The Last Shimanami Kaido! Mike’s Shimanami Kaido Adventures – Livestream Announcement

The Last Shimanami Kaido! Mike’s Shimanami Kaido Adventures – Livestream Announcement

Hey everyone, this is Mike Matsuno and welcome to the Man in Japan channel. I just wanted to connect with you once more again after I just got back from the Shimonami Kaido about a week ago. And I thought that before I take on my next uh tour with my sister’s group that actually starts today, I thought that I would share with you some of the things that um I had gone through. I think um that may help some of you who may be interested in doing the Shimonami Kaido one day. So um let’s see. I first I want to test the audio. Um can anyone let me know if the audio and the sinking of the mouth and the video is okay? Uh anything that you could just write in the comments. So anyone who has any questions today about the topic uh of of where we went or what we did, please put them in the comments. But for right now, if you can at least give if anyone out there is listening, if you could just give me a comment about how the audio is, how the video is, um the lighting, etc. Sometimes it’s hard. I see it on my screen, but sometimes it’s not. Okay. Thank you, Jar Dream. Audio and video is fine. Okay, great. So, I can I can move on here. Thanks so much. Um, J Star, for those of you who don’t know me, I’m Mike Matsuno, and I do a small channel called the Man in Japan channel, and I try to do different things about Japan. You know, usually things that I find interesting. Not everybody may agree, but, you know, things that I think are more different or unique. For example, the Shimoniki Kaido is a is a location that very few people know about. You know, yes, there are those who do it, but not many people know. Even in Japan, the Japanese themselves don’t know the Shimanam Kaido, not many of them. They kind of have an idea, something about a bicycle, but most people don’t know. And even for foreigners, a lot of foreigners, a lot of foreigners may more foreigners may know about the Shimanomaido than actually Japanese because it’s not on the radar of the Japanese. You know, it’s domestic and you know, I guess they can just go anytime and you know, you have to ride a bicycle. So maybe people aren’t really thinking that that’s something that they want to do. But this year at the Shimon Kaido compared to what three or four years ago, there was at least maybe twice at least three times more foreigners riding the Shimanami Kaido. So I think the Shimanami Kaido from now on is going to be one of the main destinations. And for those of you who don’t know what the Shimanam Kaido is, I’ve made several videos. You can watch my playlist. I think I have the most uh YouTube videos about the Shimanomi Kaido about, you know, like things to know, what to do, and just some of the the vlogging things that we did throughout the three trips. I’ve been to the Shimanami Kaido. I’ve cycled it four times, and I’ve done it with three three times with my good friends from Alaska, Joe and Jinny. Joe is 83 years old and Jinny is 79 years old. So, if you’re thinking like, “Oh, I’m a little too old to do something like that, you know, and and maybe you’re and you’re under 80.” Well, Joe and Jenny proved that it is possible. Now, it’s not for everyone. If you don’t like riding a bicycle or you have a hard time walking or even cycling, then that you don’t do the then you wouldn’t do this. But if you have confidence riding a bicycle, you have good balance and you know you can you know ride a bike and you prepare a little bit, I think that um anyone could do the Shimanom Kaido. I’m not saying do the whole thing. The Shimanamikaido runs from Onomichi in Hiroshima all the way down to Imabati in Shikoku. You cross over six six islands and six bridges, suspension bridges, huge suspension bridges that everyone is designed differently. And it’s those each one of those are kind of architectural kind of a amazing design itself. So what had what a lot of people think of when they hear the Shimanamikaido is they’re going to do it in one shot from Onomichi to Imabati. It’s 75 kilos which is what about 48 close to 50 miles. And normally it takes the average person between let’s say just the average person on a cross bike like a mountain bike maybe between seven to maybe 10 hours. People who are fast or cyclist they can do it within four to six. So it just depends on your level. Those are the ones deal Shimanami Kaido trips. Today I’m going to talk about doing the Shimanami Kaido in parts. And um but before I get there, I just wanted to give you the update on Japan. Japan has finally reached fall. Fall has come to Japan because it’s much cooler. Actually, I’m wearing a long sleeve shirt today as you can see because it’s actually cool within the apartment here. So, I got the windows closed. Um it’s actually it says 68 69 degrees Fahrenheit, but it feels really cool. So, fall is here. It’s been raining over the weekend. It’s going to be nice from tomorrow. So those of you who are coming this week or in the next couple of weeks should be very nice you know outside of a few showers and things. So welcome to Japan. Uh things are um you know continuing on with uh in Japan politically um the first female prime minister Takahi Takich I think is her name. and uh she is now going to lead, you know, they’re still vying for getting the enough votes to be for her to be elected as the prime