Honshu
Riding up Okama was a good start to my Honshu adventure
This post is a part of a three-part series from my three month long trip to Japan in the fall of 2025. I’ve made a collection post under Three months in Japan. Here you can read a short introduction, and what gear I used for my trip.
This post is about my trip to Honshu, so I will try to write it in the context of the time I spent there, and for someone that would like to cycle in Honshu. I have already done one short trip before in Honshu, when I cycled Tone River just north of Tokyo in 2023.
Verdict (TL;DR)
The serenity of the Japanese countryside
As Honshu is the biggest of the Japanese islands, and very long, it’s not the easiest place to decide where to ride. I’m very happy with my path, going through the mountains in Fukushima, then circumnavigating Sado Island, before riding through the Japanese alps!
Finding old roads was easiest outside of the Japanese alps, but if you don’t mind a steep hill or two, you will find them! Riding up a steep hill towards Matsumoto, I met a family of boars after taking a sharp turn. Luckily they ran away into the forest.
If you don’t mind doing a bit of your own research, and take a gamble on little used paths, there is plenty of adventure everywhere in Honshu (and Japan).
Not every road I find while doing my research is usable, so sometimes you have to turn around
One of my highlights was reaching the top of Norikura at 2716 meters, where I had lunch with two Japanese cyclists that joined me on the last stretch. Another dream moment was riding towards my last camp spot on Sado Island, with the sun setting in the sea next to me, coloring the whole sky red and orange!
The route
I have 11 prefectures left to visit in Japan, they are all in Honshu
I’ve looked at cycling in Honshu before, but it’s a big island, with a lot of interesting things to see, and mountains to cross. So the main idea was to continue from Hokkaido, and just head south, until I had to be in Tokyo for a concert. I ended up starting in Yamagata, heading straight over mount Zaō to the east coast, before going right back west over Mount Azuma to Niigata. From Niigata I visited Sado Island on my way to Matsumoto, and the Japanese alps. In the alps the plan was to continue east to Kanazawa, but one road was closed, and it looked easier to head a bit north to cycle around the mountains. From Kanazawa it was straight south towards Kobe, where I met my parents.
I even found some stretches with gravel and less ride-able surfaces
Even thought I was in the more populated parts of Japan, I still managed to find side roads with little traffic, and cars were rarely on my mind. I also had two rides in the dark, one heading into Fukushima, and one looking for a hotel close to Toyama, and they were both magical. Riding in the dark, with the light from the city and the cars passing by at a safe distance, it was not something I do a lot. Neither in Japan, or home in Norway.
Transportation
My bike was always well secured on the ferries
As I was coming with train from Hokkaido, it was easy to bring my bike in a rinko bag. The bikepacking gear was sent ahead to Yamagata with Yamato, to make it easier for me to travel.
If I was coming from Norway, I would have taken the shinkansen from Tokyo to Sendai, and ridden my bike over to Yamagata. I was looking at the mountain road while I took the train down from Hokkaido, but I had sent a little too much of my gear over, so that will have to wait for next time.
Accommodation
I ended up staying in hotels way more than what I had originally planned. It started pretty hard, after 10 days hotel vacation, my first night back on the bike was in the tent in an abandoned baseball park outside the town.
Can you spot my tent?
Around Sado Island I had two wonderful nights in the tent, even though the night at Futatsugame Camping Ground (二ツ亀キャンプ場) was not worth the price at all. Had it been free, it would have been okay, but for ¥1200 it felt like a rip-off. There were cobwebs everywhere, and the door to the toilets were open, so a lot of insects had gathered inside. If there hadn’t been a hotel that owned it right next to the campsite, I would have guessed the camping ground was abandoned.
The two turtles is the name of the islands that I woke up to
From Matsumoto I wanted to save weight going through the alps, so I shipped my camping gear to Imabari, where my Honshu trip would end up. It was nice to save weight, but it turned out to make it harder for me to cycle in the alps. There were a lot more tourist in this area, so the cheap hotels were harder to find. Still, I ended up staying in hotels the next two weeks.
A cozy place, reminding me about hiking back home in Norway
Noteworthy hotels were:
- Azumagoya Lodge at Mount Azuma, a mountain lodge with homemade food
- Hostel Perch on Sado island
- Hirayu no Mori with its beautiful onsen area
- Oedo Onsen Monogatari Premium Yamashitaya, was a big and nice onsen hotel
What I’m happy I did
I’m really happy I visited Aizu, and Sado Island. Both were places I would like to go back to. Aizu had interesting history, and more areas to explore, while the island vibe of Sado Island would be good for a vacation.
