Date

2022-10-15, Saturday

Distance

26.76 km (181.93 km in total)

I would have waken up to the splendour of a spectacular sunrise had it not been cloudy at dawn. The panoramic view from the top of the hill is truly spectacular: you can see the mountain range from afar and the town beneath it. By the time my friend woke up, there was a bit of sunny break. We went up the hill to ring the bell that is supposed to bring us good luck and wish for a safe travel.

As we were biking to see the famous Shikisai no Oka (四季彩の丘) located in Biei, which claims to be the most beautiful town in Japan, both Google and Komoot suggested us to take unpaved gravel and sometime rocky roads. We got sick of it that we eventually biked on bigger roads.

Entry to Shikisai no Oka is free from October to June during the off-season. Many people still come to see the beautiful hills that are alive with breathtakingly vibrant display of many flower varieties. The scenery is so beautiful in October that I can’t imagine how much more so it would be in the summer with all the flower blossom.

Then we bike in the direction of Aoi Pond (青い池). It’s all the way uphill with some short sections at 7-8% and even 10% of incline. But overall the ride was feasible even with heavy load if we go slowly.

Upon our arrival at the roadside station that is just 2 km away from the pond, we were told that all camping facilities were closed for the season and it’s forbidden to camp at this station. The staff suggested booking an onsen hotel 5 km away. However, we decided to call this place our home for tonight because we saw several stationary camper vans on the site — one of them was even setting fire! If cars are allowed to stay here, bikes should be so as well, we thought.

This roadside station is a fairly big one with well-equipped shower, washing and drying machines available until 4:30 pm. We took a quick shower, ate hamburgers as dinner while waiting for the station to close at 6 pm. By that time it started raining — this is the first rain we encountered on this journey — but the rain didn’t last long. First we set up our tent in between the camper vans but another camper came to speak to us. With a mixture of Japanese and English, we understood that this spot was reserved for cars and reservation was required. So we moved to another area near the washroom. No one came to bother us again and we called it the night.

The full take — 35 more photographs from this day

Date

2022-10-14, Friday

Distance

78.49 km (155.17 km in total)

We woke up before 6 am to the coldness of autumn morning. I had a sound sleep but my friend didn't because of the noise from the construction site nearby. While cooking miso soup and other stuff to warm us up, two policemen came to talk to us (in a mixture of Japanese and English). They were curious about and amazed by our plan to cycle across Japan, told us to be careful and wished us a good journey.

This roadside station's washroom is very clean; there are 2 reasons I think that contribute to it. (1) It is regularly cleaned at least twice a day. (2) Japanese people have a shared sense of civility in that they are, as a collective, concerned about not leaving garbage in public space and cleaning after themselves after each usage.

I started collecting (rubber) stamps of roadside stations we dropped by. A lot of tourists in Taiwan and Japan like to collect these souvenirs. There is even a book that is dedicated specifically for collecting these stamps.

By the end of the day, we reached the Hinode Park Campground in Kamifurano that is located on a hill. The spot we picked is scenic and everything else is splendid except that they didn't allow charging electronic devices, which is rather surprising because at 800 yen per person, this campground is rather expensive by Japanese standards. It seems that charging will be the biggest issue we have to face in this journey.

The full take — 28 more photographs from this day

Date

2022-10-13, Thursday

Distance

70.68 km (76.68 km in total)

Our enthusiasm to pack up early to catch the express train to Wakkanai was met with dejection: We were told our bike’s dimension was too large to be allowed on the train. Since I have both front and rear racks, even with both wheels removed the final dimension is still too large. According to the diagram shown on the train station wall, only folding bikes seem to meet the requirement. So what should we do? The train is leaving in 15 minutes and there is no way I could decompose my bike entirely on time; we were doomed to miss the train.

So instead of taking 5 hours of train, we decided on the spot to bike 7-8 days all the way to Wakkanai then head southward. This sounds crazy and silly but we have had no better choice. Japanese seems to be utterly concerned with observation of rules and social customs that there is no need to plea or argue with the staff. What disappoints me though, is that we showed the picture of the covered bike to several workers at the train station yesterday and they all said it’s ok for us to board on the train. But in the end it turns out to be the opposite.

On a positive side, I got the chance to eat a breakfast in the Japanese style and obtain a Sapporo postmark for my Postkard project. We also visited a small Shinto shrine to pray for better luck and no more unfortunate surprise on this journey before heading out on our bikes.

