The original plan was to cycle the length of Japan in the summer of 2020. It never happened. It didn’t hapen in 2021 and by the time summer of 2022 had arrived I had made other plans: Le Grand Tour was the result. 2023 and 2024 were dedicated to writing the book and it’s only now, in the autumn of 2024, that my mind occasionally wanders back to thoughts of cycling in the land of the rising sun. My large paper map of Japan was probably relegated to the ‘Japan’ section of my bookshelf at some point in late 2021 when it became increasingly apparent that COVID-induced travel restrictions were still lingering in the Far East. A few minutes ago, I took down the map of Europe and reinstated the map of Japan. A small, but significant step towards reviving my plans to cycle the length of Japan. Kind of… There’s a problem.

In planning Le Grand Tour, a circular route that would take me around the edges of France, over the Alps and down the Rhine back to where I started at the Hook of Holland, it dawned upon me that I wouldn’t be able to complete the task of cycling around 5,000 km in two months without putting in some consecutively very long cycling days averaging over 100 km per day. So I made the decision to take a few trains. “A maximum of ten trains a maximum of 100 km each” was my rule and it worked very well. In fact I would now say that it added to the journey and certainly the story that I wrote. An extra element of (very tame) jeopardy. Would I be able to arrive back at the Hook of Holland in time to be back in the classroom for the start of the academic year without breaking the rule I had set myself? (Spoiler alert: I did. More details in the book of course…)

When I was piecing together my proposed Japan trip in the years leading up to 2020, the plan was to continue as I had done for the long European trips in 2010 (Crossing Europe…), 2013 (Along The Med…) and 2015 (Spain to Norway…) and to cycle the entire route. It was my way of doing things. At the time I was planning to take two months for the journey; I was supply teaching at the time and had the flexibility to do so and it seemed very feasible to cycle around 3-3,500 km in 50 days plus rest days. I’m now working as a full-time teacher again so am back to being restricted (that doesn’t seem the right word) by the length of the summer holiday, 6 weeks. 3,500 km in 30-35 days of cycling brings me back to the daunting reality of having to cycle consecutive days approaching 100 km per day. Not something that I wanted to do in 2022 and not something I want to do now.

But my Grand Tour gave me a way forward; incorporate a few trains to reduce the length of the journey. Simple! Problem solved! Not quite… Japan is famed for its trains, especially the very fast Shinkansen ‘bullet’ trains. It was never in my mind to take any of them with the bike of course, just as it was never in my plan for Le Grand Tour to take any French TGV trains. Extra restrictions apply making it either impossible or nearly impossible to take a touring bike on such high-speed trains. That’s perfectly understandable. Which is why I was happy to make use of the TER trains in France that still go pretty fast but from region to region usually on much shorter routes. Fine for me with my maximum-100-km rule. “I’ll do the same thing in Japan, should I ever get there” were the thoughts in the back of my mind should I ever revisit the idea of cycling Japan.

Not so fast gringo! On the occasions that my Internet wanderings have taken me to Japan in recent months, it has become very clear that even taking a train on local and regional railways is problematic. JapanTravel.com has an informative section about riding a bike in Japan. It includes the following advice:

No bicycles on the train

Bicycles aren’t allowed on trains unless they are foldable or can be stowed away in a ‘Rinko bag’. Upon reaching the train station, alight from your bike, fold/dismantle it and put it away in the Rinko bag before carrying it with you.

In reality: While you may be allowed on the train, you may want to avoid the rush hour crowds which will save you from trying to squeeze onto the packed train with stares from other commuters.

JapanTravel.com: Cycling Rules in Japan

Fine for a Brompton or a lightweight racing bike, not-so-fine for a heavy touring bike with panniers. There’s the problem I referred to above.

However… Take a look at the wall map again:

Notice anything? Perhaps my solutions are hiding in plain sight for there they are. Lot’s of them. The world’s second-best mode of transportation after the bicycle. Ferries!

Unlike in the UK which, despite its island status, has never embraced the concept of travelling from region to region by ferry, it seems that Japan has taken a much more enlightened approach and they are there in abundance. Now there is a little bit of a caveat here. My research is at an early stage and I have seen references online to ferries using the same system as the trains – a ‘Rinko’ bag – for the transportation of bicycles. However, I am assuming that this is just passenger-only ferries rather than the great car ferries that ply their trade longer distances along the Japanese coastline. Perhaps someone reading this can oblige me with a definitive answer. Assuming that I don’t have to go down the ‘Rinko’ route, the information could transform my journey in two significant ways:

• Make travelling the length of Japan in six weeks (30-35 days cycling) a much more feasible option,
• Potentially enable me not to have to take a second flight upon arrival in Tokyo to Wakkanai / Cape Sōya – the northern most point of Japan – or from Kagoshima / Cape Sata – the southernmost point of the main Japanese islands – back to Tokyo at the end of the journey.

Why don’t I consider it a journey around Japan that doesn’t start at Cape Sōya and finish at Cape Sata but merely have them as iconic way markers en route? My journey would start in Tokyo as soon as I landed and finish in Tokyo as soon as I took off again. Why did I not consider this an option earlier? It is, after all, what I did in 2022 with Le Grand Tour. A circular route taking trains where appropriate (and even a long ferry across the Bodensee!).

I’m not getting carried away here because there are a few ifs and buts. I’ve already mentioned one with the ‘Rinko’ bags. Another is the key to my map:

The dotted lines are described as “shipping routes” and only the solid lines as “car ferries”. There are many more dotted lines on the map than solid lines. However, Japan-Guide.com‘s ferries page does give encouragement:

Consisting of several thousand islands, Japan is naturally home to an extensive network of ferry routes. Japan’s four main islands (Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku) are connected with each other by bridges and tunnels, but many smaller islands can only be reached by ship. Yet even between the main islands, ferries can be an interesting, if not particularly fast alternative to trains, buses and planes.

Most ferries transport people, vehicles and cargo. While shorter routes are served by small ships, able to carry a couple of cars and a few dozens of passengers, large liners are employed on longer routes. Large ferries can carry hundreds of vehicles and passengers and are usually equipped with a range of amenities such as public baths and a restaurant.

Japan-Guide.com: Domestic Ferries

That’s more than encouragement. The site also provides this (rather poor quality) map:

There are also these maps showing a little more detail for Hokkaido and the Seto Inland Sea:

There are even ferries that could take me further than Cape Sata:

Apart from the ferry from Naha to the Daito Islands, every single one of these ferries takes cars so I would assume that they also take bicycles (without the requirement to bag them up).

Lot’s of sushi for thought here. My plans have progressed a little but I need to go back to the drawing board just a little. My original online map might need some significant amendments… (including the date!)

I’m a sucker for a good ferry as well as a few bad ones…

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Le Grand Tour on a Bike Called Wanda, was published in May 2024 and recounts Andrew P. Sykes’ journey around France, into the Alps and down the Rhine in the summer of 2022. It is available as a paperback and as and eBook from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com (and other international Amazon sites). The paperback is also available from Waterstones or Foyles and the eBook from Apple iBooks.

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