We have always wanted to go back to Japan ever since our year off work in 2015 when we spent 5 weeks travelling around by shinkansen, basing ourselves in a place for a few days and exploring by bike, before moving on.
So when I found out that the 2025 Asia Pacific Stroke Conference was going to be held in Kobe in September 2025 we leapt at the chance to go back. How appropriate it would be to go back to Japan almost exactly 10 years since our last visit.
Originally, we were just going to travel around by train and do “normal” tourist things. Whilst it can be great seeing a new country by bike, it can also be restrictive – using up the luggage allowance, all the logistics of travelling within a country with a bike box and storing the bike box whilst on the trip itself.
However I then came across Road Bike Rental Japan in Osaka, a mere 45 minute train ride away from Kobe, which rented out good quality road bikes along with any bike packing gear that is needed. Suddenly our plans changed! Gareth, the owner of RBRJ, helped us map out a route between Osaka, Kyoto and Nara (all within the Kansai Province) and also helped with hotel bookings.
As it got closer to the travel date it soon became clear that Japan were having an extended summer heatwave, with temperatures close to 40 degrees in the major cities and over 80% humidity. We felt that we hadn’t picked the best time of year to be spending five days riding bikes under the hot sun!
Our route (Osaka-Kyoto-Kyoto-Otsu-Nara-Kyoto) is shown below.
Day 1: Osaka to Kyoto (107km/1300m)
After fuelling up on an excellent buffet breakfast at the Osaka Riverside Hotel we walked 100 metres down the road to pick up our Cannondale Optimos from RBRJ Osaka.
Gareth helped us store the stuff which we would not be needing for the next few days. Our rucksack however, was left at the hotel reception and was hopefully going to be picked up by one of the many luggage forwarding services in Japan and taken to our hotel to Kyoto. I had followed the instructions on the pamphlet I had picked up in the hotel reception the night before, and paid the 2480 Yen (only NZ$28). Apparently the bag would be in Kyoto by 8pm… I wasn’t entirely convinced even though I had read a lot about these luggage forwarding services in Japan which are used by locals and tourists alike.
Gareth had mapped out our route using RideWithGPS which we had downloaded into our Garmin bike computers before leaving. On his advice, we also downloaded the free OpenStreetMap for Japan onto our Garmins otherwise it would have been very difficult to follow any routes.
By the time we set off at 9am it was already hot. The first part of the route took us along the river path meandering north towards and around Osaka Itami Airport, occasionally onto some roads, before re-joining the river path again.
After what seemed like a very long time of riding in the heat, I thought we had maybe covered about 20km. As I had the much newer Garmin with longer battery life, I was in charge in navigation and so was unable to easily see distance or time covered.
To my dismay, Mark informed me that we had covered all of 6km so far.
Navigating was tiring work. Bike paths would end suddenly after a long time along the river. At one point the route tried to take us through a locked compound so we had to check on the actual RideWithGPS app to see where we were on the map and reroute around the obstacle. We also had to ford a shallow river.
Eventually we reached the foothills that we originally saw in the far distance and stopped in a Lawsons for Pocari Sweat and onigiri snacks and AIRCON.
We then started climbing. The road initially was steep, and super hot without any shade. I was starting to wilt as Mark left me behind. Thankfully once we got a bit higher there was more tree coverage and we started to go along some nice quiet roads.
We stopped at the Katsuoji Temple where suddenly there were lots of tourists again. A quick Google revealed that it’s a popular Buddhist temple, well known for thousands of red Daruma dolls, each symbolising perseverance and good luck.
Mindful that we hadn’t yet covered even half of today’s route after hours of riding, we decided to push on in the heat of the day, hoping that the good luck and perseverance from the Darumas would rub off on us.
Finally there was some downhill! Unfortunately it also started to rain a bit. Whilst we welcomed the cooling raindrops, it also made the descents quite sketchy, particularly as we weren’t used to the brakes on the rental bikes.
We finally made it to Toyano, almost exactly the half way point of today’s route and where we were told we would be able to find decent coffee at Emma Coffee. We kept our eyes peeled as we rode through town, and suddenly realised that we were about to leave Toyano behind completely so had to backtrack. We eventually found it, having cycled straight past it and we were rewarded by an excellent flat white, matcha latte and two of the most delicious bagels ever.
Whilst we were having lunch, I used my iPhone to check on the progress of the bag delivery. The bag had already arrived in Kyoto!
