Reflections on our Japan tour
I like to post about places as I experience them - so things are still ‘fresh’ and give a sense of what I was thinking and feeling at the time. But there's also value in taking more time to reflect. Here's my thoughts on our Japan trip now that we've been home a few weeks.
Our bike tour
The centrepiece of our trip was a week’s cycling on Grasshopper Adventure’s Stunning Shikoku Bike Tour of Japan. It was a guided group tour and included all food, accommodation and luggage transfers. We cycled 385 kilometres from Onomichi (near Hiroshima) to Kōchi (on Shikoku), finishing the tour with a train transfer to Kyoto.
So, the most important questions first...
Did I enjoy it, and would I recommend the tour to others?
The answer to both questions is a resounding yes. Here's why:
Fantastic scenery and natural environment - over the first two days we cycled the Shimanami Kaido, a route connecting Honshuu (Japan’s biggest island) with Shikoku (the smallest of the main four) via a series of smaller islands. It is nothing short of stunning - with great sea views, beautiful beaches, striking bridges, and lush green hills and citrus orchards all around. Later, on Shikoku, we cycled quiet roads up into the mountains, passing by rocky river gorges and forests just starting to change into their autumn colours. Lovely.
Great cycling - the Shimanami Kaido is well set up for cyclists, with plenty of cyclist rest areas, bike stands, and accommodation providers that will apparently let you take your bikes into your room (we didn’t do this). There are long winding corkscrew paths to get bikes safely on and off the bridges (although some are shared with motor scooters) and a painted blue line on the road marks the route if you’re doing a self-guided trip. Shikoku provided a different experience, with little traffic and few other cyclists around. We enjoyed a great mix of challenging hill climbs, fast downhills and cruising on the flat.
Opportunity to try new things - for me, one of the best things about the tour is that we got to experience things we might not otherwise have organised for ourselves. Partly, that was about the food (see below) and partly it was trying new things like traditional washi paper making and onsen bathing (although I’m still not that thrilled about getting naked with strangers). And we would never have got a full guided tour around a Shinto shrine if we were cycling by ourselves.
Excellent food - I cannot praise the quality of the food in Japan enough, and I love that the guides organised all sorts of different foods and dining experiences for us to try. I just wish that I could keep eating like that now that I am home.
Lovely accommodation - we were a bit spoilt when it came to accommodation. We had a couple of one-night stays in fairly ordinary business hotels but other places were spectacular - spacious rooms with tatami mat living areas at Setoda and traditional rooms (and bathtubs) overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Kure Bay. Everywhere we stayed had onsen, and a couple of two-night stays gave us time to settle in.
Well-organised guides - we had four guides on the trip: two on bikes leading the way, and two in vans taking care of logistics (bags, snacks, water, lunch spots) and being ready to deal with any mechanical issues. They were super-organised, so everything went to plan, and they were good communicators so we always knew what was happening and where we needed to be, when. (It probably helped that we were a compliant group and not too demanding - which I gather is not always the case.)
Decent bikes - rental bikes can be a bit hiss and miss but Grasshopper made sure we were all riding quality bikes, and the guides took time to check they fitted each person properly. Most people were cycling pedal-assist bikes but Chris and I were riding lightweight Cannondale hybrids. They were a joy to ride and well suited to the roads (unlike the practical but heavier mountain bike I ride at home).
No thinking required - it was really nice to just turn up and ride. We didn’t need to worry about where to go, organising accommodation, getting our gear from one place to another, or even where and what to eat (other than the occasional choice between a few options). Having been busy with work right up until we went to Japan, it was great knowing this part of our trip was all sorted.
Are there things I would do differently?
Not really. The group was a little on the big side with 16 people, plus guides (the usual maximum is 14). This meant we were sometimes a bit bunched up when riding (not helped by the guides constantly stopping to regroup in the first few days). But we all got into a rhythm once we’d figured out everyone's riding styles and speeds, and the guides were more relaxed about letting us space out on the quieter hill roads on Shikoku (where the risk of us getting lost was negligible).
A bigger group also meant lots of interesting people to talk. There's a risk of getting difficult people in the group when you join an organised tour. Fortunately, there weren't any tricky characters on this trip (there was on our Taiwan tour last year) but if there had been, a larger group would have made it easier to avoid them!
The main downside of a group tour is a loss of flexibility. You can't really detour or decide you're going to linger at a particular spot. (Chris found it hard biking along the coast, passing by lots of places where he would have loved to stop and turn over rocks.) But there were still plenty of opportunities to stop and take photos and, overall, the loss of flexibility was outweighed by the good things about the trip.
Who is the trip suitable for?
Anyone with reasonable fitness and experience on a bike would manage the trip. You don't need to be a super-duper cyclist - but you do need enough bike smarts to be comfortable riding with a group and in traffic. And there are hills - so you need to be fit enough to manage them (even if you are riding an e-bike).
What's next?
Many people on Grasshopper tours are regulars. This was our second tour (after Taiwan in October 2023) but several people were on their fifth tour, and for one guy, it was tour number eleven. We've heard good things about other Grasshopper tours throughout Asia (especially Southeast Asia) but we’ve also heard that the Japan and Taiwan tours are the best, so we may or may not do another.
For now, we’re focusing on cycling in New Zealand and I'm planning a big adventure for early in the new year. More on this another time.
Travelling in Japan
Chris and I really enjoyed our time in Japan and are keen to return sometime. The mix of old and new made it a fascinating place to visit, and we found it a safe and easy place to get around. I won’t bore you with a full run-down of our trip, but here’s a few things that stood out for me:
The food - I really cannot emphasise enough how good the food was. It was also a lot cheaper than at home, and very easy to find. When we couldn’t be bothered eating out, we picked up tasty salads and onigiri (triangular rice balls) from one of the many Seven Elevens and other convenience stores all over the country.
English-language signage - thanks to Duolingo, we learned some basic Japanese before we went. But we discovered a lot of signage is in English, as are announcements on trains and buses, which helped with finding our way around and knowing when to get off the subway.
Public transport - Before we left home, I was anxious about getting from one city or town to another, and made sure I had train tickets booked ahead of time (with time between transfers). I really didn’t need to bother. There are so many trains running each day, with everything running pretty much on time, that we could have left it until after we arrived (and probably picked up cheaper tickets).
The toilets - as well as being fun (with their many cleaning options and ‘privacy’ music), they were really easy to find and usually very clean. That’s not always the case when you are travelling.
The orderliness - I like cleanliness, well-mannered queues and respect for others; I dislike noise and chaos. Japan suits me very well. (Although I don’t quite get the long line of people waiting to get into a particular ramen joint when there are plenty of others to choose from.)
Love this, and cannot agree more on how wonderful Japan is for a cycling holiday. So much more of Japan to see 😘xx