On the Shimanami Kaido

Hello again, sorry for the absence last Thursday. I wish I had an explanation, but I can't actually think of why I didn't post anything. Probably just got too caught up in life.

At any rate, I have an adventure to relate to you. That shall the meat of today.

But first, a little geography lesson. If you look at a map of Japan, you will notice that Japan is, in fact, not a single island. It is four islands. From north to south, they are Hokkaido (北海道), Honshu (本州), Shikoku (四国), and Kyushu (九州).

Japan.

You may also notice that there are four large bodies of water surrounding Japan. The Sea of Japan, the Pacific Ocean, the Philippine Sea, and the East China Sea. However, there is one sea which has not been mentioned or marked on the map: the Seto Inland Sea (瀬戸内海 Seto Naikai). The Seto Inland Sea, as you can observe on the wikipedia page I linked, is the body of water which lies between the large island of Honshu and the smaller island of Shikoku.

Last weekend, I attempted to bike across this sea.

No, I am not Jesus. There happens to be a route called the Shimanami Kaido that hops from island to island, taking you from Onomichi City (in Hiroshima prefecture on Honshu) to Imabari City (in Ehime prefecture on Shikoku). In between the two cities are six bridges, six islands, and approximately 80 kilometers. As the page I linked to you shows, you can also go from Shikoku to Honshu; it's a two way route. As my home prefecture happens to be on Honshu, we decided to start on Honshu and work our way south.

In my examination of the route in the days leading up to the adventure, I was put under the impression that the route was an easy and fast one. I also discovered that the average biker travels at a speed of 18 to 24 km/h. That means, assuming I travel on the low end I should have been able to complete the 80 km route in just over four hours. And indeed, I had read that people traveling at a leisurely pace had completed it in 8 hours. Definitely something that could be done in a day.

Or so I thought.

Turns out it was a much tougher bike ride than I'd been expecting. Part of the problem was, I think, that I was unfamiliar with the kind of bike I was riding. It was too small for me (a common problem here in Japan) and had these things called "gears" that I couldn't figure out. Add to that several long slopes, a very hot sun, and killer pollen... the bike ride took longer than I thought it would.

More or less exactly how I felt.

We met at the train station in Onomichi at about 10:30 in the morning, grabbed a couple of sandwiches, and set off for the bike rental shop. (We did not bring our bikes with us on the train. And I wouldn't want to anyway, because my personal bike for getting around town is frankly a piece of crap.)

The shop itself was very conveniently located. It was, in fact, pretty much right next to the dock. (You have to take a ferry to get from Onomichi to the first island. The only available bridge is for cars only.) To get there from the train station, you first take a right on exiting the station. Then follow the road on your left hand side (there will be buses galore) until you can't walk any further without crossing a road. Cross the road and turn right. Keep walking until you see a parking lot on your left-hand side. In the parking lot, at the opposite end, is the bike rental shop. For a ￥500 (~$6) fee plus a ￥1000 (~$12) deposit, you can rent any bike you like for a day.

But be warned, the bikes are a little bit on the small side. If I placed my foot on the pedal such that the middle of my foot was on the pedal, then turning the front wheel would actually jam the wheel onto my foot. As a result, I ended up biking with the balls of my feet for pretty much the whole way. Sigh.

Other than that, though, I was quite happy with the bikes. Mine had 8 gears and a solid feel. The seat was a bit narrow for my comfort, but it was no big deal, and if I'd been paying attention, I certainly could have chosen a bike with a wider seat.

So, by the time we bought our sandwiches, rented our bikes, got on the ferry, arrived at the first island, and got off the ferry, we had killed a full forty-five minutes. It was now about 11:15 and we were just getting started. This may have been the real reason we didn't make it as far as we'd hoped.

Nonetheless, convinced of our own prowess, we hopped on our bikes and went. The first thing that struck us was how incredibly gorgeous the island was. Especially once we got out of the center of the island and to the shore. The sea opened up before our eyes and before I knew it, I had my video camera in hand and the record button pressed beneath my thumb. Hopefully, I can find the time to put together a video, because that place was... stunning.

Biking on the shimanami kaido.

After the first bridge, which took us to Innoshima, we stopped near a giant dinosaur statue and had our lunch on the beach. No, I'm not joking. When you get off the bridge and go down the hill to your right, you'll soon see a large, white brontosaurus rising off in the distance. It stares at the sea, seemingly dreaming of a day when it will lift its plaster feet and walk among the waves. In the meantime, however, it contents itself with letting children climb all over it.

Having scarfed down our food and had a giggle at the Japanese people diving into the water in their underwear, we decided it was time to get back on the road. Well, mostly I decided. My eyes had turned into tiny balls of pure itchiness and my nose wouldn't stop sneezing. For whatever reason, though, my hayfever seems to disappear once I get moving. So back to the bike it was. By this time, it was about 1 PM.

We continued biking for another two hours, crossing the kuchi bridge and finding ourselves craving ice cream on ikuchujima. Thankfully, my ever trusty travel companion Clara happens to possess something akin to a radar for ice cream. When its presence is near, a blip goes off in her head and her eyes take on the glow of far-off starlight. She guided us to our ice cream and, again with much sneezing, my hunger was sated.

By this point, it was about 3:00 PM. We continued along the island road and found ourselves at a museum called the Ikuo Hirayama Museum of Art. This is a museum dedicated entirely to the work of a single artist: Ikuo Hirayama. It was a pretty nice museum, but nothing too spectacular in my opinion. I was far more captivated by the Kosanji Temple and Hill of Hope.

The temple.

I have seen nothing like this in Japan. The temple is clearly Japanese, yet there are so many Chinese influences at the same time. It's full of incredible colors and exquisite detail. Every part of every structure is adorned with decoration and everywhere you look, there is vibrancy.

Then, at the top of the complex, is this extraordinarily peculiar environment. The hilltop is covered in carved marble blocks. The whiteness of it is so bright I actually had to wear my sunglasses just to watch where I was walking.

The Hill of Hope.

I feel like my words don't do the place justice. Well, perhaps there are no words that can do the place justice. It is simply that astonishing.

After wandering around the complex for about 45 minutes, we decided that the best thing we could do at this point was catch a ferry home. It was only 4 PM, but with the ferry ride and the train ride, the return trip home would easily add several hours to that. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but it was a Sunday and I had to go to work the next day. In fact, I didn't end up getting home until after 9 PM. Oh, the joys of living in the inaka.

So I didn't quite make it across the Seto Inland Sea. But I made it about half way and, all considered, I'm pretty happy with that. I got a nice (farmer's) tan out of the adventure, too.

If I have the chance, I would like to try and do it again. Maybe spend the night on one of the islands and then finish the trip the next day. And if you get the chance, I would highly recommend you give it a go. For the scenery, if nothing else, give it a go.

That's it for this week. See you later.

~Jeffles