I became a vegan

English | 日本語

I'm allergic.

I don't know if it's congenital or acquired.

Asthma, hay fever, UV rays, etc.

It was before I was 40 years old that I wanted to improve my allergies.

Naturally, I researched a lot of things to improve my constitution.

At that time, mad cow disease and other diseases were all over the world. Therefore, I also researched the situation of food production.

I came to the conclusion that I should not eat protein from mammals that were close to humans.

At that time, I still had a lot of doubts about food, such as, "It's OK if I couldn't eat steak and pork cutlet," "The Japanese can't do without sushi," and "I can't miss Yakitori". I was also attracted to the macrobiotic diet of brown rice and cereals, so I changed my diet.

This is how I became a "semi-vegetarian".

What I found out here is that in Japan, just saying "no mammals" severely restricts my diet. Food bought at supermarkets and convenience stores, eating out. If I'm not careful, there's usually something in it. Of course, when I talk to people, they are surprised and ask me why I eat the way I do. It made me realize that this is a country with a remarkable lack of diversity.

How has been my health?

Neither hay fever nor sun allergies have been cured, but the symptoms have lessened.

Most noticeable is "bowel movements". My bowel movements are fluffier and the amount of bowel movements has increased. I don't have hemorrhoids anymore, which I used to worry about many times a year because of my sedentary job for a long time. I don't have any abnormal results in my health checkup. Isn't that wonderful?

And now I'm in my mid-50s. My wife suffers from high blood pressure. So I decided to change my and her diet again to improve our constitution. But this time, mainly it's not about me.

As I did some research, I found that the information on vegetarianism has certainly been updated from more than a decade ago. Population growth, food problems, and environmental problems on the planet are serious. This is a problem for my children and grandchildren and beyond. I knew about "veganism" but that's when I did my research. Finally, I decided to change my life again.

I became a vegan.

This is a big deal in Japan. It means I have to reject most modern Japanese food. But as long as I choose the ingredients and cook them myself, it's not a problem. Fortunately, it's easy to get my own food. However, while eating out became almost impossible, I also learned that if I stopped eating out, I wouldn't have to.

I also experienced what the differences in eating habits would be like if I went out of the country. It varies from country to country, but the fact that Japan has such a low diversity of values became even more apparent to me.

How has my health improved? I am approaching 60 years old and am in excellent health. The checkups don't find any vital problems. My allergies may not go away, but they don't get any worse. My wife's high blood pressure has not worsened, but has improved slightly due to my eating habits. Vegan life as a personal health is not bad.

A change in food changes my outlook on life.

However, it would take a very long time to talk about it, so I'll just tell you how I became a Vegan today.

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Hokkaido Touring Day 28: Suddenly it's over.

English | 日本語

I went to bed last night just after midnight, but woke up at 5:30 as usual. It wasn't that comfortable, but I did get some sleep. Today I tried the free morning set from the Kaikatsu Club. The Free version is a bit small in quantity, so I added 100 jpy to get a double size. After the meal, clean up and replenish the drinks and pack. Since it was raining, I put on rain gear and left.

I met a high school student rinding a city bike in the rain. He was riding around from Ibaraki to Hokkaido with a backpack on back and strapped to a 3-speed city bike tied his luggage. He said now he was on their way back. He doesn't have a tent, just a sleeping bag, and he is traveling in the field. He said he's going to ride today without sleeping, and he's going home by tomorrow. He was young and full of energy. I wouldn't be able to keep going if I were to do that.

The peaches sold at the roadside station on the way were super tasty. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't know Fukushima Prefecture was a peach-producing region. It's called "Kenjyou peaches". I was faster than the high-school boy from earlier, but since I was taking a break here, I met him again. I gave him the rest of the peaches and cheered him on.

A little past noon, after 100km, I think about today's destination and decided to stay in a health resort for the first time.