minister. Although she won the LDP um chapter, the largest, she still has to win enough votes to become the prime minister of the whole uh legislative body. Um so we’ll see what happens with that. So that’s what’s going on in Japan. Um again, welcome to the Man in Japan channel. And today I’m going to talk about some of the things that happened to me on my final and last trip. And I know that it’s the last trip for me, especially with Joe and Jenny. So the way this started is I went uh about four four years ago, I decided that um I went I had my two friends Joe and Jenny. They were coming to visit. At that time, Joe was only what 80 or 79. And then um Jenny was what four years younger than Joe. So they were coming to Japan but they had come to visit me about six years before that. And you know I I took them around in Kyoto. They came to visit me when I was teaching at the university in Osaka. And so I took them to Kio Miso Temple and to King Kakuji the Golden Temple. And I could see you know it’s crowded. It wasn’t as crowded as now but it was still crowded. And when I took them I could see that it wasn’t you know they’re from Alaska. They’re real Alaska tough people. You know, Jenny is originally from Oregon, but still she’s lived in Alaska so long and she’s she and Joe are just active Alaska people. And I knew that just a sightseeing and the crowds was not their thing, but they had come to see me and you know to to see a couple of things. So when they said the next time they wanted to come and visit, I think it was five or six years later, I said I thought to myself, I can’t just do the sightseeing thing. They need something active. you know, they’re very they’re hikers, they’re cyclists some, you know, somewhat. And so I thought about it and I remember someone mentioning something about or maybe it was YouTube, the Shimanami Kaido. And I So I went on to YouTube and I watched the and I put typed it in a search and a few videos came out about the Shimanami Kaido and I thought, “Wow, it says it’s the most beautiful coastline in Japan.” And you know it’s you know at that time I didn’t really recall but it was 75 kilometers and I thought okay maybe we could do part of this you know I knew that maybe we couldn’t run the whole thing but we could do part of it stay along the way or something and that was the start of me thinking about to take Joe and Jenny along the Shimon Kaido now so but because I wasn’t a cyclist and because I knew nothing about the Shimanami Kaido before they came in April of that following year in I I think it was November, beginning of November, I went and if you want to watch the video, it’s in the playlist of what I learned. I was so naive. I had a mama. And for those of you who don’t know what a mama is, it’s just a regular bicycle with a couple baskets on it. It’s for um like you know your obach or your your older ladies or housewives they use for marketing. You know, it doesn’t have any battery assist usually and it’s just a simple bike and that’s called a Mamachi. So I I rented one because I wanted a basket to put my backpack in and I and I wanted a rack in the back to put I had a pain in the air. I thought this is like real like bicycling cycling kind of thing. Well, that was the biggest mistake I made because the suspension bridges like the first one I hit you have to go way up high. And the reason is the suspens suspension bridges are so high is that the big tankers and big ships come under. So it has to clear. So it’s really up high. So that’s the hardest part is taking the the bicycle path all the way to the top and then going over and of course in the other side you’re coming down. It’s a lot of fun. But that was the hard part. And so I learned on my first trip and I have a video about that. It’s down in the description if you want to see it about why what I I failed. I never got past halfway and I talk about it. Then then Joe and Jenny came the first year and they brought um another Peter uh from Alaska too. So three of them and me but we couldn’t get a hotel in Onomichi. So we ended up starting from the Immabi side. So we started the Imabati side first. You can start either side from the Hiroshima Onomichi side or from the uh Eime Prefecture or Shikoko Island, the Imabati city side. And so we started from Imabati. The following year again after that first year I thought it was the the last time you know that last time I might see Joe and Jenny. But Joe wrote me after he got back that he wanted to do it one more time. So I thought, you know, I I don’t know if you know the word in Japanese called oni. Oi is p. She is person. On is kind of like an obligation or kind of like a a feeling of indebtness that you have to someone that you can never repay in your life. So Joe is kind of like my oni. He has hired me several times at the Alaska State Fair. That’s where we met what 46 years ago when I was young and a college student. He hired me to work as a production manager. He was the entertainment director. He hired me the following year again and another couple of times after that. Anyway, all these years, uh, we’ve stayed in contact. You know, there had been some blanks, but we’ve always stayed in contact. And so, if Joe comes, I said, “I will take off and I will take you.” So, he we he came back a second year and that time we had, I think, eight people. He brought some of his friends and you know different things and I have a video about that too and some of