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presents:
an article by Kevin O'Shaughnessy
Alaska Rider Tour's
Japan
Three Island Tour
TOURNING JAPANESE
As I entered yet another tunnel, one of sixty-
seven that I
would pass through before lunch, the thought occurred to me again, “You
can only go to Japan for the first time once” and doing it on a motorcycle
surely has to be one of the best ways to do it. Emerging from the tunnel
a chill ran up my spine and danced around in my helmet for a few seconds
as I caught a brief glimpse of steep canyon walls filled with green and
pink. We had been lucky to catch the cherry blossoms in full bloom, I
had no idea how beautiful and plentiful they would be. They grow wild
and are scattered through the country and when the sun peaks through the
clouds they light up the hillsides. There was a home or temple perched
precariously between the massive green walls, a serene setting out of
a painting. No place to pull over, “Now would be a good time for
a helmet mounted camera” I thought as I howled into another tunnel
on Shikoku Island.
The eight day tour covered 1000 miles between three islands
in Japan, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu all of which had their own flavor
and highlights.
I knew Phil from Alaska and he kept sending me e-mails
about his Japan tour. A trust was formed with him from previous rides
and he had always delivered more than what was promised. But Japan? That
is a long way, a lot of people and a lot of money, how good could it be?
My trust boundaries were being pushed and that was not the only one that
would eventually be tested. For example, I consider myself an adventurous
eater, a foodie in fact, but authentic Japanese cuisine would likely make
Indiana Jones think twice.
The idea just wouldn’t go away so I
scraped together
funds, pulled strings and made promises to make this one happen and let
me say that it was one of the best rides I have ever been on. There are
a lot of things that make for a good ride; roads, scenery, good weather
and good company, but there are a few things that make a ride great like;
intense cultural experiences, extravagant cuisine, and completely new
and majestic geography. Japan had all of these things to offer.
So, after one plane ride, three trains, a
bus and a cab I
arrived at the meeting point. I could have flown into Okayama but I preferred
a direct flight, besides, I had to try out that bullet train, man they
sure do whip that donkey, we hit just over 180mph! One of my concerns
was who I was going to be riding with, I tend to be a bit of a loner when
I ride and hoped the crowd wouldn’t bug me. I quickly discovered
that these were my kind of people. Although we were a diverse bunch, we
all had the love of motorcycles and travel in common and we all had the
huevos to do something about it. From time to time the crowd was difficult
to round up, “It’s like herding cats” Phil would say, but
it wasn’t bad, besides, we were on vacation and there was something
new at every stop, even the birds seemed to chirp in Japanese.
Due to logistics and selection limitations,
AK rider can
not promise specific bike models and what is available can not be reserved
until a month before the trip. This distilled the group down even further
to the rider who just wants to ride. Phil says that he likes it that way
because the personalities you wind up with are largely flexible to begin
with and that is a prerequisite for this experience. I initially mounted
a Suzuki Bandit 1200, a super fun and fast bike but after a couple of
days swapped Phil for a cool little Kawasaki W400, the Triumph replica.
The Bandit has somewhat of a sport bike riding position and I developed
that pain between your shoulders that sport bike riders never like to
admit exists, you know the ones I am talking about, they always have their
left arm cocked out on their hip going down the freeway.
The roads in Japan turned out to be phenomenal.
There were
unavoidable freeways but there is still plenty to see. We were lead by
a local back road guru, Mr. Hirata, he is a member of the BMW Flattwin
club and rode a 1977 Beemer with a sidecar. We were joined by several
other members during the trip, including the president of the club Mr.
Hashimoto, who showed us all unparalleled hospitality. I found the best
roads to be on Shikoku Island. There was practically a full day of twisties,
relatively light traffic and unbeatable scenery. Riding in the left lane
turned out to be much easier than I had expected. A seasoned rider told
me to keep your left shoulder against the left shoulder of the road, simple,
but it worked. The “Keep Left” sticker we were given to put
on the bike also helped. The hardest part was finding yourself alone with
no traffic coming, I just had to sit there a moment to convince my brain
to do the right thing or the left thing as the case may be.
I noticed the rich Japanese culture right
away and
appreciated the patterns of elegance even more as the week
progressed. Living is taken as an art form and everyone takes pride in
what they do. Being helpful and polite seems to be the standard. The bus
drivers uniform is spotless including his white driving gloves, the beverage
servers on the train bow as they enter each car and once again as they
leave it. I would have loved to have seen a garbage man in action, I would
be willing to bet he has a tidy uniform as well. The streets are clean
like Disneyland and no graffiti or homeless people. I still find myself
bowing when saying thank you. The cities seemed to be quite large and
if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time traffic could be messy.
Thankfully, Mr. Hirata had the goods on all that.
I occasionally daydream about a two wheeled
circumnavigation of the planet so one of the reasons I took this opportunity
was to try to judge how it would have been on my own. I might have done
OK but would not have been able to enjoy the experience as much. The guided
trip offers vehicle support to carry your luggage and non-riding partner
also, translation, the best local roads and every hotel we stayed at had
a hot spring to soak in. Just for fun I looked into what the shipping
cost would be to get my bike from San Francisco to Tokyo, $2850 one way,
that’s more than half of the price of the tour…..ouch. Then
one could have rented a bike but there is not a lot of English being spoken.
Japan is expensive and so the tour seemed expensive at first but when
you stop and add up all that is included combined with the comfort, safety
and convenience its no contest.
We averaged 150 miles a day which doesn’t
seem like much
but when you are soaking up so much scenery and culture, it works out
fine. Besides, it was cold and overcast most of the time so hot tea breaks
were welcomed. One of the highlights for me was stopping at the Iwashita
vintage bike museum. This is a rare collection of bikes I had never heard
of before and included the first Honda ever made, a 1947!
