Japan Route Explained Kagoshima To Osaka

Japan Route Explained Kagoshima To Osaka

Uh I’m currently doing Japan tour on bicycle and I completed the first chapter which was to cycle from south of Kyoshu to Osaka. And in this episode, I will go through the map and the purpose of the video would be to help other people who are interested in touring Japan. So, let’s check out the route. And I’m using map.com. Uh it was previously called map CZ. Uh I guess it’s check application but now they are map.com. It’s similar to Kumut come uh under it uses the open street map as you can see in the bottom left corner here. Um so yeah so it’s different from Google and here I’m saving my routes in a folder Japan tour and let’s see so I started like let’s see how what what is the distance it’s around 1,400 kilometers uh with a lot of elevation gain and down but this is not shown here. So I went I started in the city of uh Takatski which actually I didn’t add this part but I started in Takatki I went to Osaka port around 40 kilometers and I took a fair night ferry for around um uh 18,000 yen with my bicycle fully like loaded. It was just standing on the ferry deck. I went to Koshima Prefecture, I think it is to the city of Shibushi. So perhaps uh travelers without their own type of transport, they would maybe go a bus to Kagoshima or something like this. Uh I cycled on from here. And at the start I decided to follow some like QU PDF cycling map which uh pointed out this route instead of just cutting to to this Sakurajima. I don’t know why does it say man. So started in Shibushi following this route was quite beautiful coastal route some elevation gain not so much but for me at the time it was extra hard as I was just starting out. I was not used the bicycle and carrying a lot of load. So I was dying the first days. So some highlights here. There was this beautiful bay and I was camping at the top of a mountain here. And somewhere in this location there is the Japanese rocket uh center which go the rockets which go into the space. This segment was um not the green road but for example this smaller roads here. It was very beautiful, very countryside, very mountain surrounding, small village with beautiful red bridge and um then it was uh on the coast again and actually this coastal road is really beautiful. Uh you can maybe see mountains from this part from from the west part and Sakurajima which is a big beautiful very sanic and iconic volcano of Japan. And so I think I wild camped here somewhere and my trip started March 17. So it was still cold, bit cold and at night especially around 0°. I continued to cycle on this coastal road which is quite quite busy. Not crazy but but I had a very pleasant camp in this uh in this place. Actually, I think one of my best experiences, my favorite travel experiences during this two months so far of travel. Very lovely camp owners, young people I met there. And of I will also attach a map with all the checkpoints uh which I mention and which I don’t mention. So yeah, maybe somewhere here or maybe even somewhere more down. No, I think somewhere around Tarum Mizu, you will get more views of the the beautiful Sakurima. And we can briefly take a look. Yes, this is this how it usually looks like. Maybe no more spoilers. It’s very beautiful, very iconic for me. iconic as Mount Fuji as though I didn’t see much Mount Fuji. So sorry for that. Uh continue cycling here. There was one Minoaki which is roadside station with a nonsen. I stopped and I cycled to this campsite. At this point I was basically dying my back, my body, my knees. I was considering giving up. So I spent two days at this cheap campsite. It was around 800 yen. Very big, also very beautiful, very great views of Sakurajima. And fortunately, I regenerated a bit. I sent a little bit package back uh back to my partner in Takatski and I continued on cycling a little bit lighter from Kirishima. I want to reach Amax Island. I take a brief brief stop somewhere in the midst of Kyushu. close to Satsuma Sandai. I keep on cycling to a some kind of mountain pass here, but not not crazy elevations. My knee, by the way, is not is a little bit atrophic. So, it’s a little bit falling apart. So, if you’re fit person, I think you should not have much problems. And I stayed in Izzumi actually in a hotel for 5,000 yen a night. So quite expensive for a longterm trip. It was raining. So I took even more rest. I enjoyed that the good buffet here eating a lot. Yeah, at that point I was still a little bit beat up. Only by the end of the this trip I’m getting more and more stronger. So that’s good. Here you can watch some cranes during the season which is before like from February to March something around that time. You can double check that if you’re at that time in that place. And here comes the Nagasima. I cycled here and uh I stumble upon some viewpoint and also at that day I discover I can stand up when pedalling and it’s much