the challenges we had you know one person had Parkinson’s another person was diagnosed with cancer we had people who hadn’t really rode much before and so you know some of those kind of challenges you know when you’re dealing with a group and a senior citizen group but my point here is that whether you bring your children or your family or senior citizens the shimanikaido can be done I’m not saying do it at one shot I’m saying do it in parts and take the Shimani Kaido. Most people’s mind is Shimani Kaido, boom, one shot across 75 kilometers, you know, it’s just like the marathon. They want to just do it. For young people or cyclists or people who just want to uh check the box on their bucket list, that’s great. You don’t even need this video. You can turn off this video. But for those of you who maybe are not at that oneshot mentality or you want to enjoy and see the area which is actually still very underdeveloped and they’re trying to revitalize it because people have left these islands these islands in the stoi. So, um, it’s it’s so if you take out the one shot, then you do it in parts. And that’s what I did with Joe and Jinny the first two years and this year where I took the Shimoni Kaido in different parts and we didn’t ride that much. Some days were 15. The first day was 15 18 kilometers. That’s not much in miles. What, eight, nine, 10 miles. The second day, you know, we actually had to do a walking tour because of the rain. And I’ll get to that in a little bit. But anyway, you can set how far you want to run. And so that’s what this video is about is suggesting to you if you want to do the Shimanam Kaido and you’re not you don’t want to do the 75 kilometer at one shot. Now it’s 75 plus another 5 kilometers because it’s 6 km to Iabati city after you clear the final bridge. So you’re looking at about 80 kilometers. Okay, 80 km. If you’re not used to if you don’t want to do that then I would suggest following something of what I suggest today and that’s taking it in different parts. So for example just to give you an idea of what we did this the first year we did started Imabati I think it was four nights so three days were cycling the second day the second year last year we did four nights but three three cycling days from Onomichi. So, we started, but we only had a short stay in each place this year. And I think Joe and Jinny thought that this is probably the last time. They went with the full package. So, we spent three cycling days in Onamichi and then we moved by bus to Imabati and we did three cycling days from there. And so that was kind of the the new model where we did the whole package and we visited different islands within the Shimanami Kaido. And the reason to do these islands is because it’s still very pristine. The main Shimanami route is actually very busy. A lot of times you’re, you know, running, you’re you’re riding along trucks passing you and their main roads because it’s usually at certain in most parts it’s the main the quickest way to get to where you’re going, right? I suggest you take the outside roads around the coast or different ways co roads that are not too hilly and usually along the coastline it’s usually going to be you know there’s some slight slopes and some hills but most of it is flat those are the most beautiful routes and the way that I did that is I started to figure out how um I went to get the let’s see where did I put the maps I had the maps excuse me Uh, what did I do to the maps? I I’m not sure what I did. Anyway, I have a whole set of maps that um What did I do with the maps? Okay, I’m sorry. So, I bought this and I made a video about this, too. if you but the problem with this if you can see it the TO map is it comes with every island has a map about it and it’s very comprehensive it gives you the terrain it gives you the distance you know like you know something like this if you can see it it’s kind of hard to see with the light sorry but anyway it gives you the islands on each island has its own and so this is definitely what I would suggest if you are going to do what I’m doing. The only problem is that you can’t get this. You can’t buy it outside of Amazon Japan. You can only buy it when you’re in Japan. So, you would have to have it sent to your hotel where you’re going. But this is what I used. And each island that we I planned, I was able to, you know, figure out how hilly it was, how far it was, and then make the plan for the people you have. So if you’re in a group or you’re with your children or you’re with your, you know, if there’s some if everyone’s a senior citizen, you have to know how far people can actually ride. And you usually don’t know until the first day. So it’s hard to really make a plan plan. So a lot of people said to me, “What was the plan?” Well, the plan was after the first day, you have an idea of how far people can ride, how strong they are, because you’re only as fast and and strong as your weakest link, right? So, the person who has the hardest time riding is the pace you’re going to go. And that kind of determines how far you can ride. And then you take one of these maps and you try and figure out what would be the best route for this group. And and and the other thing you have to do is figure out, are we going to ride and come back and ride back? Or are we going to ride out and get to a ferry stop and take the ferry back? Or are we going to take the ferry out and ride back? Or this year we did