After our lunch stop there were more pretty roads in through the hills and forests.
We stopped again by the roadside for more refreshments. One of the best things about Japan is that you can find vending machines everywhere! Whilst we enjoyed our cold coffee and tea from a plastic bottle, it was really interesting watching the man open up one of these machines to replenish the stocks.
The final climb of the day was a narrow and steep road over a pass above Kyoto.
There was a swooping descent towards Kyoto through a bamboo forest, and finally we were on the outskirts of Kyoto. However, there was still another 20km along a river path. This was initially smooth and fast.
But after a few kilometres the glorious smooth tarmac ended. By now I had had enough of river paths and having to navigate and went on strike just a mere 3 km from our hotel in Kyoto and demanded that Mark took over.
We eventually reached the beautiful Cross Hotel Kyoto. It was a shock to see hundreds of tourists milling around on the streets of Kyoto.
It had taken us nearly 6 hours of riding time to cover just over 100km.
The hotel had been expecting us and our bikes and gave us two little locks so that we could lock them up in the official bike parking area on a side street outside the hotel – literally just a railing attached to the hotel building.
Day 2: Kyoto Northern Hills (60km/668m)
The day started by joining the breakfast queue at 7am where we ran into Colin who we met last year doing the Tour of Samoa! Small world!
We were relieved to find our bikes where we had left them overnight.
Gareth’s original route had us cycling along the river path south, before swinging back north again. After yesterday’s epic in the heat and humidity I could not face any more slow stop/start cycling next to a river so we decided to cut directly west across Kyoto on the main roads.
Although it was rush hour, the traffic wasn’t too bad and once we were on the main road west it was wide and straight.
On the west side we picked up the river path again and we had a pleasant meander north along the Katsura River for a few kilometres, stopping at a park for more photos.
As we looked across the river, we large groups of tourists disembarking from buses. Google told us that we were in the vicinity of the famous Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. We cycled across the bridge into traffic. Lots of people milling about. Tourists on rickshaws.
But literally just a few hundred metres down the road was another temple where we could see only two other people in the courtyard.
We then left the city behind, cycled past a beautiful lake and started climbing up some steep hills. We had another stop for Pocari. At one point we avoided a road tunnel by taking the original road by it, which was definitely the road less travelled.
The Kyoto northern hills were beautiful. It was hot but luckily we were in the shade of the forest for some of the time. A couple of the villages we cycled through were so quiet it was almost like they had been abandoned.
We started noticing that whenever we had to ride through road works with a contra flow, the workers were incredibly helpful and respectful. Without exception, each time the worker would radio ahead to his colleague further up the road, then wave us through when it was safe to go….and then stop any cars from following us until we had safely passed through the road works.
By the time we started descending back towards Kyoto again we were in need of more Pocari Sweat. So we stopped at a 7-11. We bought some lunch – standard onigiri and a tofu stick. It was bliss to be inside an air conditioned building again. We started eating our lunch and unfortunately the woman behind the counter caught my eye and made an X with her arms, indicating no eating inside the shop!
So unfortunately we were back outside in the heat next to the carpark and the exhaust fumes from people sitting in their cars to eat their lunch whilst running the engine and keeping the air con going.
It was a while before we could face getting back onto our bikes again. We went back inside a couple more times to get more drinks and then ice cream.
After that it was a roll downhill and back onto the busy roads of Kyoto.
Day 3: Kyoto to Otsu (62km/755m)
It was time to strap on the bike packing bags again and bid farewell to Kyoto.
It was good to leave the mayhem of Kyoto behind. Just like when we were last in Japan in decade ago, neither of us really liked Kyoto to be honest. Too busy with large numbers of tour groups and visitors. I dread to think what it must feel like being a local living here. That being said our final view of Kyoto temples was pleasant as it was still quiet.
Our route took us through some quiet residential areas in the east of the city.
Before long, we were climbing, with most of today’s total climb in the first 10km of the ride.
I thought the “Kendou Number 30 Line” (the name of the road) going up over the range of hills between Kyoto and Otsu would be nice and quiet as there was clearly another bigger more direct road between the two cities.
It was a nice climb, sheltered by tree cover… but unfortunately rather busy with cars and lorries and, as the road was narrow, we had a few close passes.
There was a brief respite when the route took us onto a side road through a small village but after a few kilometres we were back on the main road again. Luckily the main road widened as we approached the top and we were rewarded by a spectacular view over the city of Otsu and Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan.
