Welcome to our mother land !!

What is your image of Japan?
Fujiyama, Geisha, Sushi, Shimano, or Made in Japan?
The answer is correct but not perfect.

We love nature...

Geography

Japan is located far east of Asia.
There are four main islands with the whole shape is long and slender.
The most of the lands are covered by volcanoes and you can see mountains from everywhere.
Therefore you likely not able to avoid an uphill and downhill road !!

Japan is a green islands with rivers, blue skies, and singing birds, except the big cities area.

The wind

Roughly saying, wind blow from SE to NW in summer, from NW to SE in winter.

Wind is stronger near the ocean.

History of the land

According to a recent research, ground of Japan is made of the dust of the pacific ocean shifted by a huge belt conveyer of oceanic plate. Therefore, the soil of Japan sea side is older than Pacific ocean side in general.

Mountains in Japan

Izu peninsula(伊豆半島) came to Japan from pacific ocean. The huge collision formed Japan alps and Mt.Fuji. Please watch mountain ranges in japan. You would find a symmetrical shape with respect to the Izu Peninsula.

Season

As we have clearly different four seasons, we enjoy each season with our bikes.

Spring

Sakura, Hiroshima
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Enjoy breath taking cherry blossom(sakura,桜) and fresh leaves.

Summer

Climb high mountains and camp followed by exciting down hill.

Fall

Have a rest under red leaves (khoyo,紅葉) in the superb clear blue sky.

Winter

Escape to south islands or cycling around the peninsula along Pacific Ocean to expose yourself in sun shine.

Our lives are full of joy to delight the natural diversity of all seasons.

Climate

Three things should be kept in your mind about the climate in Japan.

Snow

Shukuba, Shiga
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Hokkaido, Tohoku, Hokuriku (North part of Chubu)(北海道,東北,北陸) and mountain areas all over the Japan are covered by snow from December to March. If you want to pedal in winter, we recommend Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa areas.

Spring

Among others, it'll be very dramatic tour that Chasing the Cherry Blossom, but note some points to ride in Spring.

  • Snow remains until early May in most of mountain area.
  • The weather is unsettled. The temperature swings wildly from hot to cold.
  • Comparatively it's rainy and strong wind blows now and again.

Rainy season

From mid June to end of July we have a rain season except Hokkaido. But don't see it as that in tropical countries. There is no hard rain and no strong wind. It only rains on and off during the season. Prepare for the rain then come out!

Summer

It gets too hot to ride a bike after rain season. We strongly recommend the mountain areas or Hokkaido in this season. If not, don't work too hard at midday. About a hundred people die with Heat Disorder every year in Japan.

Typhoon

From the end of August to the middle of October typhoons hit our country several times. After having terrible storm for few days, they carry away all clouds and fogs together. So usually typhoons are followed by wonderful weather with very clear sky.
In general typhoons travel from south to north, west to east. It is more serious in the southern part, because its power weakens day by day.

Never try to camp under typhoon. It may cause serious problems, even if your tent is designed for high mountain climbing.

The center of the Typhoon shifts quite fast with the wind of the Typhoon blows anticlockwise.Therefore, it is important know which side of the typhoon you are in.

When it passes NW side of you, heavy rain is more serious than the wind. On the other hand, when it passes SE side of you, the strong wind is more serious.

In hokkaido, summer is always a paradise for cyclists because there have rarely influenced by Rainy season or Typhoon, through it is, as you image, very cold in winter. ( It may be too cold from October until May)

You can enjoy cycling with beautiful sun shine at the day time even it become a little cold at night

Checking the weather forecast

The way to check the weather forecast readily is to watch TV. Because you can realize it without hearing anchorman, differently from the radio. TV sets are all over the place; in a cheap restaurant(shokudo,食堂), in a changing room of public bath or Onsen(温泉).

That's good idea to talk about the weather information with Japanese people. That topic is easy to communicate nonverbally, and could become a chance to make a Japanese friends. More importantly, when the typhoon is approaching here, everyone already knew that. They will try to tell you somehow what is approaching here.

Maybe you don't need to get a radio set. Only AFN (American Forces Network) provides English radio programs, but it's coverage is limited. It would rather rent a cellular phone than buy a new radio. A kind of web service on NTT' s cellular phones, "i-mode", provides the English site of forecast. Needless to say that a cell phone also helps you in another emergency situations.


uploaded:19, 11, 2005