I guess I have about 30km to go. Suddenly the pedals locked up and I couldn't turn them. I can't turn it forward or backward. Did something bite the wheel? I stopped the bike and examined the rear wheel in a hurry. Then I found that the chain was biting into the rear pulley. When I looked closer, I saw that the pulley teeth were missing! In an instant, I knew why.

When I flew the bike to Hokkaido, I bent the rear derailleur hanger when I arrived at the Chitose airport, but I had to use force to fix it. But in reality, the hanger was still a bit bent slightly. I managed to cheat my way to this point, but the bent hanger seemed to keep putting a load on the rear pulley and chain at an angle. As a result, the rain kept scraping the aluminum pulley to the stainless steel chain until there was no longer any place for it to catch... The chain has been reconnected several times, but it still falls between the pulley and the cage, so it seems to be impossible to make it ride, although it can be pushed if the pulley is not replaced.

Using Google Maps to find a nearby bike shop and station. The station is about 1km away, so I can push my bike to get there. Unfortunately, there is no bike shop, and if I go to Koriyama station from here, I may find a bike shop. I also checked the time and cost of taking a conventional train from here to home, and it took about 6 hours! It was going to cost about 3,500 jpy to get home. Now what to do....

It's still going to rain for a while and I don't know if I'll be able to get parts for it. If I can't fix it, it will probably cost me a lot of money to stay. My family in Tokyo will be home tomorrow, and I have some other things I want to fix the bike.
I decided to end this trip here.
Then I pushed my bike to the station, packed and got on the train.

It took me about six hours to get to Machida station from Koriyama to Machida on the conventional line, but most of the time I was able to sit down, so I didn't get so tired. But it was strange feeling to say that I was in Sendai this morning, but I was already home at night. I was so tired, so I took a bath at home for the first time in a long time and slept soundly. I'm a little disappointed, but there's always another chance. I'm more interested in fixing the things I found out on this trip, and I can't wait honestly to go back for the next trip.

(Fin)

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仙台から二本松 100km

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Hokkaido Touring Day 27: To Sendai City

English | 日本語

It rained quite a bit in the middle of the night. In the morning, it seemed to have stopped raining, so I decided to clean up the tent and hang it out to dry first. Then I ate breakfast with bread and coffee. As the sun was starting to shine, I dried off just in time to leave at 7:30 AM. It seems unlikely that the running dry machine (=my bike) will work well in this weather.

I tried to take a video with my Chinese action camera, SJCAM, but it was cloudy. It seems that yesterday's rain got into the camera and condensation got inside. It's not a bad action camera, but I want to get something with a longer battery life and without a waterproof housing. In the meantime, no video recording until the condensation clears up. The rain have destroyed a lot of things on this touring trip.
This area has a brown monotone sign for the shop as the picture. Why is that?

I take a lunch break around 12:00 and eat a rice ball and a banana. I checked the battery life of my new phone while eating lunch. I've used only 15% of it in about 5 hours so far. If I had charged it during the break, it would have increased to 93%. I'll use the navigation system after this to check my consumption, but it's a great power saving phone, great. Longer use and shorter charging time. After all, it's hard to get a true picture of usability from a simple catalog spec.

A little past three o'clock, I arrived at the roadside station, Sambongi. There were many dumplings and rice cakes for sale, and I'm a sucker for sweet things, so I couldn't help but be tempted to buy them all. Zunda dumplings are delicious!
Google Maps showed a shortcut route to Route 4 in the direction of Sendai, so I went there. I knew Google Maps always give me a lot of challenge. There is a mountain route. Route 4 must have taken a detour through the mountains. The distance was short, but the fatigue and time must have been greater here.

After a break, I found about ten adults and children gathered by the side of a nearby rice field, waving to each other. As I approached, they seemed to be cheering me on, saying, "Hang in there!" I smiled and said, "Thank you!" And as I got more closer, the kids responded as usual, saying things like "awesome" and "cool". It's quite fun.

I managed to get to Sendai Station at 5 PM and pushed my bicycles through the arcade to look at the shops and restaurants. I soon found a beef tongue shop that also delivers beef, so I sent some meat, hamburgers and sausages as bring home for my family in Tokyo. After my little mission, I'm going to take my time to find a bath, food and a place to sleep.