this, take the ferry out, rent a bike there, ride around that area and take the ferry back. So there’s several options. The only problem for this is that the fairies are very infrequent. You know, like one every hour or one every two hours depending on which ferry you’re looking at. And so you have to be careful because you could get stuck waiting two hours. And some some of those ferry stops there’s no town. It’s just a building like a little bus stop. So there’s not much going on. You have to ride back somewhere to get to a convenience store to a restaurant or something. So all of these things take some thinking. So to ride the Shimanami Kaido the way I suggest, you do have to do some planning. But again, you have to figure out in your group who can ride and who cannot. So that’s the main thing. And then you figure you go down. And another problem is and I realized this was the ferry schedule compared to two years ago the ferry schedule has changed and basically it’s gotten less and less fairies. Before it was like one every hour I think it was. This year it was one it was two in the morning leaving and two in the afternoon coming back. So the so the choices are very very small. And then in Iabati, the ferry was 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. The problem is, if we were going to rent a bike in Imabati, the store doesn’t open until 8 a.m. And to go through all that registration takes at least half an hour. We would never make the make the ferry. So when I went down to the ferry um the ferry um office, I asked them, I said, and they showed me the schedule and I said, “It’s different from two years ago.” And they go, “Yeah.” And I said, “Well, how are we supposed to rent the bike when the earliest they open is 8:00 a.m. and take the ferry?” And they said, “Oh, you cannot.” And and I thought, “That’s it, right?” Well, what the lady did suggest to me was, “Why don’t you go there and rent the ferry?” She was talking about those islands of um Kamiima. And this is where we went uh two years ago. I know you can’t you can’t see it. Sorry. Anyway, it’s Kamiima. These are those what four or five islands that are out there. Yugosima, uh, Satsushima, uh, Ikinosima, and Iwakiima. And there they’re smaller, um, suspension bridges, very low actually that they’re much easier to climb and go over, and you can cover all those islands really quickly. So, I didn’t know that you could rent a bike there and then drop it off on another island. But, I did call right away. And when I called because we couldn’t do the ferry thing, I found that you could do that. And so that’s what I would suggest to some people is that you take the ferry out to the location, rent the rent the bike or the ebike and ride it and then drop it off at on another island and there’s a,100 yen drop off charge, you know, less than $10 which is which is worth it and then take the ferry back from there. So anyway, those are some of the logistics that you have to think about. The only thing you have to be very careful of, you cannot miss the last ferry because you cannot get home if you miss the last ferry. And I think that’s the most stressful part is not knowing how far or how fast you can ride, but you got to make sure. So, a lot of times we ended up being at a ferry stop early. I wouldn’t say too early, but early. Sometimes an hour, you know, because we never really knew how the terrain was going to be and how much to ride. So, you probably want to put a cushion in there. And sometimes there’s a restaurant there or, you know, sometimes not, but then you can kind of pass the time there until the ferry does come because you don’t want to miss the ferry. Okay. Um, a couple other challenges that we had on this trip was um we were going to ride the 3rd, the fourth, the fifth of October, right? We got there on the second. Rain was forecasted. Okay? And you know, it’s the most miserable thing to ride a bicycle in the in the heavy rain, but I didn’t have really a backup plan because cycling was what we’re going to do. And this is what is hard. You might plan to ride and then it pours on you or there’s a typhoon, right? And then there’s no backup plan. There’s not if if you’re staying in Onomichi, there’s, you know, there’s some things to do, but it’s still your whole point is to get there is to ride a bicycle, right? Or ebike. Anyway, I had made reservations for two ebikes from Shimanami uh bike rental, which is the one I had used the last three years, and they don’t they don’t close. They always open and they don’t cancel on you. But I couldn’t I could only get two extra extra small and extra small. I think they’re the only ones that have the extra small ebite. I couldn’t get the S or the M. And so what happens is then I went to another shop. I went online and I went to a shop. Now the shop I went to had a policy that they if it rains, I guess if it rains on a certain percentage, they didn’t really say what it was. they would cancel the reservation, your reservation. So, I’m thinking, wow, that’s kind of interesting that the customer really doesn’t have any say. They decide and it’s done usually the day before. So, you know, the rain the weather changes so quickly that you don’t know if it’s really going to rain hard or if it still can go out. But anyway, that’s their policy. Okay. So, it’s it’s um th was it Thursday? I think it was the second. I get the email that says that oh they’re going to um cancel. So I get the