite hot so I said sod it and left.  I had a similar experience for Mount Observation in Wilsons Promontory on my Tassie trip 0f 2019.



I'd already ridden under this once but now I was heading north again.



From here I'd take the forest road I noticed existed when waiting for the ferry.  It started off good when I had scenes like this.  I like these step ladder rice fields you see dotted all over the country.



The road turn this cabernet after this.  Sadly there were no road closure signs at this end and I only got through because I was on two wheels after finding rocks and trees littered all over the road due to inclement weather they had a couple of days earlier.  I can't actually find those photos but here's some I posted in instagram.  I've got better ones somewhere.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC2sINkpBYR/

A brief respite from the debris I came to this fork in the road.  Someone had kindly written place names to advise which one went where but as I didn't know where either of these places were it didn't help.  I opened google maps to find there was no mobile reception here.  I didn't think any part of Japan would have no mobile coverage except maybe for Okinotorishima so now it was a 50/50 gamble.  The road to the right could lead to the coast and be a dead end, the road to the left could go into the mountains and be a dead end, but I knew the national highway I had intially planned to take was on my left so that's the option I took.



Fortunately it turned out to be the correct one.  I lost four hours on that road, found a no through road sign on the other end and gopro footage confirmed there wasn't one at the end I went in.  Nevertheless I was glad to see a national highway but no longer in the mood for photos.  I took this one at the Miyazaki border.  It was dark by the time arrived at my accommodation.

 
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Offline Jdbiker

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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2021, 07:40:15 AM »
Great read, the Japanese to English translation is funny. Thanks for sharing Bodo San :Like:
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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2021, 09:09:38 AM »
Thanks Bodø.

I'm glad you explained the Sendai photo, because the Sendai we visited in 2019 (Miyagi Prefecture) looked quite different.

* edit - ( I don't know why these photos are at odd orientations. They display correctly in my phone gallery)
** Edit - (I have added links to DropBox copies in the correct orientation. Click on the photos to see them in the correct orientation)

Outside Sendai Station Miyagi. This is an elevated Walkway 1 floor above street height.


Another photo of the elevated Paths which extend for blocks.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j9zidwngmmq3m0q/elevated%20Pedestrain%20walkways.jpg?dl=0

This is one of the very long Malls, this one in Sendai we stumbled upon when looking for lunch. 


Sake with lunch at a traditional restaurant in that Mall. They brimmed the glass and left the bottle. It was nice too.


This was also in the same mall. We didn't bother.


I went out that night to join in on the Hanami. (Flower viewing)


The foundations of the remains of the Sendai Castle


We primarily went to Sendai to go to Yamadera.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8reuu7z3nexm68o/Yamadera.jpg?dl=0

This bridge was at the bottom of the Temple hill in Yamadera. (I'd love to know what the writing says)
 

This mail box was just 160 steps from the top of one of the Yamadera temples (It's 1,000 steps to the Temple). No roads, no lifts, someone walks up 840 steps every day to empty this mail box.


1,000 Steps sign
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ejaavpce1qf5x6w/1000%20steps.JPG?dl=0] [url]https://www.dropbox.com/s/ejaavpce1qf5x6w/1000%20steps.JPG?dl=0[/url]

The view from near the top of Yamadera.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ioedrbdc7ljsbnc/View%20From%20near%20the%20top%20of%20Yamadera.jpg?dl=0
« Last Edit: March 16, 2021, 11:02:08 AM by Gadget »
Cheers,
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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2021, 11:12:33 AM »
The hole in the chopper window, could have been a bird strike..
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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2021, 12:10:13 PM »
The hole in the chopper window, could have been a bird strike..

Especially considering vandalism is very rare in Japan.
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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2021, 06:39:52 PM »
Thanks Bodø.

I'm glad you explained the Sendai photo, because the Sendai we visited in 2019 (Miyagi Prefecture) looked quite different.

This is one of the very long Malls, this one in Sendai we stumbled upon when looking for lunch.

I thought I had better explain Sendai because a decade ago it was in the news, plus I knew there was a good chance you and West Aussie Glen have been to the one in Miyagi Prefecture.

I love those malls, which I also mention in my Sasebo post on day one's ride report.  Many a city have them and they do go on for kilometres.  Great when it's like the weather I had in Sasebo.  Some cities they are underground.  You can walk miles in Tōkyō before having to come up to ground level.
 