I went to a public bath in the neighborhood. Here is a town where the entertainment district called Sendai Kokubuncho is located. Most of the customers in the bath have tattoos. Well, I'm an old man now, so I took a bath with a nonchalant look on my face. I hadn't taken a bath in three days, so it was very comfortable. Then I went to the coin laundry in the same building and washed yesterday and today's clothes. Here in Sendai, The washing fee is only 400 jpy. I think I would have been happy to use a laundromat for such a price.
While I was washing clothes, I looked for a restaurant for dinner. The nearby beef tongue restaurant "Tsukasa" seemed to have a good reputation, so I will go there. I think for the lodging is an internet cafe, but I don't feel comfortable leaving my bicycle in the Sendai station area, so I decided to stay internet cafe located in a suburban.

After completing my laundry, it was starting to rain, so I put on my rain gear and headed to "Tsukasa". Maybe it was a popular restaurant, but there was a line... I had to wait 30 minutes and got the 1.5-person beef tongue set meal. The meat, soup and rice were all delicious. Remembering back on it carefully, I realized that the restaurant I came to last year with my wife was also a branch of this restaurant. It was a strange coincidence.

After dinner, I'm pushing my bike and looking out at the city at night, and just like in the daytime, I hear people saying "awesome" and "cool". At night, however, it's the adults, not the kids, who are saying that...

A little after nine o'clock, I could arrive at an internet cafe in the suburbs. And I charge all my devices, write in my diary, and considered my plans for tomorrow. According to the weather forecast, the weather is going to be bad all week, and there are no good camping sites on the route. I was considering many things, but I decided to run to Koriyama and stay at the internet cafe again. As I'm not hurry tomorrow, I decided to go slowly, although there is a distance. There seems to be hot springs and I will be able to relax. Well, I don't necessarily care about camping. The city is already close, and if there is a good campsite within a good distance, I will use it. I don't want to camp in the public park now because of the bad weather, so I'll do it some other time.
There are not many cyclists to meet. I only passed one person today.

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北上運動公園キャンプ場から仙台 140km

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Hokkaido Touring Day 26: Recovery day

English | 日本語

Last night the sound of the rain was so loud that it was hard to sleep. I learned on this trip that it's also camping to have to sleep in variety of environments, such as pretty noisy, with loud waves, rain, and car sound. Earphones alone do not work as earplugs, so it's just as well if I played a little music. I also experienced that when it's cold, I have to go to the bathroom in the mid-night. What makes me want to go to the bathroom more often only when it's raining and it's too far away to go there ?

Even under those circumstances, I was asleep before I knew it, and I woke up before 5 AM when it was light outside. Anyway, I went to the pavilion and ate breakfast (bean bread, bread, coffee and banana). I brought the contents of the tent and the tent to the pavilion and wiped it down with a towel, trying to dry it off a bit. And of course the laundry was still not dry. As it was the third day of rain today, and the train station was close, I decided to escape from the rain by train.

I left a little after 7 o'clock and headed to the nearby Mukaiyama station so as not to get too dirty. There is no ticket gate or anything at the station, so I asked the people there how to get on the train and the time of the train. He said that I get on the train from the platform entrance after climbing the stairs and take a numbered ticket. In short, he said it's a one-man train. I asked for the next time to departure because the up train was coming soon, and he said it would be in 30 minutes. I started to decompose my bike and it takes only 10 minutes to finish packing. Folding bike and trailer is very useful in this kind of situation.

As I waited on the platform in the light rain, the train was announced to be 10 minutes late. I waited for a while and got on the train safely. Thinking about where to get off, I decided to get off when the weather gets better, but I finally ended up going to Morioka (3,400 jpy).