easier. So I challenge myself and I go up this mountain and actually there was very good view and not so many people. So I decided to camp camp there camping. Very good. Nobody interrupted me. No animals. And the next point would be Maxa Islands. Also quite quite famous place. There was uh some quick cheap but not so expensive furry from Lagashima to Amaxa. You don’t need to do any reservations. You just go in and take the next incoming ship. And in a mark side, I took this right side coastal road. I really liked it. It was very beautiful. Oh, I think I discover myself as not the biggest fan of the coastal roads, especially when the wind is blowing my face. But yeah, there was some really beautiful roads, sometimes quite narrow, which is good for bicycle because it’s like more cozy and when the cars are going, they go very slow. So that was cool. Interesting road. Then it was starting to rain. So I a little bit decided not to camp actually. And it was so freaking cold. And I just speedrun to Amaxa where I found a rider house which is cheap accommodation specifically for I think motorbike riders. But I talked with the guy it was okay. And for the note I do speak Japanese language. I study for three years. I speak I would say basic but enough to do a some small talk but also I don’t understand a lot but yeah um and then from Amaxa the next goal was Nagasaki. I’m sorry I’m sure if uh I could take this ship with the bicycle from Tomyoka. Yeah, from Tommyoka. Here’s also a castle next to the port. Didn’t see it. And yeah, as I made a phone call, it turns out you can take this ferry here. It’s very small. It’s quite small ferry. I mean, there’s no space for motorbikes or cars. and my bicycle was just strapped to like a pole on a small outside part of the pole. Uh but yeah, like two two bikes I think no problem. Four bikes. Yeah, I guess they can strap it also to the barriers. Um should be doable. And here this place it will depend on the wind if you can go or not. I mean if the wind is strong I mean you know the sea might be wavy and they might cancel the boat. So they will probably tell you if the boat will go one hour before departure. Uh I think uh you should find some you know there are problems. There is one campsite here legal. I don’t know what is the cost. Not sure. You can try it out or I think you should be able to camp even while somewhere here and after the boat which was around 1 hour I think. Um arrive close to Nagasaki here. We go this little bit quite steep road here and then cyclone and really beautiful view coming into the Nagasaki really something that was something else something quite it hits differently very beautiful city especially looking from the top and also later the night view on this mount inasa right here are also amazing. And there was also really cheap guest house guest house showa 2,000 yen for bicycle riders and a lot of people touring Japan going around Japan. Mostly Japanese people came there. But the owner I think also would be happy to host not nonJapanese speaking people. He was he was really lovely. He he behaved like a father. He in his guest house a lot of snacks and foods was free. He provided a lot. It was great. He also dragged me to the mountain. So I’m really thankful for him for that to him for that. and cycling on to the east. I wanted to go to Kumamoto, but I was still bit checking out this uh this unen here. And I decided to go here to this unen place and here stopped on some campsite for 2,000 yen around with great views of this mountain Mount Mountain Mounten and um did 20 kilometers with eight around 800 or 1,000 elevation. That was a bit tough for me. So I was just taking my time on this 20 kilometer ride and the small road was quite lovely. I could chill. And here it was normal road with not so many cars but still there were some. So it was not so magical in in here. As you can see there’s there is some snails. Here was some small beautiful lake and you arrive unen I went first night to a campsite I think 2,000 yen and then I decided it was definitely too cold and I moved to a guest house which was 3,000 yen per per night in the dead center of actually wait where is it I think yeah at this ah yeah yeah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This very nice guest house. The owner is just his character is like really kind, delicate and warm. I think this man is quite sensitive. I mean like in a good way sensitive person. You can hear his voice is like like a poem maybe. It was just just good. And you can uh do a hike here to the hai shan I guess to this mountain. It’s very nice hike, very beautiful. And then cycle cycle a little bit up around 300 mters. And then you can almost all the time go down to almost almost almost all the time you can go to Shimabara where there is a castle if you want to do some side viewing. Also very cool castle. And from there I went to Kumamoto city. In Kumamoto you arrive at Siraakawa