1 day
337 km / 210 miles
|
Early September 2019 I flew to Japan for a business
trip. I decided to stay a day longer and rent a
motorcycle to see at least a little of Japan. The last
time I was there, years ago, it was in winter with
lots of snow and I didn't even get to see much of the
city I was in.
Renting a motorcycle online through 819rental.com was easy, it
didn't require any pre-payment, and provided good
information on required documents and the process on
site. Also read my review of the Svartpilen 401.
I rented a helmet too, but brougth the rest of my
gear, pants, jacket, and gloves. The helmet was very
used and beat up, but better than nothing.
|
|
The best time for such a trip is
late spring or early fall. Summer temperatures are hot
and very humid in this part of Japan (I still had
temperatures in the 90+F (32+C) in early September,
cooler on the mountains and the coast. Winter has lots
of snow and on the mountains (though not very high
mountains). There can still be snow in late spring
and already in early fall. If you are riding on the
south/west coast there may be Typhoons in fall.
The road conditions are generally good. Many
major roads are toll roads, where you pay with a
device on-the-go, or pay in cash (no credit cards).
Japan drives on the left side, like in England. The
speed limits are very low, so keep that in mind for
planning a route.
|
|
There was a Typhoon
about to hit the Tokyo area before I
left, but my flight arrived as planned (the last
hour of the flight was a bit rough though).
After
de-boarding the flight I found out that all
trains from Narita Airport were cancelled,
but trains were supposed to be running from
Tokyo station. So several hundred people
tried to get taxis or bus tickets to Tokyo.
The lines were absolutely insanely long, but
also surprisingly orderly. I waited in line
for a taxi for over 4 hours.
|
|
|
|
In 4 hours only 3 taxis arrived,
so I knew I had to do something else. In line I met 3 women,
2 from France and one from Japan, and the 4 of
us came up with a plan. We grabbed a taxi
that had just dropped somebody off. He wasn't
allowed to take us from there, but the Japanese
woman, coached by the French, talked him into
doing it anyway. Leave it to the French to break
any rules ;-) Over 2 hours later we arrived in
Tokyo on side roads, lots of main roads were
closed too.
Of course I missed the last
Shinkansen of the day leaving Tokyo
statio by 10 minutes, 10! I was
stranded in Tokyo and looked for a hotel.
The third hotel finally had a room available
and I took it without even asking for the
price.
|
|
|
|
If you ever find yourself in
Yamagata, Japan, I recommend visiting Kajo Park
with Yamagata
Castle. |
|
|
|
I took a taxi to Cherryl's
Harley Davidson store in Yamagata Japan
to pick up my rental motorcycle, NOT a Harley.
Unfortunatelly they don't open until 10 am, I
would have wanted to leave earlier.
The store has
Harley's on one side and everything else on
the other side
|
|
|
|
The sales guy from which I rented the
motorcycle was a very nice guy. Unfortunatelly he didn't speak a word of
English, and neither did anybody else in the
shop. But 819rental had supplied them and myself with
paperwork in English and Japanese, so it wasn't a big
deal that we couldn't communicate other than with hand
signs.
|
|
Motorcycle
aluminum
panniers and top cases
Made by an experienced
motorcycle traveller.
Panniers available in 47l, 40l and 33l
Top boxs available in 20l and 36l
Silver/Grey or Black
Quality is essential,
not only on a RTW tour.
|
|