email that says you can’t really see it but it says they’re going to cancel and because it says to all customers with booking that include October 3rd and 4th now. So I’m thinking okay the third and the fourth is uh was it Saturday Sunday I think it was right Thursday Friday Thursday. Oh sorry Friday Saturday. So, Friday, Saturday, correct? So, then I’m thinking that okay, then Sunday we can ride, you know, and the weather looks like it might clear up. So, anyway, the first we don’t have we don’t we don’t have bicycle. We don’t have ebikes, right? We only got those two ebikes from that one place, but the other four are canceled out. And so, then in the morning of um Friday, we talk and it’s just lightly raining. So I said, “Well, another option is we could go to Shimoni, you know, cycle or Shimoni Japan rental and we could get maybe cross bikes. They don’t have ebikes, but they have like the like the mountain bike, the cross between the city and the mountain bike.” And so they they say, “Okay.” And I said, “I will make the plan that it’s not too hilly and we and it’s not too far and we can take the ferry back.” So this is the option. So if you know the if you know if you have the maps and you know where the ferry stops are and when they come then you plan a lighter schedule and that’s what I did. So he went to the sham rental saw my old friend Iamoto song he was happy to see me gave him a little Omia gay a little souvenir and he told me there’s no ebikes no battery assist but there were cross bikes. So we all four of us got a cross bike two of us got an ebike and we did that route the route that I had. It wasn’t that easy for some with the crossbike, but everybody did okay because the terrain wasn’t that hard. We did the coaster route and again, I chose a route that went around the eastern coast of Mukashima, the first island, because it’s a beautiful scenic route according to the map and very few cars, because everybody’s coming down the middle or more on the on the west side. And so, it was a beautiful route. We got out, we got across the bridge, got to the ferry stop, and then we came back. So, that all worked out fine. The second day it was supposed to rain hard and so the group decided that okay we’re going to I had an option. We could take the ferry out to Sito the town and do a walking tour. Just bring our umbrella that the hotel supplies and we could just walk. There’s a nice museum the uh Higash Hiyama Museum and Kuanji the temple there and there’s it’s famous for their lemon like sweets and lemon snacks. So I thought, okay, we we’ll do, you know, sto they they they all decided not to ride. So we took the ferry out, we did the walking tour, but it hardly rained at all that day and everybody was thinking like we could have rode, we could have rode, but again, we didn’t have a choice because we, the company canceled on us. So there’s no discussion or there’s no like, oh, it looks like it’s going to be okay today. Can we ride? It’s done the day before, which I wonder how they can do business like that because it rains a lot and every day it changes so quickly that it’s hard to do to say the day before it’s not going to rain. I mean, it’s going to rain and then cancel and the next day it’s like that day it didn’t rain. But anyway, we did the walk-in tour and we came back. Then that evening, I decided to I better double check to make sure we have the ebikes for the next day because this is the third day and it’s the only day we can ride the ebikes in in Onomici, right? So I call the the gentleman and he answers and this is where it gets a little bit and this is a good this is a point here that I want to bring up. It got a little bit confusing. So I call him and I say, “Okay, this is Mike Matsuno and we’re coming for the ebikes tomorrow.” And then he goes, “Oh, your reservation was canceled.” I said, “Yeah, for the third and the fourth because that’s what I see on his paper here, right?” And he goes, “No, the entire reservation is cancelled.” He called it booking. And well, and they were speaking in Japanese, right? And I said, “What?” And then I actually got a little bit upset because I was waiting for this day, so I hadn’t done anything. And I thought, “How can you cancel the entire every day when you don’t know?” And there wasn’t any notice that it was going to I was expecting maybe an email that says okay the the fifth I’m sorry the fifth the 3rd the fourth and the the fifth is the fifth is canled the third day but I didn’t get it. So I thought oh fine and the weather was clear. Here is the misunderstanding. Okay. So, I got a little bit upset and on the phone I was kind of mad because I am the tour leader, the guide, and they cannot get a bike again and this is the last day we can ride in Onomichi. And I’m going, I can’t believe it. So, we got into a little bit of an argument. And then I said, on your email, you wrote at the top to all customers with booking that include October 3rd and 4th, you know. And then he says here, it says here, “We regret to inform you that the latest weather forecast predict rain on the dates as per our policy outlined on our website that you confirm when you booking. We must cancel all bookings, including those dates to ensure the safety of our customers and our bikes.” Now, I understand his policy and he is the company and he sets the policy. That’s fine. But it’s still very confusing because at the top he starts off with booking that include the