WEBVTT 00:00.340 --> 00:02.451 near the end of september this year I 00:02.451 --> 00:05.030 took a fall vacation for two weeks and 00:05.030 --> 00:07.252 I went to the island of Shikoku , which 00:07.252 --> 00:09.474 is the fourth largest island in Japan . 00:10.040 --> 00:13.610 Um I've been to Chicago before , but it 00:13.610 --> 00:16.730 was my least visited island and um 00:16.730 --> 00:19.390 since I have traveled by bicycle all 00:19.390 --> 00:22.090 over Japan , I really want to see um , 00:22.100 --> 00:25.690 I want to see shikoku before , you know . 00:25.700 --> 00:27.756 Well I still have time before I left 00:27.756 --> 00:29.811 Japan , so I decided to take a ferry 00:29.811 --> 00:33.320 from Tokyo . I arrived in Tokushima and 00:33.320 --> 00:36.180 I spent the next two weeks just cycling 00:36.180 --> 00:38.760 through the beautiful island . 00:48.540 --> 00:49.540 Yeah , 00:59.540 --> 01:00.540 mm . 01:04.940 --> 01:08.540 Mhm . On my first day I 01:08.550 --> 01:11.740 bicycle from my home to Ariake in Tokyo , 01:11.740 --> 01:13.962 which is the old diver area is about 60 01:13.962 --> 01:16.018 km to come in a few hours and that's 01:16.018 --> 01:18.129 where I took the ferry to Tokushima , 01:18.740 --> 01:21.480 18-hour ferry ride , but it's quite 01:21.480 --> 01:23.860 nice to get a sleeping room and whatnot 01:24.340 --> 01:28.300 Right about 1:30 PM the next 01:28.300 --> 01:30.860 day . So I only cycle for a few hours 01:30.860 --> 01:34.760 that day . Um , and then following that , 01:35.140 --> 01:38.240 that began my trip . Yeah , 01:40.240 --> 01:44.060 one of the uh interesting things about 01:44.060 --> 01:47.160 Shoko is the O Henry song , 01:48.140 --> 01:51.630 The Hendro are basically pilgrims or 01:51.640 --> 01:55.480 people that are on a pilgrimage and the 01:55.480 --> 01:57.369 way to probably do is to start at 01:57.369 --> 02:00.260 Tokushima and you basically do a 02:00.840 --> 02:03.030 Circle around the island by walking . 02:03.040 --> 02:05.151 There are people that do it by bus or 02:05.151 --> 02:07.318 by by a secret , but the proper way to 02:07.318 --> 02:09.860 do it is to visit 88 temples by walking 02:10.340 --> 02:13.050 and this usually takes several months . 02:13.050 --> 02:15.170 Some people do it in um in different 02:15.170 --> 02:17.281 legs , they don't see the whole thing 02:17.281 --> 02:19.503 in one journey . But some people do and 02:19.503 --> 02:21.559 they're on the road for days , weeks 02:21.559 --> 02:23.726 months . Um , but I met quite a few of 02:23.726 --> 02:25.726 them and I saw even more of them as 02:25.726 --> 02:28.320 they were hiking along . Uh , you spoke 02:28.330 --> 02:30.880 mostly on the eastern coast is where I 02:30.880 --> 02:34.050 ran to them and everyone has a story to 02:34.050 --> 02:36.161 tell . You know , why they were doing 02:36.161 --> 02:38.780 it or whether it was the first time or 02:38.780 --> 02:41.230 not . You know , I asked them , I 02:41.240 --> 02:43.518 actually talked to quite a few of them . 02:43.518 --> 02:45.518 I asked them about getting food and 02:45.518 --> 02:48.330 water where they stayed , why they were 02:48.330 --> 02:50.970 doing it when they started , how long 02:50.970 --> 02:52.210 they have left . 03:29.940 --> 03:33.250 two of the things that really stood out 03:33.250 --> 03:35.083 in scope for me . The two of the 03:36.840 --> 03:40.460 main highlights I should say is 03:40.940 --> 03:44.060 almost cycling along the Shimanto River . 