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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #12 on: March 18, 2021, 05:29:53 AM »
Day Six - Miyazaki To Ōita

I found a couple more photos from day five.  This one is from something from Kagoshima.  The sign behind the bike says "idling stop" which is a campaign that started in Japan a couple of decades ago encouraging people to turn off their engines when stationary, not just in park areas like this one but even when stopped at traffic lights.  Buses would do t in the middle of summer which in turns shuts down the aircon and it used to annoy me.  For what it's worth, the bike was deliberately left running for this photo.



No roos or emus to contend with in Japan but in the southern tip of Kyūshū monkeys were on the road everywhere.  The sign also say do not feed them.  They can become quite violent if they know you have food.



Day six saw me leave my accommodation in Nichinan, Miyazaki and head for Ōita prefecture's capital city Ōita.  Actually all the prefectures in Kyūshū the capital city is the same name of the prefecture.  The previous day in Nichinan I had planned to check out the Moai statues, a replica of the ones in Easter Island but arriving late meant that I didn't do it.  I had to get a picture of the Miyazaki City (for reasons).



Now I was in familiar territory.  This island called Aoshima in Miyazaki is a popular spot for coming to see the Hatsuhinode (first sunrise of the new year) and I always came here for that when I lived in Hitoyoshi.  Seeing the Hatsuhinode is a new year's day tradition.  I didn't think it was possible from Adelaide but you can see the sun rise from the water at Victor Harbor.



Riding through Miyazaki during morning peak hour was fun.  Fortunately though motorcycles can use bus lanes in Japan.  Better that the cyclists who ride in the bus lanes on Pulteney Street.  Grrrr.  In Shintomi on the other side of Miyazaki this electric car recharge station was outside a Seven Eleven.  Seven Elevens may not be petrol stations in Japan but you can recharge an electric vehicle.



I stopped at this Michinoeki to have breakfast and went to take a phot of the tunnel when this lorry driver pullie in to urinate on the side of the road.  I'm not sure why, because there was a michinoeki here and of course it had public toilets.



Ichitana railway station is one of my old stomping grounds.  It's an unmanned station that only sees three trains in one direction and four in the other on weekdays, possibly fewer on the weekend.  I often slept in this station on my many walking and cycling trips through the area.  I had to get photos here for nostalgic purposes.





This takes me back to the eighties.  In those days the only thing you saw wearing hi viz reflective stripes were police and these would light up as you came flying down the hill at night.  They certainly made you slow down.



Farewell from Miyazaki Prefecture.



I never understood it but the Japanese love their bugs.  This is called a kabutomushi and was the entrance to a camping area.  I suppose if I got the bike in the picture I could have played it as a big thing.



This public bath is called Yayoinoyu, literally meaning the hot water of Yayoi.  Yayoi is the name of the town here, although nowadays it is incorporated into the city of Saiki.  There was a yayoinoyu near my house in Arao but it went out of business a couple of years ago.  It's a shame because I used it quite a lot.



This sign depicts that the tunnel around the bend is four kilometres long.  It took me close to an hour to walk through it years decades ago.



Without a doubt Ōita was the snazziest hotel I stayed in on this trip.  I was on the twelfth floor.



The kwaka yammy was safely parked up for the night outside a chemist shop.  The hotel told me to park it here.



I saw this riding in and decided this would be where I had lunch-cum-dinner.  Yoshinoya is an icon in Japan.  Like everywhere else I ordered a beer on this trip I was asked if I was driving.  It would appear to be a "duty of care" thing that has been established between my visits of 2012 and 2016.  I had breakfast here the following morning.  Being 24 hours it was open when I woke up.



Another one of those long malls that both myself and Gadget alluded to.



Parking is a issue any Japan.  To purchase a car you need to have a document saying you've got somewhere within 500m of you house to park it.  Many of the imported second hand vehicles here still have their parking sticker on them.  I'm intrigued as to how they'd get the top vehicle out here if there is one below it..

« Last Edit: March 18, 2021, 12:08:01 PM by Bodø »
 
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Offline Gadget

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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #13 on: March 18, 2021, 08:14:14 AM »
I saw one of those carpark in operation while were in I think Kyoto. There is an empty floor below, and both vehicle platforms are lowered so the top vehicle can drive off.

I have a photo of one of those long tunnels.

