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Trans Japan – which way?

pogey

Speeding Up
Aug 9, 2021
32
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Hello good folks,

I plan to travel from Cape Soya (Wakkanai) to Cape Sata (Kagoshima) this May. Now some people told me the other way makes more sense due to less elevation.

Any experienced locals willing to chime in?
Greatful for any hints and tips.
 
How long do you plan on doing it? If slowly, start in the South as @jd suggested If it's a one month blitz doesn't matter.
 
Somehow it just seems like finishing at Cape Soya is the natural thing to do... Also, the rest of Japan is probably going to seem pretty disappointing, scenery wise, if you start with Hokkaido. lol.
 
I don't really have any valuable input beyond an emotional reason. I've planned to do this ride one day and I will do Soya -> Sata. Purely because the book "The Roads to Sata" by Alan Booth. Booth's book is one of the reasons I dreamed of moving to Japan, and I've always wanted to recreate his walk. Maybe a bit like one of his other books "Looking for the Lost" where he retraces some of Japan's historical figures walks and journeys through the country.

I feel like you can't really go wrong either way, and I hope that your trip will be a lot of fun!
 
When you get to Yamaguchi prefecture you'll most likely start in Shimonoseki. Take route 191 to Nagato, Hagi to Masuda. Then take route 9. After that, just just use Google map. Lots of free camping. There are wild monkeys around Nagato ( somewhere in that area ). Enjoy the trip. If you take the Pacific Coast side, after Ibaraki, I'm not familiar with the area, but Chiba is fairly flat and so is Ibaraki. I mostly camped out at the public parks there.
If you go on the east side of Yamaguchi, route 2 gets really dangerous in a few areas. I took it, but next time I'll just take the train to Yanai. Too dangerous for me.
 
Hey everyone, thank you for your opinions!

Maybe I should've added that I've travelled in Tohoku (east coast) and Hokkaido (around Biei) last year already (by car though). That's why I have a feeling of "getting the north done" a bit quicker, also because it'll be colder, and then wiggling around some more starting from Kansai.

But I understand that the climate prefers the other way around. I just don't :)

Is Kyushu that hot end of May? I only find averages around 25°, tolerable even with higher humidity – but fair enough, haven't been down there.

@kiwisimon
I plan on blitzing it in a month +1 week maybe. Light load and 100k average daily, so nothing too ambitious. Mix of camping and rented roofs.

@adventurous cyclist
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when detailing the route. Most likely I'll share a first version, for anyone who likes to chime in.

Have any of you done it before?
 
yeah start at the North and get Hokkaido done with fresh body and mind.
Are you going to go to Oma or Aomori from Hakodate?
Once you cross Hachimantai it's mostly downhill/flat to Sendai.

weather is what it is. You'll get wet somwhere.
 
Curious--are you a coast-follower, or are you maybe going thru the middle?

These posts may be good reading:


 
yeah start at the North and get Hokkaido done with fresh body and mind.
Are you going to go to Oma or Aomori from Hakodate?
Once you cross Hachimantai it's mostly downhill/flat to Sendai.

weather is what it is. You'll get wet somwhere.
@kiwisimon @jdd (domo for the links!)
Most likely Aomori, because I'll be riding down the west coast of Tohoku. And yeah.. rain is to be expected anyway.

Oh an constant winds are west to east huh? .. :)
 
This is a site I look at pretty often for wind: https://www.windfinder.com/forecast/uchinada_kanazawa

That's set for where I am, but upper left you can go to maps and drag it around, or instead input some location close to where you are and go from there. And temps/wind speed units can be changed in settings, kind of very top right--I prefer m/s for wind.

Personally, I wouldn't base trip decisions on any such site. Just maybe glance at it to see what any given day might be bringing you. Also, it seems a little more granular about possible rain/precip than more generalized sites. I also can live with the wind speeds it might give, but then dread/pay more attention to what it shows for gusts.

There are also a lot of variables--time of day being one I notice (stronger winds midday, calmer early and later), but even that is affected by whatever weather or front may be affecting it all.
 
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