03:44.070 --> 03:46.360 It's the Shimanto River is the longest 03:46.740 --> 03:49.460 river inch Coco . It's 120 miles long , 03:50.040 --> 03:53.830 196 km and it's the only 03:53.840 --> 03:57.240 undammed river in kofu , which means 03:57.240 --> 03:59.073 like , so there's no control for 03:59.073 --> 04:01.018 sweating and they have a series of 04:01.018 --> 04:03.240 bridges called ching Kabashi or Chincha 04:03.240 --> 04:06.080 bridge . And you need , you need to 04:06.080 --> 04:08.570 think about these bridges is that um 04:08.580 --> 04:11.050 and you could cycle over them or uh 04:11.060 --> 04:13.227 drive over them , but there's no guard 04:13.227 --> 04:15.490 rails that very narrow and the reason 04:15.490 --> 04:18.870 for that is because of the flooding . 04:18.870 --> 04:20.981 Like I said , they don't have dams to 04:20.981 --> 04:23.650 help . Um , the water can flow under 04:23.650 --> 04:25.872 and over the bridge are actually called 04:25.872 --> 04:28.830 Submersible bridges . Okay . And the 04:28.830 --> 04:30.886 water because there's no guard rails 04:30.886 --> 04:32.886 and , and nothing underneath , like 04:32.886 --> 04:34.774 structurally , it's just really a 04:34.774 --> 04:38.530 platform on stands , uh , debris and 04:38.530 --> 04:40.752 garbage and stuff like that doesn't get 04:40.752 --> 04:43.890 caught in it during a large rain , a 04:43.890 --> 04:47.270 large flooding . Um and it was 04:47.270 --> 04:49.310 interesting to uh , to bicycle over 04:49.310 --> 04:52.270 this bridge because like I said , 04:52.270 --> 04:54.437 there's nothing on either side and you 04:54.437 --> 04:56.659 feel like as you're cruising along that 04:56.940 --> 04:59.390 um , you could easily go off the edge 04:59.400 --> 05:01.760 and you can , because two cars really 05:01.760 --> 05:05.010 can't get by there . It does widen out 05:05.020 --> 05:07.131 in a few spots so that if there is an 05:07.131 --> 05:09.910 oncoming car , they can just sort of 05:09.920 --> 05:12.960 slide by . And 05:13.640 --> 05:15.696 another highlight , something that I 05:15.696 --> 05:18.490 wanted to do when I went to school was 05:18.500 --> 05:22.490 cycle along the Shema Mikado . Shimano 05:22.490 --> 05:26.050 Mikado is a series of bridges that span 05:26.050 --> 05:29.990 the inland sea of Japan from between 05:30.000 --> 05:32.190 Shikoku island and hold shoot the main 05:32.190 --> 05:35.680 island of Japan and the human ah Mikado 05:35.690 --> 05:38.820 is a series of bridges that connect all 05:38.820 --> 05:40.764 these islands , but there's also a 05:40.764 --> 05:42.931 cycling courses and cycling road which 05:42.931 --> 05:45.100 is 70 little over 70 kilometers long 05:45.100 --> 05:47.560 and it connects imma Bari to , you know , 05:47.560 --> 05:50.730 Mitchie in my body is in shikoku on the 05:50.730 --> 05:53.540 meat is in here of Hiroshima Prefecture 05:53.550 --> 05:56.410 on the other horseshoe . The trip on 05:56.410 --> 05:58.610 the human Ami kaido cycling for us was 05:58.610 --> 06:00.780 fantastic . First of all , You go 06:00.780 --> 06:04.590 across seven bridges and these are very , 06:04.600 --> 06:07.160 very large suspension bridges for the 06:07.160 --> 06:09.690 most part . Um and you know , you're 06:09.690 --> 06:11.912 cycling along , you have this dedicated 06:11.912 --> 06:13.912 cycling lane , you're good , you're 06:13.912 --> 06:15.912 proving alone , not having to worry 06:15.912 --> 06:18.079 about the cars . And at the end of the 06:18.079 --> 06:20.079 bridge cycling course intentionally 06:20.079 --> 06:22.850 takes you um on , on , on a scenic tour . 06:22.900 --> 06:25.450 So you have to get off of each island 06:25.450 --> 06:27.339 and you basically cycle the whole 06:27.339 --> 06:29.506 island . So you might spend an hour on 06:29.506 --> 06:31.617 the island before you get to the next 06:31.617 --> 06:35.300 bridge . Real pleasure to do that . And 06:35.300 --> 06:37.356 I would I recommend that to anyone . 