Date

2022-11-21, Monday

Distance

62.92 km (2446.25 km in total)

Baby feeding room at a roadside station is usually rarely used, whence our feeling of ease at occupying half of it (we did leave another nursing room vacant just in case someone needs it in the middle of the night). In the morning while we were packing up our stuff, a man, perhaps out of curiosity, perhaps out of duty, opened the door and took a look inside. We later learned that he was the manager of this station. Instead of getting angry at us for using the room for another purpose, he offered us hot drinks and orange to encourage us. It really surprises us how Japanese people can be punctual and tolerant to breach of rules at the same time.

At this roadside station we saw a map of Fukushima prefecture showing a red zone encircling the problematic nuclear plan that only allows cars to pass through; bicycle and pedestrian passing seems to be forbidden. It was well before the opening hour of the information centre, we couldn’t get a decisive answer so after an intense dispute for which I won the argument, we decided to make a detour to visit Nikko before reaching Tokyo.

This detour requires traversing a mountain range from east (Soma) to west (Fukushima city) on a narrow road that has no shoulder. As my readers all know, Japan is a fairly hilly country, such unusual crossing that involves in total a gain in elevation of 1020 m is by no means an easy task, which made my friend harbour much grudge against me for the whole stretch of the ascent. We had to climb some of the most difficult hills we have come across in this journey in a winding fashion. At some point, the succession of steep uphills looks endless — every turn brings yet another hill to climb. Worse still, due to heavy rainfall, the easiest road we planned on taking was broken and closed for traffic. Having no choice but to cycle through another more difficult route was a major blow to both of us.

Despite the difficulty, I (not to say my friend) enjoy the scenery of this secondary road much better than the one along a primary road brimming with big-box-style architectures and stores. Primary road is convenient yet boring as well, because it’s always the same things again and again. On the other hand, secondary road along which people live offers a much more interesting landscape mixing human habitations with a variety of natural elements — including monkeys. One can easily enjoy one’s ride in the quietude of the surrounding.

After the difficult ascent, it’s mostly downhill. We stopped by a roadside station for lunch where posters celebrating the village’s recovery efforts and shelves full of collaborative products from nearby communities gave the place a lively, heartwarming energy. Contrary to the quietness of the village, the station is very much alive with Christmas decoration and people’s coming and going. It seems that Japan’s many roadside stations are part of the town revival project: beside serving road users, it also doubles as a shop that sells all sorts of locally made products ranging from food to crafts (postcards are spare though). Some stations sell so many things that make them almost like a grocery store! It was touching to see how smaller, lesser-known villages support one another, and even more uplifting to see young people working there. It’s rare in rural Japan, and always impressive when a community can draw youth back home. This is also where people take the time to look at our bikes and talk to us. Today we received two rice balls from a local who admires our endeavour.

By the end of the day we arrived at one of the two roadside stations in Nihonmatsu, south of Fukushima city. There we ran into a nearly retired man from Tokyo area who was driving around the country to visit Japan’s castles and who planned on calling this station home for tonight. Having toured around Japan three times previously for onsen and other things, he had quite a story to tell when we (my friend mostly) drank sake together. Japanese people like him who dare approaching foreigners are not few, but those who want to deepen the conversation despite language barrier are rather rare.

Still 235 km away from Tokyo.

The full take — 17 more photographs from this day