In the distance, towering over all the other buildings in Otsu, we could see our objective for the day – the tall Lake Biwa Otsu Prince Hotel sticking out on a small peninsula by the lake. The hotel was probably only several kilometres away from where we were but our route took us a long way round, by doing another 40km around the edge of Lake Biwa.
But first, we had to descend. This was not enjoyable at all with several extremely close passes. Many Japanese cars are small and distinctively boxy and we wondered if this led to the drivers taking more chances and squeezing into tight spaces which aren’t really there.
Overall we felt that the closest passes we experienced in Japan were generally the result of lack of awareness/poor judgement of the (lack of) space available, rather than the more aggressive and deliberate closes passes we sometimes experience in New Zealand.
I was rather relieved when we both made it down to the bottom without being knocked off our bikes!
We cycled past some residential areas on the side of the hill, past paddy fields and we stopped briefly at another lovely quiet temple for a cold drink from a konbini. Again there was no one else around at this temple.
Sadly we didn’t have time to stop to have a look around, and being in lycra we also did not think we were appropriately dressed to visit a temple complex.
There were some beautiful small forest roads and we passed a quiet shrine.
But eventually we ended up on a very busy dual carriageway leading towards the big bridge to cross to the other side.
It was hot. And busy with lorries. We didn’t feel very safe so for the last few kilometres before the bridge we hopped onto the pavement.
Cycling on the pavement seems to be accepted in Japan – we have seen many locals do this – and maybe expected?
After crossing the bridge to the other side, we stopped at a Lawsons for lunch and to have some respite from the heat and humidity.
We upsized our regular Pocari Sweat purchases to a giant bottle.
It took a huge effort to leave the comfortable airconditioned Lawson and go back out into the heat. We headed away from Otsu initially so that we could have our photos taken at the big Lake Biwa sign.
Then we reconnected with lakeside Biwachi cycle path by a perfectly straight road through the rice fields (which is also where the featured image of this post was taken).
From there we followed the blue line of the cycle path all the way back to Otsu.
As the path ran alongside a busy road, it wasn’t quite as scenic as we hoped but at least it was car free, and quick as we did not have to consult the Garmin or the RideWithGPS app to check that we were going the right way.
For the last several kilometres we raced, and stayed ahead of, menacing clouds of rain.
Arriving at the Prince Hotel in Otsu was like entering another world again. This was a massive hotel and with 38 floors the tallest building in the city by far. Coachloads of Chinese tourists were being dropped off into a grand lobby complete with chandeliers, a sailing boat and a fountain.
The door man showed us where we could park our bicycles for the night. It was across on the other side of the car park! We secured the two bikes with our lightweight and flimsy café locks. Imagine again leaving your bike like this in London or Hamilton!
Day 4: Otsu to Nara (75km/638m)
The best thing about the Prince Hotel were the enormous windows and views of the lake from every single room.
The views continued at breakfast time. And with so many people to feed, amazingly there was a breakfast buffet on 3 different floors! Even at 7am the buffet was extremely busy with mainly Chinese tourists. I guess they have a packed daily schedule.
The coolest thing we saw at breakfast was this pancake machine which, on pressing a button, would cook 6 mini pancakes (pikelets to kiwis!) which would then roll out and onto a plate.
We were very relieved that our bikes were exactly where we had left them overnight. By now the Chinese tourists were already ahead of us, boarding their tour buses for another full day of sightseeing.
As we left Otsu we continued following part of the Biwaichi cycle route, this time in the “Fast Speed” Lane. i.e. the road and not the bike path.
However, within a few kilometres we were soon caught up in rush hour traffic and it was quicker to be cycling on the pavement again. Soon after we left the city we started cycling past green paddy fields.
We rode past some road works and as we went round the corner, we were confronted by these giant statues of some cute creatures with big, blindingly white potbellies.
A sign told us we were now in a place called Shigaraki, the pottery capital of Shiga prefecture, and a google search told us that these statues were called Tanuki.
Described as a “Japanese raccoon dog”, these Tanuki are often displayed outside homes and businesses as they are known for bringing good luck and prosperity, each with symbolic features representing different blessings: a straw hat for protection, big eyes for good judgement, sake bottle to represent virtue, a big belly for decisiveness, and an oversized scrotum for financial luck (we thought they just had enormous feet!).
As we rode through the small town, we passed hundreds of these Tanuki for sale, and also outside homes.
They even came in blue, as though they had been crossed with a Smurf!