While I was assembling the bike at Morioka station, the bus driver talked to me. He was wondering what kind of bike it was, but he said to me what a small bike ! So I explained to him that I went around Hokkaido and on the way to go back to Tokyo. I told him that this trailer brings all the food, clothing and shelter, he was very surprised. The driver is a motorbike rider and goes touring once in a while, but he's afraid to go camping. He seems to be confusing the camping with the camping ground and wild camping, so I told him that the camping ground in Hokkaido is free and safe.

Anyway, I'm going to wander around the neighborhood and check the map on my iPad at a place with a WiFi connection, so I found 7/11 convenience store, but there was no WiFi. I asked him is there any electronics store near here while I was buying a snack, and he told me that there were several electric stores on the other side of the station. I headed to there.

There was a Kojima Electric right on the other side of Morioka station and I got a phone as soon as I could. It was the only SIM-free waterproof phone in the store, so I had no choice but to get the Fujitsu Arrows M03 (34,000 jpy + 500 jpy for a protection sticker). It's lighter and smaller than I used before. If I was concerned about the battery capacity, I heard that this has an excellent power saving function and will last a long time. That's very promising. Maybe it's a good thing that my last phone was broken. While he was setting up the new phone, I talked to the clerk about my bike trip. He was climbing mountains in Iwate. He also wants to go on a long camping trip in the future. It is interesting that many people I met were interested in camping.

I hadn't decided on my destination for today yet, but I knew I should take route 4, so I started riding. There was a McDonald's a short while later, so I took a lunch and charge + WiFi to download an app for the new phone. At first I thought I would go to an internet cafe in Hanamaki or Kitakami because I was late, but I found a reasonable free camping site (Kitakami Athletic Park Camping Site), so I decided to go there today.

The route 4 from Morioka is much easier to ride than the one in Aomori, and unlike Hokkaido and the Shimokita Peninsula, there are many shops along the road. It feels a lot closer to the city. Instead, the sun comes out and it's hot. The wind and shade are cooler in Hokkaido, but that's not the case here anymore. Thanks to this, the running dry machine (=my bike) worked well.

With a few kilometres to go, the sky was in doubt... Eventually it squalled just before the first kilometre, but I kept going as I have to wash them at the destination in result. The camp site is a manicured grass field at the far end of the park. It's nice to see that it's free, with toilets and water facilities. There were about five pairs of guests ahead of me. The squall from earlier was still there, so I washed my hair, wiped myself down, and washed my clothes, and then set up my tent. It's already getting a little dark, so I hurried to get ready for the food. Pepperoncino and tomatoes with a smattering of leftovers. I'm almost out of ingredients except for rice. I have to buy more ingredients carefully since there's less than a week left of this touring.

I wrote my journal and went to bed at 9 PM. By the way, my phone battery was at 77% at first and had 51% left before I went to bed. Just in the afternoon I used usual app (Line, BikeComputerPro, Google Maps, etc.), but the battery remains a lot I expected. I think I'll start using it tomorrow from 100% charge as usual and see how much is left.

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From Morioka station to Kitagami Sports Park Campground 50km

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Hokkaido Touring Day 25: Rain and Rain

English | 日本語

I woke up at 5 AM. The rain from yesterday is still falling. My tent is soaked in both fly and groundsheet. I'm trying to keep the inner tent dry, but it's a futile effort as I have to put it in one compression bag (sighs). Can I just put the inner tent away? The baths open at 6:00, so I take my laundry and put it in the dryer for 30 minutes for 100 jpy. In the meantime, I eat breakfast which was porridge with leftover rice, scallops and vegetables.

I left at 7:30 in the rain, and there was no sign of it stopping. The conditions were so bad that it would occasionally rain sideways. In addition, the same roads I took yesterday were narrow and steep. I had no choice but to escape to the sidewalk every now and then, but the sidewalks were not very well maintained. So I got my pace very slow.