October 3rd and 4th. So of course I am assuming and this is where maybe I was wrong um that I I thought that it was only for the third and the fourth and the fifth was okay. But the way this is written kind of in a Japanese style but it’s written in English. It’s written in a Japanese way of thinking. Um, and it says here, and this is where it’s confusing because it says, “As per our policy outlined on our website that you confirmed when you booking, we must cancel all bookings, including those dates to ensure the safety of our customers and our bikes.” The the key words here are all bookings. First, the bookings are like, is it each day or is it the entire thing? You know, he doesn’t use the word reservation, he uses booking. So it’s one and second including those dates to ensure the safety of our course including those dates. So the way this is written because it’s in Japanese English I thought you know including I mean those dates the third and the fourth that um they’re going to be cancelled. Anyway, his argument was, and if you read it again and again, you could see that he has an argument here, is that no, any booking or I guess reservation that includes the third and the fourth, everything is cancelled. That’s the logic. And I thought, and so we got into a kind of a heated argument and then I was kind of mad because I had this group with me and they and we had to ride. So anyway, in the end, he said, “Okay.” Okay. He was mad, but he said he would get the four bikes for me. And I said, “Okay, thank you.” And then I felt a little bad after that. I got a little upset, so I wrote him an email explained that I’m sorry. um if you read it over again and again, I could see what you mean and that um I apologized and that I’ll see you tomorrow. And then I went to see him the next morning with the group to pick up and he had the bikes, but he was still upset because in my last besides that note, I did write that I did talk to uh one of these tourism um directors on the taking the ferry out the day before and they were asking, “Well, how come you’re not riding if you came to Psycho?” And I said, “Well, we were cancelled.” we were cancelled on. I mean, we were not we didn’t cancel somebody. And she was like surprised and she said, “Oh, what company is that?” And I said the name and she she said, “Oh, is that a smaller private company?” And I said, “Oh, I don’t know. I guess so.” And anyway, she goes, “Oh, yeah. Well, you know, people have new companies have different policies.” So, she wasn’t aware of it. So, I was telling him trying to say like, “Well, a lot of people are not aware of this type of policy.” That kind of made him more mad because he kept saying that it says here all bookings including those dates to ensure and he wanted me to write this in Japanese to him and explain and this so yes he wasn’t wrong and maybe I didn’t read it carefully enough but it’s confusing and so the next morning again I did apologize and I said I’m sorry that I got upset and that you know so yes so I’m not saying that he was wrong but I don’t understand how a company can just cancel you without really talking to you or like that day. So those three days that we were cancelled, the first day was light rain. We still could have ridden the ebike. The second day didn’t rain. We could have ridden the ebike. And the third day we did ride with the four other new ebikes we got from him. And um so the three days that were cancelled, all of them we could have rode. So that’s his company and that’s his policy, but I don’t know how he can do business. So for those of you who are making reservations, please be sure to understand what their cancellation policy is. In the case with with this company that I I I used, I would be very mindful that if they cancel on you, it’s almost too late. And then he does list if you are still want to ride in the rain he lists you know Shima Shimonami Japan Rental as one of them and Giant and a couple other companies but it’s so late already. It’s a day before like if you want ebikes like we needed you weren’t going to get them probably almost surely and it’s hard to now start looking the day before for like if you have a group and you have four ebikes we need to go start looking. So, I don’t think it’s a good business model, but again, it’s his business and I don’t know how he can make money if every time it’s a if you think it’s going to rain and the forecast is going to rain that you cancel. And then I also don’t know like if I wanted to he didn’t have bikes on that Sunday when I called, right? When am I supposed to rebook or make a new booking for that Sunday? Like is it like that that time that I got cancelled on that Friday, Saturday is canceled. So then I have to book right there for Sunday. That doesn’t make sense to me. You know, I thought it was by day. Okay. Third and fourth. I understand. I’m not happy. But that’s fine. You decided. But fifth, the Sunday was not included in that whole cancellation. But his policy is the entire reservation is canled. And I did offer to him to help him that if you want me to help re you know over reread and try to word it so it’d be much clearer to people. Um but he was a little well he said he has friends that can help him and that he doesn’t need that help. Although his you know his text here was not really written that well I thought but it could have been much more clear even using AI could probably help. But anyway that’s his business