Following the coast from Toyama to Shiga was also really fun, even though I had to do some planning each day. It was nice with a change of scenery, and the flatness made it easy to cover greater distance.
Challenges
My Honshu adventure went pretty smoothly, the weather was really good most days, so I think my biggest challenges were on the bike climbing hills.
Since I had shipped my camping gear, I had some challenges finding hotels, and thinking back, I think it would be fun looking for places to stay. In my next chapter in Kyushu I tried to hone my skill for finding campgrounds.
I had just cycled down the mountain on the other side, before going up the next one
What would I change for my next trip
I regret sending my camping gear ahead, which “forced” me to not spend that many days in the Japanese alps. I would have loved to camp more, even though I had a blast cycling thought the flat cities Toyama and Kanazawa.
As always there a more things I want to experience than I have the time to do, and I regret not setting aside enough time to do at least one hike in the Japanese alps. The issue was that most of the hikes turned out to be more than a day, and that you needed more gear than I had brought, so it would probably be better to plan hiking in the Japanese alps as a stand-alone trip, rather than while I’m biking.
I had one wonderful hike to Mount Issaikyo
I would also have loved to have had another day in Kanazawa, as it looked like an interesting city, with a lot of museums.
Things that I did do, and kinda regret, is spending two nights in Nagano. It wasn’t the most interesting city, and I think it would have been better to do a short ride over to the other side of the valley, to have a night at an onsen hotel, rather than staying two nights at a hostel.
Niigata city was also not that exciting, partly because the weather was gray, and most of the museums were closed on my rest day.
Trip report
This trip report will be different from the others I’ve done. It will mostly be highlights and things I can recommend for others to experience. So no day-to-day updates. If you want to read the full report head on over to my Norwegian Plog and use Google Translate, or something like that, to translate the text to English.
September 22th to 29th - Yamagata to Niigata
Centuries old temple built in the hillside of Yamadera
The second part of my trip started with me visiting the town where Ben hid under a bridge in season 12 of Jet Lag The Game. Internet has a way of giving you tips of places to see. From there I cycled over Zao Echo Line to do a small hike to see Lake Okama. Sadly it was all fogged over, so nothing to see. From Mount Zao I found a pretty nice route going up and down in the forest all the way to Fukushima, where I saw my girlfriend one more night before she went back to Norway.
This area between Yamagata and Fukushima was really lovely
As I had done two days in one to get to Fukushima, I suddenly had a bonus rest day. Meaning I finally had time to get my hair and beard cut. Turns out I had to visit five different hair salons to find one that had the time for me. Even though I’m pretty sure he had never cut beard before, I was pretty pleased with the outcome, maybe a bit more cone shaped than I had wanted, but still more than good enough. I also found one of the best gyōza I’ve tried in Japan that night, at 餃子のかっちゃん 福島栄町店 (Hot Pepper). They even had the rare Japanese fortified wine from Suntory. It’s far from as good as Portuguese fortified wine, but I’m glad I tried it, and would order it again.
Before heading out of Fukushima I managed to get tickets to a traveling Studio Ghibli exhibit the next morning. It felt mostly like a Wikipedia article about each movie, but the dioramas of various scenes from some of the movies were pretty cool.
I’m pretty sure that is the crater for Mount Azuma-kofuji
From Fukushima I headed west over Mount Azuma, where I stayed at the Azumagoya Lodge. A small cabin near the top, perfect for a little wilderness retreat. The food was great, and the weather I experienced on the way up made it even more cozy. There was little electricity, so you felt like you were far from civilization.
The next morning I did a hike to the nearest top, Mount Issaikyo, where you have the view of Fukushima and a beautiful lake!
The lake you see from the top of Mount Issaikyo is called the Goshikinuma Pond (The Witch’s Eye)
After enjoying the descent down from Azuma, I stopped at a cute little gallery called Hajimarino Museum. It’s a gallery with a focus on local artists with special needs. And it’s well worth the visit, fascinating art, with an interesting story.
Never getting tired cycling next to rice land, or farmland
From there I stayed at an onsen hotel in Aizu, and visited the first castle on my trip, Tsuruga Castle. Aizu was a historically important city when Japan went from a feudum to having an emperor. It’s a city I want to travel back to, to learn and see more of its history.
