Japan (Part 3): The Cycling Highways of Japan (Tobishima & Shimanami Kaido)

Saving the Best for Last
Saving the best for last is a good way to go. The previous four weeks in Japan were beautiful but they didn’t lack challenges like traffic, tunnels, climbing, and a bit of rain. After a few restful days in Matsuyama where we made sure to visit Dogo Onsen every day, we were recharged and full of energy for the last and best couple of weeks of our tour in Japan. Coming with such high expectations can be a problem sometimes but luckily we were not disappointed.

We took the ferry from Matsuyama to Kure and stepping off the ferry we set foot (or wheel) on Honshu, the main island of Japan, for the first time. You can say that our trips in Japan are somewhat off the beaten track. Not to worry, we would soon be back on Shikoku for most of the remainder of our trip. The ride out of Kure involved some traffic but that was the last bit of traffic we saw for the next couple of weeks.

Finally with sunset approaching we crossed the first bridge out of many, complete with an excellent separated bike lane. We had entered the Tobishima Kaido.

Tobishima Kaido
Tobishima Kaido is a less well known group of islands connected by bridges than Shimanami Kaido, but it’s no less beautiful. Over the next few days we cycled around or across numerous beautiful islands. Every bridge was different but they were all very impressive.

The light traffic and the separated bike lanes on the bridges gave Neil a lot of opportunities to ride on his own. It was great to see how confident he is on the bike. Since I’d been hauling Kai in the trailer and am generally pretty cautious, often times Neil passed me on the downhills, commenting that I should go faster.

One island on this group, Osaki-kamijima Island, was even more isolated since it didn’t have a bridge connecting it to the rest – just a small ferry. As we stepped off the ferry we were stopped by a strong smell of… figs. All along the route we found fig trees by the side of the road and often collected them. We nicknamed this island “The Fig Island”.

The next day we cycled all around the island. Parts were a bit industrial but most of it was beautiful and very close to the ocean. We found an out of the way Okonomiaki place for lunch. It was all dark and a bit spooky inside, but the couple running the place were extremely nice. The kids left with a new fire truck and a small car.

Receiving gifts for the kids was something that happened very often on this trip. We were caught between a rock and a hard place since generally we are trying to teach the kids they don’t need many things and to avoid accumulating too much (especially on a bike trip where we are carrying everything). On the other hand Neil started refusing some gifts saying he doesn’t need more stuff and we keep on telling him it’s not polite not to take them…

Another thing we kept on receiving were bags of mandarins. Apparently it was the season and everyone had some to share. At some point we were so loaded with mandarins we carried them in a cardboard box strapped to the side of the cargo bike.

On our last evening on the Tobishima Kaido we set up our tent in a park not too far from the ferry. A local cyclist we met on the ferry showed up just before dinner with a huge piece of tofu, soy sauce, a lemon, and tomatoes. He said that the tofu was made on that island in the morning, and gave us directions for preparing the dish. It was definitely one of the best tofu dishes we ever had.

We woke up early the next day and managed to eat breakfast, break camp and ride about 5km and still make it on time to the 9:30am ferry to Imabari. We were quite impressed with ourselves. We were now on our way to the Shimanami Kaido.

Shimanami Kaido
We’d read, heard and seen pictures of the 4km Kurushima-kaikyo bridge for a while. So when we first saw it from the ferry it was quite exciting. We passed right below it and then once we reached Imabari we cycled right towards it. We had an excellent seafood lunch at a restaurant overlooking the bridge and then we were finally ready to ride it.

Even though the bridge was so high up, getting on it was easy. We went round and round a spiral interchange on a low grade that was perfect for cycling. Then riding across the bridge was one of the best rides I’ve ever done. The ocean views far below us with tiny islands were magnificent. We could truly enjoy the views because we were totally safe from the fast moving traffic on the bridge. It was so long that it just seemed to go on and on.

The car traffic getting off the bridge all continued on the highway, while the cycling path took us around the island on a small road. We still had some ten kilometers or so till we reached the guesthouse we’d booked and some well deserved rest days.

Guesthouse Yadokari was in an out of the way place but it was exactly what we needed. With no shops or restaurants nearby the owners kindly took Gili in their car to the supermarket to get food for our stay. They also gave us eggplants from their garden which chef Gili made into nasu dengaku (miso glazed eggplant). We spent the next morning on the beach, and it was even warm enough for swimming. Both kids love the water and playing in the sand is something they can do for hours. Then the stars aligned perfectly and we all went down for a two hour nap. It was one of the best days of the trip.

The guesthouse was a classic Japanese house and it was nice to have it to ourselves, with no other guests around. A big attraction there was a massage chair which for a small fee gives one a 20 minute massage.

Once again we were well rested and ready for the rest of the Shimanami Kaido. As we were cycling onto the next bridge we met a group of cyclists from Taiwan. They were very excited to hear that we were going to cycle in their country next.