After an hour and a half of riding, I took a break for tea and doughnuts I bring. There are no shops around here, as there was yesterday. It was raining, so I didn't take any video or photos, and just kept riding.
As usual in the rain, my phone's screen is not responding well. This cell phone is really useless when it gets water drops on it. After a while, I found some water on the inside of the phone's waterproof cover. I took it out in a hurry, but it was already too late. The phone has stopped responding. I'll try to recover later when it dry if available... It is a big problem to not be able to use my phone here. I'll just have to find a WiFi access point and use the iPad instead of the cell phone. Chinese phones are cheap, but few of them were waterproofed then. I decided that I'll definitely buy a Japanese waterproof phone next time.

From Yokohama town, I crossed the Shimokita peninsula and came out to Rokkasho village. There were many slopes because I was crossing a mountain pass.
Hydrangeas were in full bloom. The temperature, the rain, and the hydrangea make it look just like June in Tokyo. It was lunchtime, but there was no restaurant but I found a convenience store called "Somehow Family Shop" and ate a rice ball and a cup of tea. I asked the clerk "was it always like this during the Bon holidays ?" Then he answered it was abnormal this year.

When I got to Misawa, it finally started to look like a town. I found the familiar convenience stores as in Tokyo, and I took a break at Family Mart to get WiFi. While charging my iPad, I connected to internet and checked the campground near here. Fortunately, there were three campsites within 10 km, so I looked at them carefully to see if I could make it, but one of them required a reservation. I need to apply for the other one at the government office, and finally the only place I could go was Kawayo Green Park 8km away. When I arrived there, there are no showers or baths, and no places to shop nearby, despite the high cost (800 jpy). In addition, I can't take out the garbage. Of course I think no one would come to this place usually. If I hadn't been tired from the rain, I wouldn't have come here either. Fortunately, I was the only one camping, so I had the covered cooking area all to myself and took shelter from the rain.

It was cold and I couldn't bring myself to wash myself, so I just wiped myself down with a towel. I washed my clothes and cleaned the mud off of my bike and trailer, and braved the rain under the roof. Since I couldn't stop by to buy something, I cooked pasta with leftover ingredients today, but it was delicious and I had a full meal. Is there enough left for two more pasta sessions?

I found a table tap at the power source in the cookhouse, so I borrowed it. It hasn't been able to charge the battery by solar panel at all because of continuous rain, and it's pretty bad. I'm wondering if I should take a rest tomorrow where I can get a power supply, or use the train if it continues to rain. My iPad doesn't need so much power if I'm reading a book, but I don't want to use it with Google Maps running because the battery ran out in no time. I have to find a map application that can be used offline and doesn't consume battery power.

I rode two days yesterday and today, but I don't want to ride in Aomori (the Shimokita Peninsula side) anymore. It's too unsuitable for cycling. Next year, I'll either take a boat from Tomakomai to Hachinohe or Oarai, or fly back.

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From Mutsu town to Misawa town 95km

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Hokkaido Touring Day 24: Cycling in Aomori

English | 日本語

(For some reason I didn't take many pictures today.)

I woke up at 5:30, not needed to wake up call. Charging is almost complete for all devices. I drunk coffee and its stock was over. I left a little after 6:30 and arrived at the ferry terminal before 7:00. Since I wasn't flying, I spent only ten minutes to fold up my bicycle. I paid the 2,600 jpy for the ticket I had booked yesterday, and had two rice balls and tea for breakfast. The ship left on time. I fixed my bike to the railing on the outside of the 2nd class cabin. Later I found out that there were quite a lot of bicycles in the same place.

The ferry arrived at Oma on time. I'm a folding bike with a trailer, so it took me 15 minutes to assemble it. The other cyclists are using normal bicycles, so it will take more time. I will go on ahead of them. Since I was going to eat tuna in Oma where is famous for, I ate tuna bowl at the first restaurant I found.

I start cycling through Aomori in earnest, but the vegetation is different than Hokkaido first. There are many cedars here. The road and the shoulder is also narrow. The motorbikes passing are not much of greetings, and the bicycle was not seen. The coastline of the windy Oke-machi, the headwind is strong, and there are many steep hills after a while. The Kinobe Pass is particularly steep and long and I pushed my bike half of the way up the hill. After that, I continued to climb and descend. And the climbs are all steep. The wind was so strong on the flat terrain near the beach, so it was too hard to ride. It was very tiring.

