The rabbits…

Posted on by helenhmk

We set out from Setoda to visit Ōkunoshima, also known as rabbit island. Cycling towards Tatara Bridge is wonderful, as you look to your right you see neighbouring islands, and the cool breeze of the morning as you pedal along.

While we have cycled this first stretch a number of times, it’s still stunning to see the bridge. I know I’ve taken a lot of photos of the view but I always want to stop to take in the view.

Coming off the bridge we turned left to go around Omishima island towards the port for the ferry. We were nice and early bought tickets (okay I tried to give the person 10,000 instead of 1,000, they were amused), and one packet of rabbit food.

If you are cycling around the island you need to go clockwise.

We took a look around the museum of the island. Which has a focus on environment and nature.

However the island also has a dark history, as in 1925 the imperial Japanese Army built a poison gas factory. It was in operation until the end of the Second World War. Apparently it also took – full year to clean and remove hazardous items associated with creation of poison gas.

The rabbits on the island apparently are either associated from a person having them as pets which escaped or they were pets from child care facilities which were released. But as you can imagine… this is why the island has sooooo many rabbits. But it’s important to feed rabbits away from the one road which exists

We walked up to look at a view, but made it part way to the bottom of electricity towers as we decided to go back down to get the 12:15pm ferry. We had just enough time to buy a ‘small rabbit bread’. It was great to be able to visit another island in the inland sea!

Am I in Europe…?

Posted on by helenhmk

This is a factory, famous in Japan for sauce for yakiniku called Nihon Shokken. The building is based on the Belvedere Palace in Vienna

You can get a tour, but needs to be organised well in advance. Apparently you also get to see the highly automated factory in addition to the museum, garden and take home a number of their goods.

https://en.japantravel.com/ehime/nihon-shokken-s-factory-in-imabari/3755

As we were just driving by we made a brief stop for a couple of photos.

Replaced by algorithm… and I couldn’t be happier

Posted on by kymdt

Many of you would know that I get great enjoyment out of creating bicycle routes that are interesting and safer.

One of the tools available to help me in Australia is Google Maps, but I find it makes routes that can be classified as worse or worser. So often, I am ‘hand making’ the routes with a combination of Google, Strava, Streetview, local PDF maps etc. This approach can take some time and trust me its harder in place that you don’t have local knowledge or fluently speak the language.

But what if you could bottle my spirit and then sprinkle it as required on a map to create the bike routes?

Well in Japan they have done just that with Navitime. In the past this was a Japanese only app. Now, however, they have released an English language version of their app – JapanBike – with additional popular cycling route information. It’s also available for Android.

What might take me an hour to put together now takes minutes. Find the spots I want to visit pop them in and then choose my route style. Instead of worse and worser that Google offers, I get the the choice of Recommended, Short, Safety, Few Hills, Many Hills, Main Streets, Back Streets, Cycling Road. Usefully it shows where bicycle parking and toilets are.

The gold continues – I hit the export button and it delivers me a file that I can use with Beeline! Handy navigation on my handlebars. You may have seen Helen’s post about our ride in Tokyo. The route was completely my style with shortcuts through parks and the like – there is no way I could have done better. It does have a monthly cost but it will pay for itself in one ride.

I’ll add some photos of our current view just to make this post less texty!

Library via ship

Posted on by helenhmk

Before all the bridges existed in the inland sea there existed a library in a ship.

The library ship was in operation from 1962 with the last service running until 1981, when the bridges operated enabling people to move easily between islands..

The boat is on display for everyone to have a look at, as it’a local cultural item

Highlight of the day was…

Posted on by helenhmk

Well there were so many highlights today – but the biggest one wins out. How often do you see a ship get launched… if you live in Setoda (like our friends) apparently it’s every 12 weeks.

Yes – you read that correctly, every 12 weeks a new ship is launched. Band, speeches, balloons the works.. oh and some free tea.

Here in Setoda, an island off the inland sea in Japan is a thriving ship building industry. The ships are constructed (all outside parts etc), its launched then ship is docked, the motor gets added, along with all internal fixes.

Maybe the Federal Government in Australia should have come here when seeking to purchase some ships…

We had a good time!

We’ll be making a brief stop in Osaka…

Posted on by helenhmk

The train from Tokyo to Osaka was very enjoyable- like all Shinkansen trains – I just love the experience. Comfortable seats while you are watching the scenic views of Japan go by.

However, I find it hard to be considerate to fellow tourists with lots of luggage.. who do not book the seats at the rear of the carriage and the storage space.

Yesterday when we caught the train, Kym exhibited un-Kym like behaviour – he pushed in the queue to get on the train ahead of other tourists. We had been on the platform for a good 25 minutes before the train was due to leave. The train had arrived and the cleaners were going through and cleaning as they do, and Kym observed the group of four tourists each with two large bags. As soon passengers were allowed on… he quickly went into action and got on the train soon after the group. As he suspected he found they had put their bags in the area we booked for our bikes. He politely pointed out the space was ours, they claimed it was for oversized luggage (based on the sign) and then Kym stated yes for people who had reserved the area with seats – also based on the sign. They then removed their luggage. By the time I got on I could put my bike in the reserved area and calmly sat down… with Kym speaking to me in a hushed tone about his interaction with fellow tourists.

Unfortunately for the train conductor, after much discussion, their luggage was left in front of a door on the side which was not going to be opened, in addition to lifting couple of bags to the luggage space above the seats.

So fellow tourists, if you are to travelling in Japan, when planning be mindful of the luggage you take especially if you are catching the Shinkansen…. and do your research before you travel on what you can and can not do.