Instead of showing the castle, I wanted to share an image from an item inside the castle, most of them are museums now
The next day was my first night where I didn’t have any real plans for where to sleep. It also turned out to be full at the camping ground that I found the day before, so I had my first “proper wild camp” in a random park in Japan. On the other side of the camping ground was a big sports field, with several fields and toilets, so I found a hidden spot in the back to set up my tent. As predicted, it went well, and even though I was up by sunlight to pack my tent down, there was someone out having their morning stroll. We waved and said good morning.
Not a bad spot, but I felt I was intruding
From Nishiaizu I rode all the way down to Niigata, where I was having a rest day before taking the ferry to Sado Island, my next, but not last, island adventure.
On my way to Niigata I visited a train museum, where I finally got to see the old school Shinkansen which gave the train the English name “Bullet train”. I also got to visit the cockpit of an older double-decker Shinkansen. Pretty cool, but the view was surprisingly small!
So this is why they started getting called bullet train
In Niigata I was staying in a small hostel, where I for the first time had to park my bike outside in a regular bike park. I took of all my easy to remove bags, and hoped for the best. Two more cyclists came after me, who also parked in the same area. We were all a little weary about parking there, but it was, maybe not suprisengly, not a problem. No bikes were stolen.
I managed to get soaked by a wave after taking this shot
There was a small farewell party at the hostel that night, as one of the workers was moving away. I was lucky to join the party, and had a really nice time. I had bought a yoghurt based sake earlier that day, that I got to share with my new friends.
September 30th to October 3rd - Sado Island
Captured this shot when I took the ferry from Sado
I had Sado Island on my list because of two reasons, my favorite Sake brewery is there, Hokusetsu, and the name is funny in and of itself. My only plan for the island was to circle it, and it was a wonderful trip! Every year they have a challenge, to cycle the island in one go, and it would be really fun to join that one day.
I took the ferry from Niigata, and tried first class for the first time. It was a relaxing trip, but maybe not worth the money. The carpeted floor is good enough for me. As I arrived midday on the island I didn’t do much other than find a place to eat dinner, cycle around lake Kamo, where I’m pretty sure I saw a Nipponia Nippon, the crested ibis. That night I found a free campground next to the sea (Kounosehana Lighthouse).
It helps a lot with the humidity on the tarp to hide the tent under roof
The next day started with gray skies. Luckily I managed to cycle to the Akadomari Museum of History and Folklore, where I learned about the history of the island, the gold rush, and rice farming. Afterward I had a short stop at the Hokusetsu brewery. There was no tasting, as the Japanese laws have a no drinking policy for bikes, so I ended up buying some merchandise, and some small bottles that I managed after some rearranging to fit in my bags.
No drinking and cycling in Japan
It started raining after that, but thinking back on that day I hardly remember the rain, so it can’t have lasted that long. I had a wonderful ride around the southern tip of the island, and up to the “city”, where I stayed a night at Hostel Perch.
On my way to the hostel I tried two roads I had to turn back on. The first one was a shot in the dark, trying an old single track, that just disappeared. The second try looked promising, with just a small landslide, before I understood why they hadn’t removed it - the whole road had been moved many meters. So I had to backtrack, and do an 8 km detour to get around.
Maybe the biggest hurdle of the whole trip, after the blocked road in Hokkaido
In the hostel I met a guy from the US doing workcation, staying up until four in the night to work, and then seeing the sights later in the day. To me it sounded like a chore, but he was young and happy. I also met a young lady with a kid having a weekend away from Tokyo. Hostels are a social arena.
The next day I visited the old gold mine of Sado island, it was the one of the most productive mines in the world. Sadly (which they didn’t really focus on) there was use of forced labor from Korea. A classic “problem” with Japanese history is that they never really deal with the darker parts of their history, they always try to forget it or hide it.
At the time of writing, UNESCO has complained to Japan about not telling the truth about the forced labor
From the gold mine I continued heading north, and saw the most beautiful sunset while riding to my last camping spot at Sado Island. It was also the worst camping spot I had in my three months of traveling Japan. The camping ground was not maintained, cobwebs all over the place, and the toilets had so many spiders and insects that I just used the urinals. The ground was also on a slope, so it wasn’t that easy to get a good tent spot. The view was amazing though, so had it been free I would have recommended it.
A beautiful sunset, from a beautiful island
The next day I was heading to the mainland, and I was mostly enjoying the good weather. I had several small stops. First was a really tiny gallery, as the island had an art festival running the period I was there, so there were art pieces spread out over the island. This one was a painting gallery, with tiny colorful faces. After that I visited the Ibis conservative, before heading over the small mountain towards my ferry. I never got to visit the tallest mountain of the island, but maybe next time.
