Epic Japan 2019 Ride report

[racer162]

Hey everyone. Well some of you say I was planning an epic ride for this year. I am happy to say it is completes with all parties home and safe. IF I said it was an uneventful ride and went off without a hitch.... well that is not entirely true lol.. Furthermore pictures will be posted at the bottom.
Ok so Some of us headed out of Kyoto on what was a bright and sunny day one. Headed to ride out to the ferry port to go up to Akita in Amori in northern Honshu Japan. I guess I should mention te group leaving out of Kyoto were all on 250cc Bikes yamaha's and kawasaki's.
Anyway I digress sorry.The first couple days Sunny and uneventful really we took extra time in getting to the ferry so we could do a bike shakedown and all seemed ok at that point. No leaks everything solid.
We arrived at the Ferry port and along with probably 50-60 other bikes plus a hundred or so cars we waited to board for the night ride on the ferry.
We got on the ferry it was nice but it was a night time ride so basically crashing time.
I’m thinking this is where the fork damage iniated. I’m thinking when they fastened the bikes and cranked it down that maybe it happened then not sure.
We got off the ferry the others were waiting.
The original goal for that day was the northern most point in Honshu. But the people we met decided they’d change the ride plan and route and instead of insisting on the pre designated plan i decided keeping peace is best and I kept the mouth shut about it.
We tooled thru northern Honshu even hit a
Co-ed onsen on the was before getting to a camp in misawa.
The next day we were going to go to the light house and to Oma and we discovered my leaks.
So everyone new my situation and Rob and Naoki were with me on this but the others conveniently forgot as we headed to the light house.
Catastrophic failure 1. We stoped for a break and something happened inside Naoki’s clutch/transmission and while he could shift it did not go to gear.
His trip finished we were in the middle of gods country. We made some calls and arranges for his bike to be transported to town where he could ship it home and got him to town.
After that we continues our ride to Oma all with monkeys in the road lol.
Stayed in Oma that night. Cooked up some steak and potatos and talked wit other travelers.

So we left off in Oma I believe on the trailing edge of a typhoon we missed the super bad rain but not the winds lol.
After Oma it was coast roads in the morning and into the mountains while keeping my eye on that days prize which for me was to end up at Hachinhoe to see an old dear friend, and then go meet up with these other folks ( I really had no interest to see) further inland and camp the night. As we were riding they took a huge leap in the wrong direction 2 reasons 1- I have a leaking fork seal and 2- Hachinhoe is the opposite direction. They decided to hit a knarley Fire road. I also reminded them the importance of Hachinhoe, and We could finally get back to the plan.
We met my friend and his family had a great local meal in Hachinhoe. The next day we headed to the most eastern point in Honshu excellent costal roads and twisters with minimal traffic the whole morning it was glorious and the weather finally broke our way with warm sunny skies. Originally we were going to shoot inland and hit the 2 lakes but since we already did that we sat over coffee and decided the coast to Matsushima considered “one of the 3views of Japan” and not to be missed.
We knew riding straight tgey was no option so we crashed for the night north of there. After Matsushima it was into the mountains until the trip finishes.
Heading into the mountians and getting away from the coast, as beautiful as the coast is was a god send. The mountain roads and twisties and the views are just breath taking at times.
After 2 days of mountians we arrived in Hakuba, Nagano ( home to the Winter Olympics. to hang with a friend have good food sleep in a bed and give our bikes a little break. The. Views in Hakuba are breathtaking even in Summer and we were lucky enough that from Hachinhoe to this point we had GREAT weather. But as we found out on our last post back to Kyoto this would change. We had a slow morning got packed up and prepared to hit the road.
What made this last part difficult was knowing that we might be running head on into a typhoon. The first 1/2 of the day was great roads partly cloudy and warm temps as we wound the mountain roads back down towards Kyoto.
Then it hit. About 60km outside of NAgoya we hit the winds and light rain. Then. Heavy rain and driving winds. Being on small bikes we were pushed on and off the roads for quite a bit but fortunately we all did make it back home.
My friend Naoki made it home fine and is waiting for the transport company to deliver his Bike sometime early next week.
Overall we had a fantastic trip. This is the NON-Drama version. We are already planning next spring and Summers trips.
If you made it this far, thank you.

[Homers GSA]

Thank you so much for your post.

Can you tell me how much the ferry cost?




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[racer162]

Originally Posted by Homers GSA

Thank you so much for your post.

Can you tell me how much the ferry cost?

Glad you enjoyed it.
I can,
But it all depends Which ferry you are looking at. From where to where and what time of year
There are a lot of different ferries
For example during th high season fron Tsurga or Maizru to Akita ( its an overnight) it is roughly 18,000 yen for rider and bike under 650cc ( i think thats the cut off before the price goes up maybe its 750cc
Other ferries can run 2,000 and up for bike and rider again depending on bike size and the ferry run.
IF you have a specific start and end point I can be more specific.

[Guatavita]

amazing trip, would love to do this one as well

[koots_root]

Awesome trip! Can. You recommend any cheaper bike rental options? I don't mind riding a 250 and most interested in Hokkaido. Thanks!

[racer162]

When are you looking to go? And for how long?