Anyone in japan?
 

Hi there,
i'll arrive in Tokyo on tuesday June 28. My plan is, after been cleared the bike from Narita custom and get the mongolian visa, to ride the east coast down to Hiroshima, then up, through the west one, to Wakkanai, heading to Sakhalin isalnd (Russia).
i've planned to stay in Japan untill July 28. If may anyone should be around, we could shar a cup of sakè...

cheers

www.lungastrada.it

I don't think many travelers are in Japan now.
But you should send an email to the Japan Horizons Community. Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers' Community - Contact a Community!
Maybe someone local will want to meet you. I am not on your travel path it seems (I live in Nagano).
Don't forget you have to go to JAF (Japan Automobile Federation) to get your carnet "authenticated" before going to customs. Unfortunately, that means you have to go into downtown Tokyo and then back to Narita.

Thanks for the answer Chris,
i've already sent a CPD copy to the JAF's Tokyo office one week ago. i'll be there on June 29 morning to get the CPD authenticated and insurance. Then, i'll reach Narita to clear the bike.
as for my route: it is not compulsory ride along the coast to me. i could also make diversions inside. so...
thanks for the Japan HU community suggestion. i'll get in touch with them.

regards,

Hi there and welcome to Japan! :mchappy:

Chris is "THE" source over here - so if you have any questions ..... he is the one to contact! (Hope you don't mind Chris!! :smartass:)

Elsewise, you might also want to put your information on this site:

Gaijinriders

Those are the foreigners who are into bikes and living over here in Japan. They have been very helpful more than once already!

Greetings from Shikoku.

I was advised by a friend to drop Japan from my travel plans for 2012 on account of the radiation level, is it really that bad out there? Also does anyone know if there is a shipping route from somewhere in Japan to Magadan, and what port it goes from?

Cheers

If it were really bad do you think we would be still living here?
Take a look here for a visual idea of radiation levels: microsievert.net Less than natural background levels of several places in Iran, India and Europe.
Emissions of radioactive materials at Fukushima are about 10% of those from Chernobyl (and nobody evacuated all of Europe).
You stand a higher risk of getting killed from Russian drivers than the radiation in Japan.

As for Magadan, contact russian shipping company FESCO. If anyone goes that way, it would probably by FESCO. I think SASCO also has service to Magadan (probably not from Japan).

That's good to know, I thought it was a bit dubious that it would be that severe!

Right now the only people affected by radiation in Japan who are dying, are those who are dying by their own hand.

My wife's sister and husband are staying in a refuge after their house was washed away - it will take 2 years before they can rebuild as the Japanese government has bulldozed what was left of their seaside village and is relocating the whole community to higher ground. She says that many locals are committing ritual jisatsu due to frustration and despair over lost loved ones, as well as concerns over the future effects of the radiation.

Have to agree - it is not that dangerous!
Just stay away from the greater Fukushima area!

Elsewise, be careful where the food comes from that you will be shopping.
As for us, we only buy stuff produced South of Osaka, i.e. Shikoku and Kyushu area
or even from foreign countries.

All in all, you will be safe over here, don't worry too much!!

This is off topic, but...
Increased suicide rates are an unfortunately common occurrence after major disasters. After Hurricane Katrina in the USA, suicide rates tripled.
However, I can assure you that there is no "ritual" suicide in Japan. I don't know where you get your information, but cutting one's belly with witnesses and all the fanfare went out of practice along with feudalism more than a century ago. Like with most people in despair around the world, it is done alone with a rope and a convenient tree.

Hi Chris, yes, I did use a little licence with that term and didn't think it would be interpreted in quite the literal way you took it.

By using the word "ritual", my intent was to let forum members know that sucide is seen as an honourable, regular, and socially acceptable, means of death in Japan, as opposed to the Western world's view that it is the "coward's easy way out".