The suburb of Sapporo is filled with separated recreational paths that make cycling through the area more pleasant. Today’s ride is mostly on a country road that has what I call a ‘semi-shoulder’ — meaning that there is enough of space for a bicycle even though it is not sufficient for a full-size car to park.

Japanese cars are very kawaii (‘cute’): considered to be ‘light-weighted’, they are generally smaller than the North-American equivalents, including the mini-vans. They are quiet and relatively slow; the maximum speed allowed on those roads are often 40 or 50 km/h, instead of Canada’s 60 or 70 km/h. Plus most of Japanese drivers take the care to stay away from us, so it doesn’t feel threatening or scaring at all to share roads with cars.

Japanese houses are also kawaii: they are tiny — even the country farm house is so — and interestingly painted. Japanese people seem to use up every meter square available to them, whether for growing crops or for building residences. I realised that farmers may not have space to welcome two travellers with a tent, as the parts of their land that are not farmland are the space in front of the entrance and the driveway. It doesn’t make sense to camp on these spaces. Moreover, their property is often unpaved, filled with sharp rocks that makes camping unpleasant.

Camping is an issue in Japan. All campgrounds require reservation; we cannot show up on the day to ask for a spot. When I called at 3:30 pm a campground that was still 1.5 hour away, the staff asked us to arrive by 4:30 pm. I replied that it’s impossible because we were biking (thus cannot accelerate) but would arrive before the closing time that is 5pm, the staff appeared to be hesitating. From my Japanese courses I understand that hesitation means a no, so I told him we would go somewhere else. Japanese people are very indirect. They don’t refuse others with a clear no.

Roadside stations (道の駅) which provide 24-hour heated washroom are all over the country. During the opening hours, they also serve as restaurants and touristic information centres. By the time the sun set, we arrived at the roadside station in Naie. We first asked the restaurant staff for a spot to pitch our tent. She replied that we couldn’t do so here and referred us to the campground whom I called earlier. Then we went to ask the station administrator for advice, he on the contrary showed us a grassy area where we could camp. So here we stayed!

The full take — 23 more photographs from this day

Date

2022-10-12, Wednesday

Distance

6 km

By the time we set up our bikes, it was already noon. We began our first bike ride in the heart of Sapporo, from our hotel to the train station tower nearby. There is a Republic of Ramen that groups many well-known ramen restaurants in one area with old-style decorations. I purposely ate my first authentic ramen wearing the Ramen Cat t-shirt that my friend bought for me from Taiwan.

Biking in Sapporo is a pain. Most of the time people bike (without helmet) on the sidewalk that is designated to be shared by pedestrians and cyclists. I need to constantly avoid people so my speed is not very fast. Bikes are allowed on the outer edge of the street only when blue arrows are printed on the ground. Sometimes, the ride is so far from being smooth that I just want to bike in the street.

This aside, the real pain is parking. There seems to be very strict rules about where one can lock one’s bike: in the designated areas only, everywhere else is marked with 駐輪禁止 (‘no bicycle parking’). Most of these parking lots are payable and reserved for residents. When going from place to place, we need to look around a long time to find a parking, then walk a long way to our destination. This is utterly inconvenient.

Unlike in Montreal, Asian cities are filled with tons of overpasses at a crossroad for pedestrian to cross the street. Sometimes it’s even roofed. I wonder how the elderly population sees this. They seem to handle this inconvenience of climbing up and down the stairs with grace. In Montreal, pedestrians are the kings/queens, meaning that normally pedestrians get the top priority to cross a street. At popular intersection in downtown, every green light can often only allow 1-2 cars to turn.

The night falls fairly early, at around 5:30 pm. Stores also close early at around the same time except restaurants. So we did nothing serious beside eating. The tourism industry seems to have waned considerably due to the pandemic; I didn’t see anywhere that sell postcards.

I got back to our hotel before 9:30 pm to prepare for an online interview with a graduate student in art history whom I met in Montreal this summer. Very interested in my attempt at merging some aspect of mail art with the philatelic tradition, she asked a lot of details about the genesis of my idea, my Ukraine and Postkard project, and thought that my paying visit (which I called pilgrimage) to location and post office a performance. It was nice to speak to someone about my art.

Tomorrow, all the way to Wakkanai and Cape Soya!