That day was quite relaxed as we stopped for a visit in a salt factory and got to try their salt ice cream, which was sweet and salty. In general on this trip we had a variety of interesting ice creams such as miso, soy, rose and now salt. Next to the salt factory there was a very conveniently located onsen. It was a fun onsen with a variety of pools and since Gili took both kids with him I was able to relax totally.

Our tour of the Shimanami Kaido could not have been complete without a visit to Rabbit Island. Yes, it’s an island full of rabbits… We narrowly missed the ferry there since we had such a great ride that morning. Neil rode by himself despite a big climb so we failed to check the ferry time table. As we rode to the terminal a ferry was just leaving and the next one was in two hours. We still wanted to go there so we had our lunch and I finally got to try coffee from a vending machine (served hot or cold) which are common all over Japan. Then we discovered a small playground behind the ferry terminal and we got to witness Kai teaching himself how to slide! So all in all it wasn’t too bad to wait.

Rabbit Island was the site of a secret poison gas factory during World War II but now it’s a tourist attraction due to all the rabbits. The main attraction is feeding and petting the rabbits which the kids really enjoyed. Well, Kai mainly enjoyed chasing them, I guess.

We crossed a few more impressive bridges and rode on more fantastic islands. Along the way we met cyclists from different places, some of which had even heard about us from others. It was inspiring to see how much this whole area became geared for cyclists and it just comes to show that bicycle tourism is a real thing.

Wild camping in Japan has to be one of the best in the world. We spent many nights camping in public parks or on the beach and were never bothered. On our last night on this leg of the trip we camped in a park with a huge dinosaur on the top of the hill. Luckily there was also a playground there so Neil could burn off some of his energy. We spent many other nights throwing a ball and he would run and bring it back at least 50 times… No matter how much this kid rides he still seems to have tons of energy at the end of the day. By the time we actually got into the tent at the end of each day he was so exhausted he would fell asleep in less than five minutes. Kai on the other hand took time to warm up to the whole sleeping in the tent idea and some nights were a bit rough. Also it got considerably colder by the end of our trip so we crawled into our sleeping bags pretty early.

That morning it rained just before we woke up so there were many puddles. The kids had a blast playing in them and got all wet and muddy. We didn’t even bother with rain gear since we knew we’d be able to do our laundry that day.

We only had 15km till we reached Onomichi, our last destination for that part of the trip. Interestingly, the last bridge, which connects Onomichi with the last island, is not cyclist-friendly. Instead there is a small ferry that crosses every few minutes. On the short journey on the ferry I felt quite accomplished. We managed to cover around 900km in Japan with two kids in tow and without any major issues. It was time to relax and pack up…

Bullet Train Journey
With a few days to spare before our flight to Taiwan we did a few activities around Onomichi. The highlight for Neil (and probably for all of us) was the short time we spent on the high speed train going to a “nearby” town. Okayama was in fact at least 60km away but it only took 16 minutes by bullet train. We didn’t have anything in particular to do there but it was the closest destination we could have taken the bullet train to without breaking our savings account. Yes, the bullet train was an expensive trip so it was quite disappointing when we got on a fully packed train with nowhere to sit.

We started our day in Okayama nicely with a visit to a big department store to get some new pants for the kids since they had so many holes in their old ones. We visited Kōraku-en, impressive Japanese gardens, and had dinner at Sushiro, a convertible sushi chain we liked on our previous visit to Japan. By the time we were ready to head back to Onomichi it was quite late so we were all relieved to actually have some seats on the train.

We decided to go to an onsen on our last day in Japan. It was a suburban onsen, so getting there involved taking a bus. Unfortunately they had a ‘no babies in the onsen’ policy so poor Kai couldn’t go in. Luckily he didn’t know… I took Neil with me this time and it was lots of fun. It’s amazing how mature he got on this trip and how open he became to new experiences as well as being totally comfortable in the water.

Strangely our last dinner in Japan wasn’t sushi or ramen or udon. It was falafel… One night we were strolling down the arcade in Onomichi unsuccessfully looking for a place to have dinner, a rare thing in Japan, but Onomichi was quite sleepy, especially in the evenings. The only place we found open was a falafel place. Gili was quite skeptical but I suggested we’d go in, it’s not like we had a variety of choices. It turned out to be pretty good falafel, made carefully and perfectly by the owner and tucked inside real pitas! My endless efforts to try and understand why on earth this guy makes falafel in Onomichi were useless – the guy did not speak a word of English. So for our last dinner Gili and Neil brought takeaway falafel to our Airbnb. We had an early wake up the next day to make it to our 9am flight to Taiwan.

The bikes were packed once again, and the gear was back in the huge duffel bag. We had a huge taxi van so everything fit easily. With the first rays of sunlight we made it to Hiroshima airport. The second time around in Japan did not disappoint us. It was a different experience for sure, in much better weather and less random hospitality but great nonetheless. The people, the food, the scenery, onsens, free camping and comfortable accommodation otherwise – it can’t get much better than that. We are pretty sure we’ll be back for a third round.

Also check out:
Japan (Part 1): Jumping Into the Bike Trip (Takamatsu and Shodoshima)
Japan (Part 2): Along the Coast and Over the Mountains (Shikoku)