A Father and Son’s Bike Adventure Across Japan – Part 2
In Hokkaido, we met a traveling Buddhist monk who had been walking along the coast of Japan for the past 6 years, relying on handouts for meals and sleeping on a thin plastic mat.
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In Hokkaido, we met a traveling Buddhist monk who had been walking along the coast of Japan for the past 6 years, relying on handouts for meals and sleeping on a thin plastic mat.
In the summer of 2009, my 8-year-old son, Sho, and I set off on our own to ride connected bicycles the length of mainland Japan, covering about 2,500 miles in 67 days.
We set off on the "beginner's" trip of Japan-Tokyo, Hakone (Mt. Fuji) and Kyoto. What we discovered was a country rich in culture yet affordable in cost.
Although Hamamatsu, located near Mt. Fuji about halfway between Tokyo and Osaka, is most known to Japanese as the home of Tokugawa Ieyasu in the late 1500s while he waged battles in his quest to become shogun, today it's famous globally for its industry, which, admittedly, is not a sexy attribute until you learn that two of those industries are giants in the music and auto industry.
What would be the point if you didn't meander through its narrow streets, lined with old wooden homes, teahouses, craft stores, and temples, stopping to watch, say, an old man make tatami mats or a woman arrange delicate sweets in her centuries-old shop like they were expensive pieces of jewelry?
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