Coming across these Tanuki unexpectedly was a definite highlight of this bike trip.
But as we left Shigaraki, it became clear that the road suddenly was a lot busier. Soon we were passed by convoy after convoy of empty lorries. We occasionally deviated through quiet villages which gave us some respite for a kilometre or two, but before long we would be back on the main road again.
It really was quite unpleasant, and rather frightening at times. After yet another close pass we totally lost our nerve and decided to ride on the gravelly pavement by the side of the road. Slow progress but at least we were safe. We thought that perhaps we were just unlucky to have mistimed our ride with this convoy of lorries who were clearly on a mission to pick something up from somewhere.
After turning off the main road to head towards Wazuka, we were rewarded with some of the nicest cycling roads of this entire trip. Quiet, almost car free roads through a beautiful valley with green tea growing on the hillsides. The lovely smell of matcha wafting through the air as we rode by the terraced fields.
We stopped in Wazuka, a town famous for its production of green tea for lunch. I had imagined Wazuka as a busy touristy place lined with souvenir shops and bus loads of tourists. It was the complete opposite – it was a sleepy little place.
We had a delicious lunch of katsu curry at the Wazuka-cha Café. And of course a matcha float.
Unfortunately the route took us up a steep hill as soon as we left the café with our tanuki bellies full of food and we were soon cycling by more green tea plantations.
As we approached Nara the road became busier again. Nara, a popular day trip from Kyoto or Osaka, is known for its ancient temples and shrines, and also free roaming deer in Nara Park. Unsurprisingly it was full of day trippers, buying crackers from vendors to feed the deer. The deer have learnt to bow before munching on the crackers. Seemingly polite but we also saw some become quite aggressive with tourists who were not feeding them fast enough!
Years of cycling round Richmond Park in London have conditioned us both to keep away from the deer. It did make us somewhat uncomfortable seeing how close the tourists were getting, with some trying to cuddle the deer as though they were a soft toy, so we watched and laughed from afar.
Our home for the night was the Yoshidaya Inn, with over 150 years of history. Out of all the hotels we stayed in during this trip, this was the only place who invited us to keep our bikes inside next to the lounge area!
Day 5: Nara to Kyoto (58km/300m)
Having made full use of the in-house onsen we woke up feeling refreshed. Our day started with a Japanese breakfast – beautifully presented small dishes of rice, miso soup, tofu, smoked fish and egg.
The deer are literally everywhere in Nara – a few slept right outside the hotel door. This photo was taken from the front of our hotel.
We spent some time cycling slowly around Nara Park again, much quieter compared to yesterday afternoon.
However, as we rode past the temples and shrines we could see the day trippers starting to arrive en masse.
Our route initially took us south and around the city before heading back north again. Within a short time we were riding past paddy fields. We soon joined the Keinawa Cycling Road, a 180km route between Wakayama and Kyoto. It was nice being away from the traffic and on raised levees cycling by more paddy fields and residential areas. Even better, there was a cross tail wind!
After what seemed like a long time of riding, it was time for the obligatory stop in Lawsons for refreshments. Shockingly this was a mere 23km into our ride! One of the more astounding things about this bike trip was how long it took us to cover short distances. I think it was a combination of the hot and humid weather, slightly heavier bikes and frequent stops to check the route or to take photos.
Eventually, we turned up into the small hills for a final time and our route took us on another busy road for several kilometres so it was back to pavement cycling.
As often the case on this trip, we were then rewarded by some beautiful riding on a winding road next to a forest, descending into Uji, the green tea capital of Japan.
We stopped for a lunch of soba noodle and more matcha ice cream!
Then there was a final 10km or so into Kyoto through some back streets and a long a river bank, to take us to our finish line at the Road Bike Rental Japan Kyoto.
Overall we really enjoyed this little trip even though it was extremely hot and humid, and there were a few scarily busy roads. Luckily there was always a pavement we could ride on. It was a great way to see the area with a nice mix of river paths, quiet roads through hills and small villages, backroads through residential areas which as a tourist you wouldn’t otherwise see, particularly in this region which is firmly on the typical “Japan Golden Triangle” of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.
The highlights were the Tanuki and the green tea areas of Wazuka and Uji. Getting food and drink were never a problem even in the more remote areas (like on Day 1 in the Osaka hills). As it was so hot we drank a lot of Pocari!
Big thanks to Gareth at Road Bike Rental Japan for helping us plan this trip. He sorted out the bikes, hotels and route.
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