This was one of the many tunnels on our bus ride from Kanazawa to Takayama via Shirakawa-gō. About 2 kilometres in.
We were very fortunate to have 2 seats right at the front of the bus.
I didn't see much room for pedestrians.
Note: that light was not the end of the tunnel, it was a truck coming the other way



I presume this signage was for high cross winds and snow chains. They were one of the very few signs which didn't also have English.



We took the Expressway.

« Last Edit: March 18, 2021, 08:33:49 AM by Gadget »
Cheers,
Gary
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Offline Gadget

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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2021, 08:42:01 AM »
The roads around Shirakawa look like they would be good riding.

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Cheers,
Gary
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Then  :blu13 Now :Spyder
Life's too short to be miserable, so enjoy it! :)
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Bodø

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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #15 on: March 18, 2021, 10:56:22 AM »
I presume this signage was for high cross winds and snow chains. They were one of the very few signs which didn't also have English.

It does.  横風 is cross wind and 注意 means be careful (or warning).  The latter is in my monkey photo above.  I also have a crosswinds warning sign photo from this trip.

 

Bodø

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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #16 on: March 18, 2021, 10:57:36 AM »
The roads around Shirakawa look like they would be good riding.

I see a lot of Shirakawa touring photos on instagram and they do look like worth the ride.
 

Bodø

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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #17 on: March 18, 2021, 06:47:44 PM »
Oh yes about the snow chains as well.  I missed that part.
 

Bodø

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Re: 2016-10-08 My Ride Around Kyūshū, Japan
« Reply #18 on: March 19, 2021, 03:50:43 AM »
Day Seven - Ōita To Fukuoka (via Kumamoto and Saga)

My original plan for the day was ride from Ōita via Kitakyūshū back to Fukuoka but the previous night decided I could go home first and dump off most of my gear before returning the bike and have less to carry back on public transport.  Said route would also take me through the Aso region.  Lots of great riding roads out that way.

I know I have mentioned municipal mergers a few times already but one thing I noticed in Ōita prefecture is that they have left the old border signs in place and just covered the bit that said town or village.  Here Bungoōno is the name of a new city created by the merger of a few towns, one of them being Asaji, who's sign is still in the background with the 町 (town) blocked out.



They forgot to cover 町 here.



There's a row of red trees in Hahndorf right now that look just like this, just bigger.  Note also the drain along the edge of the road.  Unmarked drains like this are quite common in Japan.  I remember cycling down the middle of the road one night in Yamaguchi prefecture because there was a bigger drain than this and being dark the only thing I could see was the centre line.  To me this is more hairy than the ropes fencing that has been banged on about on this forum.



At the time my next planned trip to Japan was 2020.  I often use roadside attractions for my nengajō (new year's cards) and as 2021 is the year of the ox/cow I saw this and thought I know where there's one.



Alas covid struck, I didn't go to Japan and I ended up using this one from Durham Ox instead.



The Kujū plain has been the venue for many a family outing in years gone by.



Farewell from Ōita.



The Kumamoto side of the border is known as Mount Aso although there technically isn't a Mount Aso.  The area is made up of a few peaks, none of which are called Aso.



The red building in Minamioguni is called Sanai and we've had many a family lunch out there.



This would be the first time I have ever seen the carpark empty.



Both sides of the border are well known for their dairy products.  There's a place in Ōita called Guernsey Farm.  I didn't drop in this time as it was too early in the morning but it's well worth the visit.  This is a random spot in Ubuyama.



By now I was on the Milk Road.  Much of it was damaged by earthquake which hit Kumamoto months earlier and I encountered road closures further up also a result from that earthquake.



The last photo I took before dumping everything off at home.



Being before I discovered Spotwalla the nearest thing I had to tracking a course was facebook checkins.  Facebook doesn't do the map anymore.  It also only stored a finite set of places so as you added new ones old ones would drop off.



A couple of random photos outside that trip.  This was a few days later when I took my washing to a laundromat to use the dryer.  It says this powerpoint in ours and unlawful use will encounter up to 10 years prison or a $5000 fine (as per article 235 of some act).  So they have an act for this but not for parking.



I usually use Singapore Airlines going to and from Japan.  This was at Fukuoka airport on the way back to Oz.



I gave this Bowling For Soup album a thrashing on said flight(s)






Where's the reports guys?

I'll start on the Not The National Rally ride report this weekend.
 
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