It starts to drizzle at 2 PM. I took a break for a convenience store in Ohata-cho, Mutsu City. Come to think of it, there is no Seicomart, and I feel it is a little lonely. It was still raining after that, but I didn't wear rain gear because I was going to wash it anyway in a little while. The super market before the campsite was good. There a lot of local vegetables with cheap price, and I got some baby scallops and also some coffee that I had run out of.

I arrived at the Mutsu Yatate Onsen Campground for 200 jpy. The hot spring 450 jpy was hot near there. There is no cell phone signal and no WiFi, so no internet today.
The rain has fallen all night. I think it will rain again tomorrow.

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From Hakodate to Mutsu City 55km

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Hokkaido Touring Day 23: Toward Hakodate

English | 日本語

I woke up at 5 AM. It was raining again this morning, so I didn't use a fire, but breakfasted on bread and bananas. The tent doesn't seem to be able to dry, so I gave up and folded it up while it was still wet. I put on my rain gear and left at 7:00.

I stopped at a Lawson store on the way to buy iced-pet bottle and breads for supplying and take out the trash. After a short ride on Route 5, the road began to dry out and I took off my rain gear. I thought today would be flat along the coast, but it was a fleeting hope. There are many ups and downs and tunnels, and the shoulders are narrow beside road, so it is hard to ride.

I saw a group of cyclists heading north in a group 4-5 times today. Probably they are a university club. Maybe it's because they are in a group, they don't greet much, and they were not very nice. Many people are continuing to ride northward from yesterday. They may have come to touring over the Obon holidays.
As I entered Hakodate, the headwind became strong and I didn't make any progress. I stopped at a convenience store called Hasegawa Store for a restroom break. I can't see convenience stores like this in other parts of Japan, but there are several in Hakodate.

I arrived at the Tsugaru Kaikyo Ferry Terminal around noon. I booked a ticket for tomorrow morning at 9:30. Since I decided to fold my bicycle and bring it in as hand luggage, it will cost only 2,600 jpy.

As I've been to Hakodate many times, I didn't do any sightseeing and headed to the seafood market next to Hakodate Station. I arrived after about 5km. I parked my bike by the parking lot and went to Donburi Yokocho. I couldn't remember which restaurant I was going to eat at, so I checked the menu one by one as I went to my destination. It's the first time in a long time that I ate squid on a bowl of rice. I feel that the size of the bowl was smaller than before. Sorry, cute Squid, I'm sorry. But it was so delicious.

Since there is still time to check in after lunch, looking around the city while slowly riding, lunchtime is Most of the shops were not open. I went to the hotel a little after 1 PM and checked in. 5,000 jpy per night is an amount of money that I have never spent recently. I took a shower and did the laundry. I found a coin laundry was 300 jpy with laundry dryer, so I dried all the clothes. When it continues to rain in camp touring, that is quite hard. Of course the solar panel doesn't work when it rains, and all the electronic devices had a shortage of batteries, but here I was able to charge.

Today is the last night in Hokkaido. It's a little sad.
* The hotel where we stayed this night is no longer in operation.

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From Sarambe Park to Hakodate city 80km

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Hokkaido Touring Day 22: Along Uchiura Bay

English | 日本語

The sound of rain wakes me up. I hurriedly took in the laundry. I ate only bread and banana for breakfast, as it was too much of a hassle to boil coffee in the rain. As it was continuing rain, I packed up in the tent. It was written on the signboard that I had to pay 700 JPY to the instructor for this park, but the instructor didn't show up. I couldn't wait until he came, so I left at 7 o'clock. Sorry.

I thought it would be a piece of cake today as I traveled around the lakeside and out to the ocean and along the coast, but it wasn't at all! I took the lakeside road until to the town of Toyako Onsen. It was still raining, but it was nice that I didn't get so wet because the road was thick with trees. There was a series of tunnels from the onsen town to the sea. However, there were sidewalk here, so I didn't have to worry about the even 2 km climb in the tunnels. After the two tunnels, I were already at the sea.

