Sado Island – Joetsu 39 miles The rain would return as I cycled the southern half of Sado. Yet perhaps on this day it was a good thing as I’d long since forgotten the last time I’d actually taken a shower – or a bath. I’m not normally a stinky person, but when you can…
Category: Humour
Robot Touching in Exile
Sado Island 77 miles An evening boat would take me to Sado, some 30 miles west off the coast of Niigata. I’d arrived in darkness and quickly found myself an unkempt stretch of coastal parkland to set up camp. Sado is a place with a morose history, and that’s even before you consider the slave…
Summer Time in Snow Country
Agano – Sado Island 41 miles The skies were clear first thing and the day was already well on its way to becoming hot. Instead of heading directly to Niigata, I took a bit of a detour further into the depths of the prefecture’s lush agricultural heartland. For a prefecture that prides itself on having…
Rice is Nice
Yunohama – Agano 85 miles Entering Niigata Prefecture meant that I was officially leaving Tōhoku, the north of Honshū behind, and saying a hearty ‘Hello’ to the Chūbu Region, Central Honshū. Niigata is a prefecture that prides itself on producing some of the best grades of rice in all of Japan, its output of rice…
The Search for the Living Dead: Part 2
Sakata – Yunohama 70 miles ‘I saw the mummy when I was a boy,’ declared Akira. ‘What???’ I said, nearly spitting my marmalade toast into his face. ‘Doko?’ where? ‘It was a long time ago,’ he said standing up and collecting our plates. And that was it, I swear he could tell that I was…
The Search for the Living Dead: Part 1
Yurihonjo – Sakata 57 miles The hot spring waters had helped numb my aching limb, and the good night’s sleep aided my mind in preparation for another battle with Route 7. Today, as I progressed into Yamagata Prefecture, I would only have to join the Bastard Route in fits and spurts. For the most part, I’d…
Buying Rubbers in Japan: The Inside Scoop
Oga Peninsula – Yurihonjō 66 miles As expected, it wasn’t a tremendous night’s sleep, but not being violently stabbed to death in my tent by the deba blade of a Namahage was something to be grateful for, at least. The eaves of the outbuilding – still dripping from the night’s incessant downpour – made me…
Tokyo to Tokyo 