Ube to Fukuoka (Kyushu) 116k

This day would be my last cycling day. I was really looking forward to getting off the bike and taking a long needed rest. I've rode my bike almost all day for 13 straight days. I probably should have rested a day or so to recharge but I also wanted to get the ride over with. The first week was really fun. The roads were interesting and I was meeting people everyday. This week I have not met a single person on the road and I'm riding in heavy traffic all day. Riding on the sidewalk is a bummer.....so slow. I wonder what happened to all the people who were supposed to be going to Kyushu? I was now just peddling as fast as I could to the shinkansen(bullet train) station in Fukuoka (Hakata).

I took the 5 minute ferry ride across to Kyushu. Total cost was only 700 yen. (7dollars). After getting off the ferry I saw a sign that read 77 kilometers to Fukuoka. My last 77 kilometers. In the bible the number 7 is the number of completion. It was an appropriate sign. Once again I found myself having to ride on the side walk for most of the 77 kilometers. I hit another bump on the sidewalk and my back rack came crashing off my bike. I had 56k to go. This time it was broke for good. I put everything in my backpack and waved goodbye to my busted rack.

Fukuoka is the largest city in Kyushu. It felt so nice to wake up the next day and not have to ride the bike. I packed my bike up and headed for the train station. I rode a little over 1300 kilometers in 13 days.

Shunan to Ube 72k

Up until this point I have avoided the rain. Today my luck ran out. It was raining hard. In Japan it seems to rain at least once a week. Ive ridden for 12 straight days without even once breaking out the rain gear. My rain gear worked really well. However, I forgot to buy shoe covers and water was starting to slosh around inside my shoes as I peddled. At about the halfway point I got a flat tire. Fixing a flat in the pouring rain is a drag. But I got it fixed with no problems.

I stayed at another generous friends house and they even barbecue some very tasty meat for me. Very nice family and a very funny dog.

Japanese houses.

These are some pictures of ordinary Japanese houses. Why did I take these pictures? I cant remember. When you are riding over 100k everyday you tend to think about alot of different things....but later on you cant cant remember what or why. The fog of war.

Hiroshima to Shunan 122k

Nice coastal ride the whole way. Scenic little towns....ship building industry. Fishing boats everywhere.

Okayama to Hiroshima 165km (102 miles)

This was the longest ride of my trip. I think I drank over 10 bottles of water. Blazing hot and humid. More trucks. I took a detour away from the main road.(route 2). I rode about half the day on the coast. I stayed at an average hotel and enjoyed walking around at night. But I couldn't really enjoy it like your average tourist. My body felt broke down from 165k of riding. 10 hours of riding. I went to sleep at 9pm.

Hiroshima turned out to be my 2nd favorite city on this trip. Hiroshima had a little style. All pictures are Hiroshima.

My favorite city list.

1.Kyoto area

2.Hiroshima

3. Toyota City

4. Akashi

5. Kobe (I only rode thru the city)

6. Osaka

7. Okayama

Japanese people.

These are some of the beautiful people I met on my trip. They were eager to speak to me and excited to meet someone from another country. The little kid with the yellow hat just looked at me and said...`kakkoi ne`...(translation: how cool). The man on the beach told me that meeting me was the highlight of his day.....

These are some pictures of the rice fields. The pictures are from various locations. Its not rice fields as far as the eye can see. Its a field here and a field there mixed in with factries, urban sprawl and traffic.

Almost every worker I saw was and elderly person. Not once did I see anyone in their 20`s or 30`s in the fields. Who will grow the rice in 20 years?

Akashi to Okayama 150k (90 miles)

All in all this was a very long and hard day. Not much room to ride. I had to ride on the sidewalk at times. Its very hard to make speed on the sidewalk. The road was jammed packed with trucks. Trucks and exhaust fumes. There are factories all over the place blowing smoke out of their smokestacks and a chemical type smell that's always in the air. I had to fix a flat tire. That's about all I remember from this day. I thought I would be riding in the country (inaka). This is no inaka. Right next to this paper factory there was a small stream with dead fish . The air smelled like poison. I'm not making any of this up. That's why I took pictures. The coastal part of Japan is so beautiful. These factories are trashing it and poisoning the environment. Yet all we hear about is `buy a Prius....and an Eco-TV and recycle your bottles.` Never hear anything about these factories on TV do we....? I'm by no means an environment crusader but this was disgraceful.

Osaka to Akashi 72k

This was a very nice ride. Next to the Ocean the entire way. Akashi is a small town but it is very pretty. Like Osaka, I again stayed at a business hotel for 5000 yen.(50 dollars). I went down to the beach and I couldn't believe how warm the water was. I got in.

Kyoto to Nara to Osaka 64k

I had always been told by Japanese friends that Osaka is a dirty city that smells and is crowded with people. Their discription was mostly accurate. However, I talked to a few people and I got the feeling they were down to earth. One thing I did notice was the MASSIVE amount of bicycle traffic. Bikes were just everywhere. Darting all around you. I took a picture of this man and his dog. Funny to watch. The man would ride normal and the dog would run (unleased) behind him about 20 feet. This is in a city jammed packed with cars,trucks taxis,buses. The dog looked old, so I guess their system must be working.