As I proceed along the coast, I will soon find myself on a slope. There are many tunnels but I can't escape to sidewalks there. I had to climb up and down much and took a short rest at Toyoura Town. After that, it's up and down again to Shizukari, and then I got a long down hill to the coast. Finally it becomes a long flat road to Oshamambe town and I road to there without taking a break.

After leaving Oshamambe for a while, I came to a place where a drive-in was gathering. I felt a bit cold and was getting hungry, so I had lunch at the drive-in Kanaya, with crab Chanpon ramen nudle. I was resting a bit while watching TV, and I heard it was 37 degrees in Tokyo. It's nice and cool here. I'll definitely come to Hokkaido every year.

From there, it was a flat road for about 30 km. The rain stopped along the way and the road surface started to dry out, so I took off my rain gear. I entered the town of Yakumo and went to Salambe Park at the far end. It's quite beautiful with a fountain, playground equipment, and park golf. While I was looking around near the entrance, I saw a man walking his dog. As the dog came closer to me, I played with the dog and the man came over. As I asked to him, "is it okay to camp here". He said "I come here often, I think it maybe okay". I set up the tent under a tree at the far end, washed my clothes and left for the onsen.

I couldn't find any hot springs nearby, so I went to a local public bath called Showa-yu in the city and got refreshed (390 JPY).

On the way home, I stopped at a convenience store and bought food for tonight and tomorrow. Tonight it's croquette curry. I also had two cans of chuhai and an apple. I'm running low on food, which is good. It's still raining hard. I wrote the diary and went to bed at eight. I wonder what I'll do tomorrow in Hakodate.

Today I met by about 6 cyclists. This is the time of the year when they will be riding up north, probably through Hokkaido in August. A college student, an uncle, a girl, a gringo couple. Good luck and have fun. I'll be leaving Hokkaido soon. I'm going to miss a little.

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From Lake Toya to Yakumo Saranbe Park 95km

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Hokkaido Touring Day 21: Lake Toya

English | 日本語

I drank a lot last night, so I went right back to bed and got up once in the middle of the night to write in my journal. I woke up a little later than usual this morning because I didn't have to take down the tent, etc. I had bread and coffee as a breakfast and left at 7 AM.

First I bought a bottle of ice to keep foods cold and water at the convenience store. I headed south, but the road I was navigating on Google Maps was a very steep hill. I should have looked for a detour, even if it was far away. I was pushing up my bike that is the first time in this trip and then riding down fast. It was bittersweet to think that this kind of thing was going to continue.

I took a break and ate some bread and vegetable juice at the convenience store. I buy another bottle of water as well, since it's consumed heavily.
Today, I didn't have much to meet with anyone, just a series of hills and slopes. After five hours, I arrive at the midway point, the Nakayama Pass. I catch a glimpse of a couple of roadies. I bought some zangi and tea here and had lunch with the rice from the day before.

After lunch, it was about 6 km a long descent. The couple roadies from earlier passed me. The girl was in a pink DeRosa bike , very cool. I thought it would be easy if I could continue downhill to Lake Toya, but it wasn't, and the climb appeared again.
I stopped many times at the road stations. After repeating this ascent and descent about three times, I finally arrived at the lakeside of Lake Toya.

I pitched my tent at the farthest lakeside. The price was 700 yen, the highest price I've ever paid for a camping spot. In spite of this, I was not happy that they couldn't even dispose of the garbage.

I did my laundry as usual and went to the hot spring. I took a bath at Toya Ikoinoie, which is located at the top of a hill. The water was lukewarm, so I could take it slowly. I couldn't stop sweating when I went outside after taking the hot spring.

I went back to the tent to make pasta for dinner. I have to get rid of most of the leftover vegetables. I slept in 9 PM.