06:37.640 --> 06:40.740 Nothing else . Go down to Hiroshima 06:40.740 --> 06:44.550 Prefecture or Bill Shikoku 06:44.630 --> 06:46.852 and cycle along the human ah Mikado the 06:46.852 --> 06:50.100 cycling course , as I mentioned , 06:50.110 --> 06:52.480 um during a journey , you meet a lot of 06:52.490 --> 06:55.860 people and sometimes it's a 06:57.240 --> 07:00.260 just a passing Hello , good luck . 07:00.940 --> 07:03.107 Other times you have a little bit more 07:03.107 --> 07:05.329 of a conversation , but always remember 07:05.329 --> 07:07.850 the advice of a of an older lady who 07:07.850 --> 07:11.830 was sort of a road construction guard . 07:11.830 --> 07:14.980 She was basically there to explain that 07:14.980 --> 07:16.980 the road had closed this as long as 07:16.980 --> 07:20.080 Shimanto River and she says , I want to 07:20.080 --> 07:22.247 give you some advice because everybody 07:22.247 --> 07:25.460 says , don't get , I think you're next , 07:28.570 --> 07:31.660 go ahead . Hi , 07:32.140 --> 07:35.590 only the essential . Right . How do you 07:35.590 --> 07:38.580 know how to do it ? That's all I 07:38.580 --> 07:39.750 believe that . Now 07:50.440 --> 07:51.440 who don't know 07:56.380 --> 08:00.120 this woman . Yeah , she got it , 08:00.200 --> 08:03.050 you know what I mean ? She she gets it . 08:03.440 --> 08:06.360 Mhm . Like yeah 08:07.440 --> 08:09.420 stop once in a while and just 08:09.430 --> 08:12.440 appreciate at the moment , appreciate 08:12.440 --> 08:14.560 where you are and look up at the 08:14.560 --> 08:17.060 mountain , look down at the water 08:18.640 --> 08:22.580 experience the moment built this fly by 08:22.580 --> 08:25.610 rushing by because there's a lot to see . 08:25.610 --> 08:27.666 Sometimes it's just really stopped , 08:29.440 --> 08:32.460 look around where you are . A lot of 08:32.460 --> 08:35.070 people ask me why I do the bicycle 08:35.070 --> 08:37.960 touring whenever I take a vacation . Um 08:38.640 --> 08:41.950 It's usually a bicycle trip . Not every 08:41.950 --> 08:44.650 day is easy in fact um 08:46.190 --> 08:48.246 there's at least a part of every day 08:48.246 --> 08:51.830 that's horrible . There are full days 08:51.830 --> 08:55.140 there just absolutely grueling but at 08:55.140 --> 08:57.750 the end of every day like when you when 08:57.750 --> 09:00.120 you fish it's such a feeling of 09:00.120 --> 09:03.650 accomplishment and you feel strongly 09:03.650 --> 09:05.860 you feel better mentally . It does 09:05.860 --> 09:09.030 wonders , you just feel , yeah you just 09:09.030 --> 09:12.020 feel so much better and the next day 09:12.020 --> 09:14.131 you get up and you do it again , it's 09:14.131 --> 09:16.353 all fresh , it's not like oh I gotta do 09:16.353 --> 09:18.520 this again . No you get up , you do it 09:18.520 --> 09:20.576 again and it's like and you have the 09:20.576 --> 09:22.798 tough times again you do there's no way 09:22.798 --> 09:25.220 out of it . But sometimes it's the 09:25.230 --> 09:28.100 people you meet along the way um met 09:28.100 --> 09:30.322 some fellow cyclist school on the way , 09:30.322 --> 09:32.433 they were also touring as I mentioned 09:32.433 --> 09:34.489 earlier I talked about the Henderson 09:34.489 --> 09:36.600 sometimes you stop by the convenience 09:36.600 --> 09:40.530 store and some curious old man or 09:40.540 --> 09:42.580 woman something up and ask you what 09:42.580 --> 09:44.850 you're doing and all of a sudden you 09:44.850 --> 09:47.072 have any conversation with them for 5 , 09:47.072 --> 09:49.239 10 minutes , that's what's all about . 09:49.239 --> 09:51.294 It's like the people you meet , just 09:51.294 --> 09:53.461 like even if you were having kind of a 09:53.461 --> 09:56.330 bad day or people just the curiosity 09:56.330 --> 09:58.552 and the encouragement from people , you 09:58.552 --> 10:01.060 mean that makes it worth it . 10:09.240 --> 10:09.450 Mm .