River. This is this river here and I just decide to camp there as there was a lot of space. Was mostly all right camp but somebody flash light at me at night but other than that it was all right. Usually I don’t have this type of experience and from Kumamoto I want to reach as so I cycl on to the so I cycle on to the city of Mini as it’s not special, right? I mean, the the views the views when you’re approaching aso are are getting very interesting, very beautiful, but other than that, it’s just big city Kuba and escaping it. And then some of the big road and like around also there is a big wall like in game of thrones it’s this wall is everywhere around it but just this this passage here if you’re coming from here there’s not so much elevation there’s small path I guess carved by a river stay some camp here also no Not so cheap. Not so cheap. Maybe thousand yen, but not providing actually much other than just peace of mind. And then also really small ride as I was dead again. Maybe you’re quite not noticing I’m I’m not very strong person. Uh I don’t know. And I cycled just this 20 kilometers to to the city of Asel which is a touristic hub but very very nice one I would say with a lot of great foods nicei. There was a really really really really clean beautiful aso backpacker space host really the cleanest place I’ve been to with great like atmosphere in the common spaces and with great amenities like the kitchen was very great very new very clean nice sharp have coffee tea And I did go to Mount Ao and hike also Takadaka. I went by bus, but it’s also great. Uh cycling somewhere in this aso area on top is recommended for uh if you’re cycling and if you have enough power, you will be rewarded with great views, planes. If you get above certain elevation, the forest will stay below you and you’ll see more and more. And also at this uh at any point where you will reach this wall around Aso, there are also great views. can admire Asso from distance which gives some other perspective notice here is like a lot of interesting rivers that’s cool and from I went to Kuroka on sand to be honest I it’s my second time in Kuroka on sand but I don’t like it so much I don’t like it so much this place is I is for expensive hotels. You can go to many a for not not so much. For 1,500 yen, you can go to three onens of your choice. But yeah, there’s not no like very nice restaurant for backpackers or there was I think no cafe. I just hide here behind the information center. There is a rest area with tatami. So I was just lying there for a few hours because it was raining almost all day there. Uh yeah, if you have never been there, it’s a good place, but to be honest, for me it was nothing too special there. And there is was also one cheap guest house here for around 3,000 yen. guy uh working at gas station uh just uh just at the entrance to Kuruken or right here at the Cosmo. He runs a guest house a little bit somewhere around here and he took me with his track to the guest house. He carried my bicycle on the track. That’s good because there there was some quite elevation. and it was raining and I stayed at his place because the rians the traditional hotels in the Kuroka onens are onen are no cheap at all. This this more expensive Japanese experience which for sure is also very good. If you have money for that, then yeah, I would also love to to stay in some of this, not going to lie. But I’m a cheap ass person with not so much money and I want to see the world. And from Kuruka on I went to Euin. I think maybe I regenerate a little bit because this one’s got bigger. That right. Yeah. Very, very nice. Very interesting. Especially approaching Eufuin. It was beautiful and especially entering somewhere here. Entering Euin when you see the Mount Yu, the view is just so magnificent and spectacular. Mount Yu like he’s standing tall proudly on the background of a blue sky and this city is small very quite touristic cities city a lot of Asians especially South Koreans some Chinese come here some Taiwanese not so many western people come here there are some but not so many and yeah for you crazy uh adventurous freaks, you can climb the Mount Yufu. I mean, it’s not not hard or something. Just uh nice exercise. Also, again, I I really recommend climbing here. It gives you great views of all the surrounding area. I think you can even maybe see the mount as maybe maybe I don’t know and you can see beu and it with the bay it’s great view takes around six six hours hike here and then there is not a big distance to to the city of beep also I I really recommend the city of beep it’s it’s beautiful. It has nice great river with nice uh path along it. Very green, beautiful sea. And you know, it’s bit on the west side. It’s higher. So, it’s a little bit like from a small mountain view, you can take a look down into the Beu City. And uh yeah from BPU I went to it. There I was waiting to receive one package. I met with my friend. I went to Ephuin again. I did one week of volunteer but I will maybe not go so much over this as I want to focus more on the route in this video. And from Beepu again, I took ferry to Yawat Hama. I didn’t take ferry to to this place. I don’t I don’t want to cycle here. I guess it’s just a busy road. Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe this yellow one would be interesting adventure if you’re up for that. But uh make your research or just go on an adventure. I went to Yatama wild camping uh somewhere on top of a mountain. I might have an encounter with a bear over there. Not sure what animal was that, but I was freaking I thought I will die literally. And yeah, from Yahama went to down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down here somewhere next to Shimanto River. I did some wild camping but it’s marked on Google as a campground. Then maybe I think following more Shimanto River or something like this a little bit north of Shimanto City next camp this one for free and actually the the cycling here really good really beautiful it’s very different from Kyushu at least from the parts I cycle it’s cozy you are surrounded by mountains You usually cycle you pro 90% you will cycle somewhere along some river just very different vibe very different thing and move to our next campsite and then went to the city of Kochi where it’s another free campsite. So we’re getting more in more free campsite. That’s good. Here you can take a free boat through these points because this bridge uh just the sidewalk is very narrow and it’s hard to cycle on. I’m not sure if you can cycle on the road here. Maybe you can. Maybe you can. I don’t know. But also you can take this uh this boat for free. Yeah, if you want to cycle here uh it’s it’s possible on if not on the road on the sidewalk and this bridge has some elevation because it’s very tall to allow ships to go under it. And just on this part there is a big big campsite amongst the Japanese black pine trees giving uh just an beautiful relaxing uh smell of the pines and then cycling into the Ia Valley. What do we have? Uh some campsite Hokamina. It was free as you can see. And here a lot of free campsites here. And the weather was also getting better. So happy to camp. And then to the Ia Valley and to the Kazura Kazur Basi bridge. There is next to the close to the bridge there is a campsite. Quite cheap. I think 600 yen or 700 yen something like this and you know close to this biggest touristic attraction of this place but it’s still it’s very beautiful place you can take and here’s some onense along the way close to the bridge there is some like small snack and restaurant so you can have some food there is also small grocery and souvenir shop here so it should be Good. And then cycle to the next bridges, next vine bridges in the Okua. So this is still the ora valley. And here’s another very cheap campsite for around 500 600 yen. I stayed here two nights. And you just need to pay for one night. So you just pay to cross the bridge as it’s touristic attraction and you pay for campsite. But you can stay more nights though. There is almost nothing at the campsite. There’s just toilet. There’s there was no vending machine. I mean, at least at the campsite because you need to get down the bridge and some stairs to get to the campsite where you will rather not take your bicycle. You can do that, but just I think it’s just not worth it by carrying your heavy bicycle down here. And uh I went up to Tsurugi, climbed it, went down, went back to the campsite and next day I went again the same route. Actually, you can come on the top of Mount Sugi uh for free, I think. Uh maybe a little bit cold but yeah there is after getting off this uh cable car or you can walk if you want. There is a campsite here. Uh you can you can put your tent and camp legally. And so you can also climb and maybe the next day you can cycle on. You don’t have to climb this uh part once again. Although it’s nice. Uh I mean it’s just a road going up. Not much. You not so super sanic. And then when you cross here this small tunel next to Surugi parking lot you will see very beautiful great mountainous views as you are on the elevation of around 1,400 or something and also road. this road. Very nice views and the smells were amazing from all the from all the trees. I was just breathing hard when I was going down here just um you know get into the was this deep breathing vibe. Yeah, I really loved it. And then I wanted to cycle I don’t know how far maybe somewhere around Kamyama but I actually found nice abandoned house here. I really wanted to stay one time in abandoned house. Also it was raining during the night so I decide yeah I’ll just go for it. Yeah. And it was warm. I was protected with the rain. Nothing like kill me. No ghosts. So great abandoned house. Of course, I left everything like it was untouched. And then in the morning, I quickly rushed 5 kilometers down