6 great weeks touring in Hokkaido

[ozipom]

I've just got back from six fantastic weeks cycling around Hokkaido. Excellent scenery, great onsens, generally good roads and excellent drivers. Here are a few of my favourite pics;

Great coastline, south of Hakodate

Hakodate at night

Rishiri Island

They sure build cool tunnels here!

They also know how to build cool bridges

View from one of the many onsens

Lake Kussharo

For more pics, route I took and blog please follow the below link;
http://www.pedals44.com/japan-2017.html

[PA]

Your pictures are not showing.

I just read your travel blog. Looked like a great ride.

[ozipom]

Thanks PA re the photos not showing. I've adjusted the links so they should hopefully be working now.

[brumby33]

Thanks PA re the photos not showing. I've adjusted the links so they should hopefully be working now.

Nah ozipom, pics still not showing but i'm reading your blog.....lucky bugger...I wanna go there

cheers

brumby33

[ozipom]

Third time lucky now. Swapped the urls from google to flickr. Hope they work...

[PA]

We have pictures! Thanks for getting our traveling bug awaken.

[xastorm]

Magnificent! Thanks for sharing, they are super photos. I spent 10 days cycling around Shikoku recently and can't wait to return and visit another island.

[Scotness]

Hey your blog looks really good - I'm really going to enjoy reading that

Scot

[Scotness]

Hi Brian - I just added you to our links page too

http://www.ourcycleadventures.com/links.html

Scot

[twowheels]

wow, so cool. Family & I are heading back to Japan within a year. Won't be doing any riding as extensive as this but have a logistics question I've asked elsewhere on the forum. Did you register your bike? Is temporary rego available? Issue never came up? I've heard in some policing areas/some indiv cops they are pretty hot on the issue. thx

[ozipom]

Did you register your bike? Is temporary rego available? Issue never came up? I've heard in some policing areas/some indiv cops they are pretty hot on the issue. thx

Never was asked to register bike. Saw plenty of cops and it never came up. Met a number of other people touring and it was never brought up, so don't think you will have an issue in Hokkaido.

[Trevtassie]

As a foreigner on a touring bike you won't have a problem anywhere in Japan. The registration thing is more about identifying the owners of the huge numbers of stolen/ abandoned bikes that pile up. Mamacharis are so cheap people just leave them when they need maintenance sometimes, or people "borrow" them and leave them locally, expecting the owner to find them.

[brumby33]

I think too if it's more about if you're actually residing in a location for a period of time that you need to register your bike, if a cop asks you for proof of registration, they may even try to accuse you of stealing it...but if on the move all the time, you shouldn't have too many issues but not guaranteed. If residing in Japan, then it's highly recommended as it's quite mandatory....like having the 'Alien card' to prove of your residence.

[twowheels]

Not residing but staying in a single location over a 6 week period. Nara prefecture. Considering buying mamachari/s for family transportation eg shopping, to train station. May buy a minivelo for myself and bring back to oz, don't want it or myself impounded.

[Trevtassie]

Not residing but staying in a single location over a 6 week period. Nara prefecture. Considering buying mamachari/s for family transportation eg shopping, to train station. May buy a minivelo for myself and bring back to oz, don't want it or myself impounded.

The shop will help you fill out the papers, it's pretty easy. We bought one for a friend for three days of riding with us and they used the shop as our address! Then we swapped the bike for a nights accomodation in a Rider House.

Oh yeah, Rider Houses. Hokkaido has lots of Rider Houses, for motorcyclists and cyclists. They vary a lot, from a patch of grass with a shed and a tap run by a council to the equivalent of a youth hostel. Cost varies from free to not much. Usually a good crowd of interesting people. To find them you need a Mapple motorcyclists map book. But then a Mapple is pretty well essential anyway. Has everything you need, 97% of campsites, pass heights, scenic routes, location of Konimbi (convenience stores) in the more remote areas and some, but not all, towns.
We only found one Rider House on the mainland, at Noto Peninsula, but it was a nice one!

[brumby33]

As a foreigner on a touring bike you won't have a problem anywhere in Japan. The registration thing is more about identifying the owners of the huge numbers of stolen/ abandoned bikes that pile up. Mamacharis are so cheap people just leave them when they need maintenance sometimes, or people "borrow" them and leave them locally, expecting the owner to find them.

hahaha Yeah.....I find it amazing that when i walk past a bicycle parking area in Chiba prefecture where i normally stay, there's hundreds of mamachuries of the same colour and design and often wonder how in the hell do people know which one is theirs. Probably by a registration sticker or something but jeez, how hard do they have to look in the dark to find theirs as bikes are parked there for well after dark on most occasions, especially in Winter when it's dark at 4.30pm.

Thanks for the mapple info too Trev, I shall keep that in mind for when I get the opportunity to live there.

Cheers

brumby33