I arrived yesterday to Shikoku in poor weather but today am able to enjoy another fine day. I’m exploring the cape south of Sukumo which I sailed past on the ferry to Kyushu. The ship rounded the cape at Okinoshima island that lies out there. The roads here are dreamy. […]

I have been riding around Kyushu, southern Japan and enjoying some superb fine days. Today I continue on the roads less travelled in Miyazaki prefecture. The mountainous interior of Miyazaki prefecture has just a few rural villages and feels very remote. Even though I checked online I could not confirm […]

I continue my 2021 Autumn tour in Kyushu, southern Japan. Morning skies in Nagasaki prefecture turn grey and I need to put my jacket liner in. It’s Saturday and a few bikes are out. I’m going to Unzen which is a huge volcano with many motorcycling roads however today it’s […]

Each season in Japan brings a dramatic change in the landscape. This begins with the famous cherry blossoms in April, then trees everywhere sprout vivid green new leaves in May. The fields turn emerald green over summer as the rice grows and in Autumn entire mountains turn orange. However catching […]

I’m going to pick up where I left off my Ishigaki to Wakkanai motorcycle tour that was washed out in May. It’s been a wet year. And Japan is a country that has no dry season to begin with. A semi reasonable looking forecast appears so I book an overnight […]

Japan is famous for it’s huge snowfalls but it might surprise you it also has a brief yet brutally hot summer. My home town summers hit 40 degrees, I’m accustomed to heat, but here the humidity is stifling. You perspire profusely as your body struggles not to overheat and there […]

Between Spring and Summer is Japan’s rainy season so it seemed a joke when the tv news announced it will be fine next week. However after checking the modelling on Windy this seemed true. Quickly assembling some routes sitting on the shelf from a previous washed out tour I packed […]

Part 4 Leaving Amakusa I am riding across Kyushu to Beppu. I have abandoned my original riding plan due to the arrival of Japan’s rainy season (Tsuyu) a month early. I am fortunate to leave before rain and ride into fine but hazy skies. By chance I discover a nice […]

Part 3, Kyushu Disembarking from the overnight ferry in Shibushi proceeds quickly with so few people. For once a delay would be preferable as I ride out of the hull into heavy rain. I abandon my route to take the expressway. It is mid morning before I find a place […]

With most of us being constrained to riding within our own borders I decided to look at how big a ride I could do inside Japan. Japan stretches a long distance. Wakkanai is 26km from Russia and gets 6.6 metres of snow a year. Ishikgaki is next to Taiwan with […]

Pole to Pole tour part 1. With global travel still some way off I decided to see how far I could travel within the borders of Japan. Quite some distance it turns out. Cape Sata in Kagoshima prefecture is often referred to as a southerly point of Japan but Okinawa […]

It seems as I age my mind becomes increasingly difficult to live with. I get fatigue from it constantly replaying every obscure dumb thing I have done. Riding a motorcycle is a way to escape the B grade Dusk to Dawn Drive-in movie marathon of my life playing in my […]