{"id":4713,"date":"2013-07-08T03:51:23","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T01:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/?p=4713"},"modified":"2020-01-02T05:34:26","modified_gmt":"2020-01-02T10:34:26","slug":"riding-the-spine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/riding-the-spine\/","title":{"rendered":"Riding the Spine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan is a surprisingly mountainous country.\u00a0 With all the major population centers shoved together along the coastal lowlands, the interior is blissfully empty.\u00a0 After all the hassles and headaches of navigating between Osaka and Tokyo (with a population of around 12 million in the metropolitan area) we were ready for some serenity.\u00a0 Even if it meant more lung-bursting climbs. \u00a0We decided riding the spine of Japan was our best option. \u00a0Anything, we reasoned, would be better than fighting our way through a tangle of super highways.<\/p>\n

We made the right decision.\u00a0 Just two days out of Tokyo, the landscape unfolded into a procession of rugged mountains, deep valleys and rushing rivers (just as the guidebook promised!)\u00a0 And rain.\u00a0 Lots and lots of rain.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The switchback climb up to nearly 1,400 meters in Bandai-Asahi National Park. We were lucky in that the rain let up and the clouds cleared so we could momentarily enjoy the fruits of our intense efforts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I can\u2019t say it\u2019s been easy.\u00a0 Daily drenchings tend to dampen morale.\u00a0 Those ancient Edo temples and shrines are more difficult to appreciate when you\u2019re getting doused by yet another tropical storm.<\/p>\n

But we\u2019ve been lucky.\u00a0 On four occasions kind Japanese families have invited us into their homes.\u00a0\u00a0 This is highly unusual, I\u2019m told.\u00a0 The Japanese are intensely private people and even close friends are rarely invited into the family home.\u00a0 I\u2019m deeply grateful for these experiences.\u00a0 In a few months time the memory of the miserable rain showers will have faded.\u00a0 But years from now, I\u2019ll still remember Sammy, the retiree we surprised in his garden and who ended up inviting us to spend the night in his home.\u00a0 Take, the public servant and surfing nut who packed us up in his car and drove 40 kilometers so we could take shelter at his home.\u00a0\u00a0 Yuomi, the young women cycling home from work who invited us to her beautiful home in a small village near Nikko.\u00a0 And then there was a man whose name I will never know.\u00a0 He spoke not a word of English but signed to us that rain was in the forecast.\u00a0 He opened up his small country home, got us settled in and then drove off into the night.<\/p>\n

The kindness of these individuals is what I\u2019ll remember most about Japan.<\/p>\n

\"\"
This was a beautiful alternative route to the main highway (which you can see across the lake). We passed hardly a single car and avoided the scary tunnel on the main road.
Navigating has been much, much easier north of Tokyo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Shinkyo Bridge stands guard to the shrines and temples at Nikko. This in one of Japan’s best known bridges and was constructed in 1636.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Young women in traditional attire prepare for a temple ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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68% of Japan is covered in forest. Outside urban areas the riding can be spectacular. This shot is a beautiful road leading up to the temples and shrines of Nikko.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Finding cover from the rain is always high on our list of priorities. We’ve been lucky most nights–this was a spot in Kurikoma National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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One of our favorite parts of the Japan tour has been the ride through Towada-Hachimantai National Park on the very tip of the big island of Honshu. It probably helped that it was our first day of sunshine in more than a week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Winding our way through the tropical foliage of northern Honshu. Today we hop on the ferry to Hokkaido.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Just a few of the many strangers who have made us feel at home in Japan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan is a surprisingly mountainous country.\u00a0 With all the major population centers shoved together along the coastal lowlands, the interior is blissfully empty.\u00a0 After all the hassles and headaches of navigating between Osaka and Tokyo (with a population of around<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[197,49],"tags":[25],"yoast_head":"\nRiding the Spine - Worldbiking.info<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/riding-the-spine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Riding the Spine - 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