- Remastering the Slow Ride - October 26, 2026
- Morocco - October 19, 2026
- Greece part two - October 9, 2026
I’ve completed many moto tours but none brought me as much joy as touring Japan.
In Japan I was always alone. Not just on the bike but when enjoying a viewpoint, eating a meal in a restaurant or sitting around at a small port waiting for a ferry.
Yet I frequently experienced being completely at peace.
There is a term called Gaijin Stomp. It means as a foreigner living in Japan you can get away with making mistakes as nobody expects you to know the rules. The burden of having to speak and act in the many complex ways of Japanese society is removed. Also gone was all the anxiety I felt living in Australia.
I miss being in that bubble of ignorance now and find myself some days personally struggling. However there were additional factors that made me enjoy riding Japan so much.
Touring Japan was always slow cruising. Daily routes modest, stopping to look at everything with lots of time for photography, my forgotten other hobby.
Apart from the expressway the national speed limit in Japan is 50kph. In rural locations adherence to that might be relaxed but still my pace was mostly no more than 65-75kph.
Whilst always on curvy roads I was not carving corners or feeling I need ride a certain pace or thinking about reaching my destination.
I had mastered the slow ride and there was no pressure about anything. I often would stop for extended rests listening to nature feeling totally at ease with myself.
Since leaving Japan I have rarely enjoyed that same feeling.
The closest I came was riding the Gold Wing down the Blue Ridge Parkway with its countless roadside viewpoints and rest areas. Riding a cruiser for that tour was perfect way to slow things down.
The polar opposite was the group tours I later completed. Pissing competitions between men to ride the fastest past the things they travelled so far to see.
But of course many male riders are deeply focused on machismo and what others think of them. No where is this more prevalent than Australia.
That is another reason I felt at ease in Japan because riders there are less concerned about speed and image and no one mocks anyone for what they ride unlike blokey Australia.
I will tour Japan again, as well my other favourite country New Zealand. But I feel it’s time I ride my own country again.
My aim will be to try recreate the feeling of the peaceful slow ride here in Australia. Which I’m not sure is possible given how totally different Australian roads are and the scale of the country. However I will give things a go “my way” and plan B can be buy another FJR1300 in Japan should I fail.
So I put a deposit on a bike. The model that has been on my short list a few years. Maybe one regular reader has already guessed what, the rest will not understand. I quoted Osamu Dazai in my Morocco post but feel compelled to say again; people live as if on stage trying to please others who don’t give a shit. Do what makes you happy, none of us are getting out of this alive.
The only persons opinion that matters to me is my oncologist. Fingers crossed; I get my scan results later this week. Then if I’m ok, new bike debut to follow.