the road because I really want to take a I’m sorry dump number two. And there is some small small abandoned also not used anymore school somewhere 5 kilometers down here. Ah, I guess it’s somewhere here. And there’s a toilet next to it. So, yeah, happily I I could relieve myself also. Very nice. Great. Authentic. I mean, like, you know, original like back to the roots ramen place. Ramen Udon Saba place here. Ramen for just 600 yen. It was really delicious. I mean, it was just good ramen, you know, from a simple lady, not like this modern city And yeah, for 600 yen. Come on, that’s that’s a steal. And cycle on to the to the Kamyama. I thought I can go to onen here because there’s some mitinoaki roadside station with onen in the name but there is no freaking onen. There is some hotel next to it but I guess it’s expensive or onen is closed or something like this. There is campsite here actually expensive maybe 4,000 yen but please double check. There is some nice restaurants here, I guess, in Kamyama. Some bakery, so that’s good. And then I just cycle down to to Kushima. Mostly slight elevation going down. So decline, I don’t know. And from Tokushima, I stop here at the JR. I make a phone call for the obligatory reservation to cross the bridge to Aaji Island because you cannot cross this bridge by bicycle. You need to go by car by bus. So you can make a phone call to to reserve place for you in the bus. So on that day which was I think day after golden week I called I reserved it was okay and there was no other cyclist than me and there was I guess six eight spots for the bicycle in the bus. So I actually I didn’t have to cycle this blank part from Tokushima and I came to Minami Aadi interchange place and I think there’s one campsite somewhere here for 1,000 yen, but I didn’t find it at the time. I found one campsite here uh for 1,600 yen. So I cycled this uh around 13 kilometers quickly. H also really great campsite again with the Japanese black pines giving amazing smell. I don’t know just something about this smell which I love really much. Uh I did small detour here to take a look at the bridge from the top and uh cycle in the east side of AI. It’s funny because I also cycle on the east side of Amaxa. So I’m more rightand guy type. And yeah, this coastal road, I don’t know, just not a big fan of the coastal road and the smell from the sea is actually not so nice. At least at the time came to Sumoto. There’s no campsite here. So there are two beaches, mostly one very beautiful and big beach with big park, but quite too busy. So, I just moved to the next beach and there was way less people. And in the even when it got dark, there was actually nobody. While here, some people could still be there. And on the last day, I did quite a big stretch because I just decided, okay, I will I will just go back home. I will do that. And went from Sumoto to Isaia something like this I’m not sure the name but there is a ferry here until Akashi also you cannot cycle that bridge there are plans for it so you can cycle under the bridge in the future but that’s maybe in the future and from Akashi I just cycle this huge 70 kilometer distance all the time going through city this never ending city for 70 kilometers. Yeah, this just just the distance I cycle. But maybe you know maybe if you will cycle here. Osaka Takasago a kayama kuraski I don’t know maybe you can like have an infinite city here maybe. Um, and yeah, I came to to Takaskki a little bit with a tear in my eye that wow, I came by freaking bicycle here and when I was approaching and getting closer, I was like, “Oh I I know this place. I have been here.” That’s it. Yeah. But no people, no ovation, no clapping, just a modest visit to a ramen shop and going home and taking a shower, which uh I am also grateful for and happy. Just bit depressed because uh I’m singing in a home now, not being out there. But that will change soon. So it’s a it’s a rough transition now I guess. And uh so that concludes for the route. The route was not planned uh beforehand. I was planning as I was going visiting some places I want to see and of course I I needed to like force myself to visit some places which in the end was fun like or really nice. I spent most of the time in Kyushu was mostly warming up also a lot of sightseeing I just very quickly went through but it was really the scenery of the roads was really beautiful. It was really cozy. Yeah, it was once again one and a half thousand kilometers. Uh, a lot of elevation gain every day, maybe 500 to 1,000 elevation gain. And I just cycle 40 kilometers at max. But yeah, if your body is healthy and you’re a fit person, you can cycle more. If you don’t have much time like I do have now, yes, if you would uh have any questions or have some specific requests, uh then let me know. I’ll be happy to help. That’s why I made this video. Yeah, that’s it for this one. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.