Japan Bike: Nagasaki to Nemuro - Travel Blog

12 years after leaving Japan, I've come back to reconnect with this incredible country, on two wheels. Starting in the deep south at the old port of Nagasaki, I'm cycling across the four main islands to Nosappu in the North-East. - Pebbls Adventure Tracking App

Transport Types Used

Legs of this Journey:

Day -2: Rinko And Shinkansen

The hardest bit of any bike tour is getting to and from your start and end points. Today I'm bringing my bike on the bullet train from Tokyo to Nagasaki.

Day -1: Seeing Nagasaki

A day sightseeing and relaxing in Nagasaki before my journey begins. I have long wanted to come here to see the Dutch and Thomas Blake Glover history. It feels like a long way from Tokyo!

Day 1 - Main Ride

Day 1 starting in Nagasaki, with a hilly cycle to catch a small ferry.

Ariake Ferry

Short ferry trip

Day 1: Campsite

Short hop from harbour to campsite. Incredibly steep and slippery though, this was the toughest part of the day.

Day 2

Second day riding, over Aso Mountain

Day 3 - Taketa to Usuki

Catching the Usuki ferry, and on to Shikoku. A fair way to go after a damp, noisy night.

Day 3: Ferry to Shikoku

Leaving Kyushu behind, from Usuki port - the very harbour where William Adams first set foot in Japan in 1600, the first Brit to do so.

Day 3 Part 3. Shikoku Begins

Heading inland into Shikoku, with a guesthouse waiting for me. I hear there's a great bar next door to it too...

Day 4

Cycling to Kochi

Day 5

Waking up to a very wet morning, I think my decision to stay in a hotel last night has been vindicated. Today I'm going to do some equipment maintenance and laundry etc, and sightseeing in Kochi

Day 6

Back into the mountains

Day 7

Out of the Iya valley and back to the city.... Via a giant mountain. Crossing the double vine bridges in the dark last night was a special moment.

Onto The Mainland!

Leaving Shikoku - its lovely people and its preposterous mountains - behind.

Day 8

An emotional day! After a hard week, I was so happy to make some new riding friends today that I met at the bakery when I started my ride. It was so nice to ride with other people on the Wakayama Cycling Road 😁

Day 9

On through Wakayama, Nara and Mie prefectures to Ise, the spiritual home of the Shinto religion. 30kms out everything started to hurt, and I had to dig deep to get through to the end.

Day 10 - Maintenance And Recovery

After limping into Ise last night with many different pains, I've decided to take a day off completely to recover, stretch, clean the bike and so on.

Day 11 Part 2

Ferry from Toba to Irago

Day 12

On up the coast

Day 13 🗻

Up past Fuji

Day 14 On To Tokyo!