I found a small path along the coast to ride
October 4th to 15th - the Japanese alps
I’m a big fan of big paintings, this is Tide at Daybreak by Kaii Higashiyama. It’s 4 meters tall, and 14 meters wide
Back on the “mainland” my trip to the Japanese alps started with a day full of headwind. I cycled from the coast to Nagano city, and spent an extra day there for some sorely needed rest. Turns out Nagano was not a very exciting city, but I did enjoy my trip to Nagano Prefectural Art Museum.
On my way towards Matsumoto, over Sarugabanba Pass
My next stop was Matsumoto, and the day started with overcast weather, and the potential for rain. Luckily it never really started to rain, and I met a lovely couple from Malaysia biking the same way, and a British fellow who lived in Oslo. What’re the odds for that, I finally got to speak some Norwegian again. On my way to the hotel for the night I visited the Matsumoto castle, which is one of the few castles in Japan that was not torn down in the end of the 19th century.
Yet another beautiful sunset
From Matsumoto it was time for another highlight of my trip, the Norikura Skyline. The highest road in Japan, at 2716 meters. Starting the climb at about 500 meters, meant it was going to be a long day. That’s why I opted to send my camping gear ahead to save weight riding through the alps. I was getting it back when after I had met up with my parents, and cycled for a short week with them.
A must-ride in Japan, I also got to see some fall colors
The ride to the top was really nice, I was a bit worried about the five kilometres with tunnels, but I was really lucky, just meeting a handful of cars. The first part was the “worst” part, as you ride on a car road all the way, and there isn’t much space for bikes, meaning there is some traffic. Finally, when I turned off the main road through the mountain and was starting to finally head over it, the cars started to disappear. There is also a slightly longer road you can take to skip some of the tunnels, need to try that next time.
My two soon-to-become friends catching up to me
I also met two riders from Nagoya near the top, they were training, and we ended up eating dinner together, and riding down to the onsen town on the other side. It was really nice with some company. In the onsen town I was super lucky with my hotel, the popular Hirayu no Mori (ひらゆの森) had one room left, a family hut with a private onsen, and I got it for the price for one person, so that was wonderful. The public onsen there was also really nice!
Riding down on the other side was a bit more scary
I originally wanted to do some hiking, but it looked to be too much of a hassle. Most of the starts of the hikes needed you to take a bus to, so instead I opted to just continue cycling. Next stop Takayama.
On the way I visited some limestone caves, and a small forest aquarium in an old samurai building. Got a private tour which was fun, old houses are cool.
The guide wanted me to take a photo shoot, she lined me up and took some nice photos
I ended up just spending one night in Takayama, but I got to see the three things I wanted to see, the Hida no Sato Folk Village Museum on the day of arrival, Hida Takayama Teddy Bear Eco Village, and Hikaru museum the next day, heading north towards the coast.
The houses where nicely placed in the folk village
The folk village museum was a great way to get a quick introduction to how people lived in the alps before. I had originally planned to continue west and visit the famous old Shirakawa town, but with sold out hotels, no camping gear, and the direct route being closed, I found it easier to just head out of the mountains, and follow the coast from Toyama to Kanazawa. So glad I could still see some old houses in the museum.
These are for growing oyster mushrooms, something I had been wondering, since my first trip to Japan
The next day started with a fun trip to the teddy bear museum, and they had a lot of them. Afterward I visited the interesting Hikaru museum with an Inka temple, dinosaurs, old relics, and giant open spaces. The founders are a religious sect from the area, they also have a golden building not far from the museum.
The founder, Kōtama Okada himself, you know it’s a good cult when they have a gold statue
The rest of the day was spent finding a hotel, I had hoped to find one in Kamioka, but to no avail. I got to see the mountain and eat some konbini food, before I started to race down the mountain to a big hot spring hotel I knew had room. It was getting dark, and with the big road down the valley, it was pretty cool cruising down. Another great experience cycling in the dark!
Yet another great day of cycling, this time towards Kamioka
The next days were spent reaching a new prefecture each day. Started with Toyama where I visited the castle, and Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design. It was nice riding flat for a change, and even though I was riding through cities it was a nice change of scenery.
They do have some cool helmets, this is a “Silvered catfish” helmet
After Toyama I visited Kanazawa, where I also visited the castle. The city in itself seemed interesting, and something worth visiting again. I noticed that they had an official bike path following the coast, Ishikawa Satoumi Tour Route, I followed it for about 10km. The view was nice, but the path was made of concrete, and it had badly filled gaps every three meters, so quite bumpy.