Eating in Japan is an adventure all its own. At every
dinner and breaksfast we sat down on a tatami mat floor to a full blown
culinary roller coaster. There is a delicate balance to food preparation
that is an art form in itself. The average was fifteen little dishes per
meal. Different foods are popular to different areas and as we moved through
the country you could detect the changes at the dinner table. One constant
was a dish called shabu shabu, it is sort of like a fondue / soup. You
have your individual pot filled with broth and a fire to bring it to boil.
Sometimes the pot was public, either way you throw in the desired raw
ingredients sit back and sip the suds while it cooks. One very cool tradition
I enjoyed was to never allow your buddies drink to get low and he did
the same for you as pouring your own is a no no.
My adventurous spirit was put to the test when they
busted out the raw horse, yes, raw horse, no cooky cooky. With a shrug,
a grin and a sip of brew I tossed it back. I wasn’t bad really, but
I am not hooked on that dish and I don’t ever intend on eating devils
tongue again, whatever that was. Another interesting meal was the shellfish
night. In the middle of each table was a BBQ grill and next to that was
a big bowl-o-mystery shellfish that looked like something a clingon would
really enjoy. The idea is of course, that you grill your own item but
what they neglected to mention was that not all of the items are dead
yet so part way into the cooking your meal begins to de-shell itself.
My vegetarian girlfriend would have struggled with that one.
Breakfast always had some type of cold fish
, green tea
and tofu, this was OK until about day five or six when the bacon egg and
coffee jones started kicking in, my kingdom for Pork Store biscuits and
gravy! Lunch was always good and never iffy, there was soup and deep fried
pork patties in a curry sauce with rice. So you were always good if you
weren’t in the mood for frosted fish flakes.
Another thing that took some getting used
to was the
bathing process. We stayed at hot springs that were separated into men’s
and women’s baths. As far as I can tell the order goes something
like this; put on the hotel supplied kimono and find the bath. Leave the
robe and everything else at your locker and move into the pre-wash area.
Do your pre-washing like you know what you are doing because you don’t
want to have a naked conversation with a Japanese man who doesn’t
speak English. Soak in the hot springs for a bit, a great thing to do
after a long day of riding in the cold. The final step is the post-wash
where you find a little stall with a little stool and scrub down. This
took me right back to high school where I remembered being a little uncomfortable
in a room full of swinging johnsons, I still don’t prefer it but
it was an authentic cultural experience in which all that was really exposed
was Americas uptightness with nudity. This was especially pronounced when
the cleaning lady did a round to fill soap bottles and nobody flinched.
I still wonder if she actually worked there.
Being on a guided motorcycle tour does not
mean that you
will be sheltered and have all of your needs catered to. It is an opportunity
to enjoy a rich cultural experience with a light load and a safety net
but one must be willing to surrender certain western ideas at the doorstep.
Being a single male rider, I was lumped in with the other two to share
rooms throughout the trip. This is standard operating procedure for traveling
in Japan. I didn’t mind, and aside from some heavy snoring, I actually
enjoyed making some great new friends and sharing the experience. Also,
I did not realize that there was not going to be any internet services.
Fortunately for me this ofered a much needed break from the glowing box.
Cell phones that were advertised to work in Japan did not. Phil said that
from now on he will bring his sat phone so people can check in for a few
bucks a minute. One guest got smart and rented a cell phone from the airport,
which worked fine, two bucks a day and a dollar a minute. I was not aware
that such a thing existed but will make that a standard from now on.
Going to the bathroom was even an adventure,
everything
from a hole in the ground to a heated seat with a bidet built in. I came
to enjoy the bidet seat comb so much that I bought a new one and crammed
it into my suitcase. All twelve buttons are in Japanese but I figure I’ll
hook it up, put on my helmet and goggles and give it a go. Phil also bought
a couple to bring home, one of which has a remote control so beware of
Phil’s sense of humor if you wind up having to do some business at
his shop in Alaska.
For gear I brought a heavy winter set up
and for warm
days I brought the new expedition jacket and pants from Moose Racing.
It was cold most of the time but warmed enough a few days to try the expedition
gear. Moose has two colors to choose from in this line, white and blue,
I chose the white for visibility and everyone told me that it did in fact
work well for that reason. Aside from being sharp looking, this gear held
up great and offered flexibility and comfort. Although it never rained
hard enough in Japan to put it through the ringer, I was able to do some
dual sport testing before I left and that is where the gear really shined.
There are a few things I would consider doing
differently if I were to do this tour again. I enjoyed the challenge of
taking the ground transportation, however, I would look into shipping
my gear to the hotel in Okayama. Some of the train stops had tight connection
times and multiple flights of stairs to traverse. Not so fun with a 50lb
suitcase. I would have brushed up more on the language, Phil was always
available for communication but I would have liked to have had a few more
words in my pocket. Karoke is a popular pastime in Japan but just because
you drank enough saki does not make you a good Sinatra impersonator. Perhaps
I could have practiced up a bit before stinkin up the joint with a wobbly
rendition of “My way”. AK Rider (akrider.com) has partneredup
with Aerostich for all tours
outside the U.S. They have a new Fall
Japan tour as well as the Spring one, a South American tour and some
really cool sounding top secret stuff on the burner, off the beaten path
for sure. The operation is run at a very relaxed pace which becomes contagious
after you get over your own uptightness as was the case with me. I realized
that I didn’t need to know every last detail as I began to soak up
the surroundings. All in all, this was a spectacular ride, thanks to all
that helped make this happen. Yokata, yokata= it was good, it was good!!
-Kevin O’Shaughnessy
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