Hmm.... My opinion as a 20-year resident and the 150 million dollars the government spends annually to prevent suicides seem to contradict your opinion. But this has nothing to do with motorcycle traveling, so lets just leave it at that. Differing opinions doesn't mean we can't all be friends. :offtopic:
The most depressing thing for travelers to worry about now is the unusually high yen :stormy: . 120 yen to the US dollar a few years ago is 80 yen now! With the increased value of my yen, I should be on the road not sitting in front of a bloody computer!! :mchappy: :mchappy: :mchappy:

hi there,
finally i made it. i`m in tokyo since yesterday. already went to jaf to get the carnet authentication, then got insurance and japan road map also, but not the bike!!!!!
went this morning to narita to get my harley back, but the guy at the jal office frozed me sayng we do not have any bike on here.
got in touch with thai cargo, they`ve told me the bike is still in bangkok due to room shortage. it should to arrive on saturday, july 2, at 6.20 am. finger crossed.
in the meantime, after beeing through the crowdy and noisy indonesia on the last two months, i`m enjoyng the quiet of nishitokyo.
but how`s japan expensive!
@ crhis: so i think i could get around nagano on the way up to hokkaido, around july 20, more or less.

cheers

No worries Chris, If you'd like to debate it off forum with my wife I can give you her email address. However, I should point out she has some fairly radical ideas about Japanese life, acquired during her days at Hosei University in the late '60s.

Good to hear you arrived. I sent you a private message, so you can contact me off the HUBB.
Where did you get insurance? I ask because sometimes it is hard to get for a traveler.
Good luck on your travels in Japan, and let me know if you have any problems. Don't forget to send a message to the Horizons Community. You might need help getting ferry tickets (if you don't have reservations yet).

Hello dnicoletti

Have you gotten your bike yet? We are two swedes and a norwegian ( me ) coming to Fukouka late on tuesday. We are going to travel Japan south to north and then to Shakalin. It would be great to meet up somewhere.

Tom

Hi Tomlen,
yesss. got it back last sunday. i did it by my own at narita airport, no any fixers was around... i've spent 6000 Yen, of wich 2500 for the crate i left there...
so now i'm in tokyo. tomorrow i'll ride around the fujii and back to town as i have to meet some people from bike magazine on thursday. then the plan is to leave on friday heading south 'till hiroshima. i'll be in Kobe on July 17 for a bike rally, Harely matter, then head up to hokkaido. i've already booked the ferry to hokkaido on july 23 and from wakkanai to sakhalin on july 28.
so, what about your "schedule"? .
hope to meet u,
regards

www.lungastrada.it

If any of you are heading through Nagano (east end, Karuizawa Town), let me know. E-mail me or leave me a message on the HUBB.
If you send me a private message, I can give you a list of helpful people. I don't want to post it on the Internet because it includes many names and addresses.
Donato, did you get my message?

Chris Lockwood

Yes Chris, i've also replied you. anyway, many thanks for the precious infos.

How about you, Tom?
Did you get in without problems?
A friend of mine saw two foreign motorcycles in Kitakata City on July 10. Was that you? If that was you, I think you are traveling quite fast! Don't forget to stop and see the sights!!

Hello all.

We got our bikes in to Japan without any problems. In korea they told us it would be impossible, and that Japan custom would not recognice our carnees. Funny that things worked out just fine.

The two bike seen is not us, we are three bikes.

We are hopefully taking the ferry to Hokkaido on wednesday 20th. And to Shakkalin on the 25th.

www.twoadv.com

Do you have reservations for the Sakhalin ferry?
In the past, they required advance reservations. I don't know the situation now, though. Maybe it will be OK, but don't be disappointed if you show up the day before and they say you can't get on. However, Hokkaido is very nice touring country. If they make you wait, get your reservations and then travel Hokkaido for a week or so. If you wait until July 28, you might be on the same ferry as Donato.

Hello Chris.

We have made an reservation and are faxing the papirs for russian customs as we speak.
Donato. If do not meet you in Japan maby we can catch up in Russia.

Japan has been great by the way. I will do a little write up on a few things that can be handy to know from my point of view.

Have fun! Tom

hi tomlen,
i`m currently in wakkanai, just arrived this afternoon. tomorrow i`ll go to the custom to clear the bike, and i`ll sail to sakhalin on thursday july 28.
i do not know how long it will takes me to clear the bike on russian side, but i hope to get the ferry from kholmsk to vanino on about august 1.
what about your route? may we can catch up along the way to west.
have you may planned to get through mongolia or ride straight towards europe?
regards,
Donato
www.lungastrada.it