Bumpy road, but astonishing view
From Kanazawa it was time for the dinosaur prefecture of Japan, Fukui. So of course I had to visit the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. If you’re into dinosaurs, this is quite a must visit. The car queue to get in was really long, so glad I came by bike. Can also recommend eating in the nearby town instead of at the museum, to save some time. There were so many people!
More dino pictures in the plog
I was nearing Kyoto now, and I was looking forward to checking out riding next to lake Biwa. For those that don’t know, lake Biwa is the biggest lake in Japan, and a popular object to cycle around. As I feared, there is a lot of cars traveling next to you, so it was not a thing for me. There are too many other great places to cycle in Japan, rather than on a cycling path with so many other cyclists and cars next to you. The lake is beautiful, but most of the cafés are on the other side of the road, so you need to cross the road to take an ice cream break.
I’m not flexible enough to get on my bike like that
Leaving lake Biwa I was not cycling into Kyoto, but stayed by the rivers down to Osaka. It was quite nice following the rivers, even though it was a really warm day. Few people, and few cars made it an easy ride. Finding a hotel to stay in Osaka, and getting into Osaka was a small hurdle, but the fifth hotel had room for me and my bike. I cycled under the lowest bridge I’ve ever seen, I think it was 1.8m all the way. The plan for Osaka was to visit my favorite clothing store in Japan, El Rodeo, and visit my favorite bar, cafe & beer Arca→Archa (カフェ＆ビア あるか→アるか). Sadly the bar was closed, but I got myself a brand new sweater. I went to Maruho sake ten Minami ten Craft beer & Bistro (マルホ酒店 ミナミ店), which is also a nice place. I ended up chatting with a Japanese fellow the whole evening, and we took the train together.
The sun made some magical movements through the clouds
October 16th to 26th October - Riding with my parents
When cycling in Japan, stay on the lookout for ornate manhole covers
From Osaka I rode the short way to Kobe, which was pretty boring, it was city streets with red lights all the way.
Finally in Kobe I met my parents, who had taken a trip to finally see Japan, and to ride a bit with me. We had a night in Kobe before we took the train to Matsue where my dad and I were doing a three day tour, and my mother was exploring Japan on her own.
Limited Express towards Matsue, we nearly missed our train
From Matsue, my dad and I rode first to see Izumo Taisha temple. It was really fun to ride with my dad, and we even met a Spanish bike vlogger, and chatted a little with him.
Showing my dad old Japanese roads
The next day we went into the mountains, his first experience with little used roads in Japan, and we visited a beautiful little gorge called Tachikue Gorge. We also saw a guy fishing in the river with a net. Cycling in the mountains south of Matsue was really nice, and we got see how houses are spread all over, but there were still very few shops and konbini. If I remember correctly we only saw one on the second day, luckily it was just when it started to rain, so my dad bought a rain poncho.
Sadly most of the rain was when I rode with my parents
For our second night I had booked a night at the museum, a dinosaur museum to be precise. Okuizumo Tane Museum of Natural History offered dinner, night visits to the museum, and a bath. It was a fun experience to share with my dad. Not something they had planned for their trip.
A small museum, in the middle of nowhere.
The next day we met up with my mom at a beautiful Japanese garden, Hakusaseishō-tei (白砂青松庭), not to be missed if you are in the area.
In Japanese gardens, they often use sand or gravel to represent water
From Matsue we took the train back again to the south coast, as we were all going to cycle the famous Shimanami Kaido!
My parents where renting bicycles, but I had managed to lose my bike reservation in Onomichi. Luckily my dad found a company that had bikes for us!
My parents enjoying the vacation
The weather wasn’t the best for our one night cycling the island, but we had a blast even with some rain. I surprised my parents with a traditional ryokan, with dinner. I had ordered the seafood special for them to enjoy, and it was a small wooden ship, with several different types of sashimi.
I also got to pick up my bonus price for cycling around Shikoku last year
I got to show my parents the same sights that I had seen cycling around Shikoku, the Cave of 1000 Buddhas, the small gallery Tokoro Museum Ōmishima, and Imabari City Ken Iwata Mother and Child Museum. Heading towards the Cave of 1000 Buddhas, we went of the main road, and followed an old bike path that took us a little bit off the beaten path, so even my mom got to see the “wild side” of Japan.
Looks like there was better weather in the horizon
When we arrived in Imabari, we parted ways. They were going to Hiroshima, and I was heading to Tokyo for a concert. The next part of my trip finally took me to Yakushima, and back to Kyushu!
Toe on stage, never thought I would see them live, and especially not in Japan