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Touring Japan on tandem during Rugby World Cup 2019

Zmitherz

Warming-Up
Jun 1, 2019
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My wife & I are looking forward to visiting Japan for 7 weeks during the 2019 Rugby World Cup. We are seeing several games and intend to do as much touring on our tandem in between games as possible. We will use trains to jump between major venues and plan a number of circular tours from various locations. Our tandem has splitters so can fit neatly into two "rinko" bags, so we are hoping carrying this on trains should not be a problem - any advice welcomed. We are doing a variety of rides including city tours, two day trips, circular routes and one-way tours. We are planning these ourselves rather than going on organised tours. A summary of our trips below:
1. Tokyo city tour
2. Kyoto city tour
3. Onomichi - Yawatahama - Oita - Usa (via ferry)
4. Kanazawa Noto Peninsula circular tour
5. Kanazawa - Gifu
6. Mt Fuji tour - Toi
We are seeking some advice regarding accommodation recommendations, especially for cycle friendly places. We are on a budget having spent all our money on rugby tickets, so our preference would be 'function accommodation with character'. In particular, can you recommend a place to stay in Tokyo. This will be our starting point end Sept for two nights and finishing point beginning Nov for three nights. We will also be bring two large bike boxes for the flight and are looking for a recommendation where we can leave these for 7 weeks during our tour at a reasonable cost (e.g. friendly bike shop??).
Finally, I have read about tandems being illegal to ride in some prefectures in Japan. This appears to be a bit of a 'red-herring', but any advice would be welcome.
Any other friendly tips would be gratefully received.

Regards
Karen & Clive
 
Welcome and WRC should be a cracker. Tickets aren't cheap are they. I'm heading to watch a few games as well myself. Are you coming as far North as Hokkaido?
Generally prefectures North of Tokyo are not so permissive but it all depends on the cop you meet and weather they see you as a obstructing traffic. Further south nearly 80% of prefectures are good to go. Check here https://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=タンデム自転車&action=edit&section=10 scroll down till you see a table with a whole list of names. The Prefectures in green you are good for tandem riding. Most of the others (generally north of Tokyo) specify tandems on specific cycling roads (like a MUT or cycling road) but these are rather disjointed. Personally I'd ride and try and stay off major roads in prefectures that aren't green highlighted. You can always play the poor ignorant foreigner card and that will get you a lot of places.

I'm not in Tokyo otherwise you could stow your oxes with me but hopefully someone on the boards can help. Cheap accomodation, what are you budgeting a night for 45 days or so? The trouble with cycle touring is days are very fluid (weather and health) but accommodation reservations are very rigid. It will take a bit of planning but you know your match schedules and from there you can book accommodation.

Lastly I'd suggest that to avoid disappointment you buy some of these and wear them proudly.
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Should be a good final against the Springboks. :p
 
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Thanks for your comments. Our itinerary is pretty much fixed by the RWC games, so we're pretty much fixed on making it to the next location. weather is no issue as we're from Scotland, where we have a choice of rain, wind or both!! Budget is around US$100 per night for accommodation, but will be what it will be. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Nice shirt BTW - we're be a the South Africa group game. I feel a good old fashioned AB choke coming on (or maybe that's just wishful thinking). Definitely Scotland v Wales final.
 
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2028_accommodation.html Is a good resource and I'd follow their advice look for budget lodgings in slightly rural locations, better for cycling that way too. you have plenty of time to get in early. Scotland have three games nera yokohama and in the city cycling two up may be an issue. I'd suggest Staying in Yamanashi and Shizuoka as tandem cycling there seems to be good and a train to Yokohama isn't a major hassle. Shizuoka is a nice place to bike and you have a game there as well.
Check out minshikus and hostels as a good option over hotels.
Can't see a choke coming, we threw that monkey off the last two championships we won back to back. We could get beaten by a well coached team however and as most teams have Kiwi coaches anything can happen. Rugby will be the winner no matter what and the beer here is pretty good too! Kampai!!
 
weather is no issue as we're from Scotland, where we have a choice of rain, wind or both!!

That's definitely the right attitude, but I should warn you that wind and rain will likely be the least of your problems with the weather. Japanese summers are very hot and humid. Last year it got to 40 degrees (C) in Tokyo during a heatwave and cycling in that sort of weather can be pretty dangerous (I was doing a short tour of the Noto peninsula at the time). I don't know how far you're planning to ride per day but you may want to make sure the distance is short enough that you can do it early in the morning before the heat gets really bad.
 
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