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From Sapporo to Lake Toya 95 km

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Hokkaido Touring Day 20: Lots of gifts

English | 日本語

I wake up naturally when the outside goes light. It's hard to wake up early when I'm at home, but when I go camping, I can wake up almost at sunrise. It's strange.

I made a cup of coffee in the pavilion and ate melon bread as a breakfast. The laundry was dry. My last washed long-sleeved t-shirt was a little damp, so I decided to just put it on the bike as usual and start riding.

It's just hot today. And it's a headwind, which makes it slow. Only at times like this, I have to run 120 km.

Google Map tells me to go a mountain road in Akabira city where I would cycle for about an hour. However, there is some distance on the map, but it seems easier to ride, so I changed the course not in the mountain.

After cycling for a while, I was stopped by an elderly man. He took out 1,000 jpy from his wallet and tried to hand it to me. He told me that he used to ride a bicycle in the past, just like me. But He can't ride now because of his physical condition. Many strangers were very kind to him then, now he is cheering for the bicycle travelers as they did to him. I decided to take it gratefully, taking that feeling into account. I was not allowed to take his picture or name, but the memory is still fresh in my mind. I'm sure I will do the same thing in the future. But it's strange. If I hadn't changed my course earlier, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet him like this.

When I reached Sunagawa City, I found a sign for the straightest road in Japan. It was National Route 12. I decided to cycle on it because it looked interesting. The road has a lot of traffic as if it was a major road, the side of the road is a constant stream of shops. It is a little different from Hokkaido I have seen in the past, I felt like a city.

There is a roadside station in the middle of the road, I decided to take a break. While I was drinking coffee, I saw an elderly crunchy cyclist and talked to him. He said he is a diabetic and is riding his bike everyday to lower his blood sugar level. Apparently the cause of his diabetes is alcohol (he said), but he can't stop drinking, so he cycles in order to drink ! We set out to take care of each other's road and health.

I managed to complete the straight road and went for a while before stopping for lunch at Roadside Station Mikasa. This was the best roadside station I had ever stopped at, and the food here was unparalleled. There was a market where food shops gathered, and I stopped at a farmer's shop there to have a boiled cane and tomato smoothie, and other I had fried cheese potatoes at the store. They were cheap, tasty and filling.

The next stop is Ebetsu City. I take a picture of the university my daughter is attending and send it to her on line. Afterwards, while taking a supply break on a small river bike path in Atsubetsu Town, I looked up the route to today's accommodation. . Just here, I changed course because It seems better to go along the river and drive along the railroad tracks. After a while, when I took a detour due to road construction, an employee induction said, "How's this trailer?". OMG, if he knows this Travoy trailer, it's obvious that bicycling must be his hobby ! We talk for more than 10 minutes, even though he is at work.

I finally arrived at our destination just before 4 PM. As I was checking out the place across the street, the lady at the shop in front of me said, "Oh, you're so cool. Here, I'll give you some" and she gave me a bag of oranges. I thought it was a strange day to receive much gifts, but I was grateful to receive them.

The inn is a cafe from the outside. In, there is a door in the back of the room was the dormitory beyond that. There is quite clean and a place to sleep is like a capsule hotel (2500 jpy per night). For now, take a shower and rest. The hotel guest is free to drink, so I get an apple juice and ate a wasabi sandwich to commemorate, it was quite delicious.
I went to the laundry afterwards. While doing laundry, when I went to thank the lady from earlier, she again offered me tea and melon! I listened from her talk. What a surprise, this store just opened on July 19, and the reason to start this ship is the neighbors are having trouble buying their vegetables. I've heard a lot of things and I was about to leave, when she got a phone call. While talking to the caller, she asked me if I would like to go with her because they were going to eat. It was an unexpected turn of events, but this was the trip, and I gladly decided to join them.

We had dinner with a woman who runs a publishing company in Hokkaido. I heard she is publishing books about camping in Hokkaido, so I bought a copy from her. We both ate and drank well. I heard a lot of stories and again, it was all a treat.

Today It has been a magical day of travel, with so many gifts given to me.

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From Kami-ashibetsu to Sapporo 120 km

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