and that’s his job. But I just wanted to let you know. So I got stuck because of that. Okay. Okay. After that we moved to Imabati by bus. Now the other thing is that if you’re going to move between Iabati and Onamichi, you have to use the bus because if you don’t use the the bus, you have to take the train and it goes all the way around and it’s very expensive. So Imabati and Onomichi, although they’re not far on the Shimanamikaido, 75 kilometers, they’re a little bit inconvenient to go from one to the other, but that’s how you would come back. If you rode it one shot and you’re coming back, you take the bus or vice versa, right? So anyway, we get to Immabi and then I got the six bikes. Oh, I got everything planned and we we we work it all out and so it shouldn’t be a problem. We ride the first day. Great. We ride out. Well, on the first day as we ride, I look at the map and I have a plan. So, this is the other thing about going on, you know, you have a plan. I make a plan that we’re going to take this back road and the coaster route because this map also shows you like, you know, like like like what the scenic routes are and really what the is it hilly or is it flat. So, I’m trying to choose scenic routes and just small hills. So, I choose one. Well, we got to go through the mountain pass, which is a little hilly, but once we got to the other side, it’s down on the coast. Well, we start going up and it’s really kind of steep. Going up, up, up, and then suddenly we start to go down a very steep down slope all the way down. And as we starting and I can see the coast, it’s maybe what, a quarter mile away. I can see it. There’s a sign, the road is closed. So, we rode all the way up and all the way down and we were stuck because we couldn’t go on. The road was closed and there was no warning. Of course, we had Google Maps and everything. Google Maps didn’t know that. And there, but on the way down, we had two Japanese with us. They would have seen it down to the bottom of that kind of ravine. There was no sign telling you the road is closed. It’s there was a road that said construction. I saw that, but it didn’t say the road is closed. So, we got down to the bottom and we had to ride all the way back up this steep hill and I knew it was hard on our people and like Joe and everything, but everybody had ebikes and we were able to at least come up and then come back around. And you know what’s funny is I asked the guy, the farmers that are right outside before you make that turn off up to that hill and down the ravine. I had my map out. I asked him twice. I said, “Is that road okay?” And the first guy said, “No, you got to go around this other way.” He didn’t say it was closed. He just said that there’s no road there. The other guy came and the fireman goes, “No, you can’t go through there.” Okay. So, we checked it with the locals. I had the map and the Google maps on my iPhone that I had on my phone, depending on where you are on the Shimoni, does not always register. You don’t get a signal all the time. So, it was kind of throwing this off. So I couldn’t use that anymore. So I was using map and local people and still we got diverted into the wrong place and there wasn’t a sign that said the road is closed. So that’s part of the adventure of the Shimaname Kaido is that you could end up lost and you just got to figure it out. So we figured it out. We came and we rode around and went to visit the pirate museum I think it was and we took the ferry back. But that was a hard climb. But it would have been a nice ride if I could have got to the coast. So even if you do what I’m doing in planning, you can you you do have these other so you always have to be flexible. My point is you got to be flexible if you do the Shimanami Kaido. So and that and that was that the the first day there. The second day for whatever reason I got really sick. I don’t know if it was food poisoning or just the stress of the trip. I don’t know of planning it and taking care of everything. You know, I was waking up like 3 o’clock in the morning every day on the trip because I kept thinking like, how can we do this differently? What’s the best for the group? And things I don’t know if it was stress or it was food poisoning, but I started throwing up throughout the night and having, of course, diarrhea, getting both blasted from both sides, and I knew I couldn’t ride the next day. So, I had to cancel the next day, which I felt bad for everyone. Um, we had a a couple of friends with of Yuko that was there and they had a car. So, they took a couple of people out and Jeff and Erico, my my two friends who also joined the tour, they um they rented a car, went to Kagawa, and they offered to take people. So, there was an option and um I think Joe and Jenny and the some of the people went to the castle, I castle, which is very beautiful, a nice small coastal castle and then um I think they did some work. So, but I felt bad because I was sick. And when you’re the guide, the leader, and you get sick, there’s no backup, right? So, if you’re the leader, you got to have a, you know, a backup plan. One of Yuko’s friends, Rusty, he worked at Disney and he was telling me one night about their motto. It was, you ask yourself, what can go wrong? And if it does, what are you going to do about it? And when I heard that, I thought to myself when I got sick, I go, “Yeah, I I never would have thought I would have gotten sick. But if it did happen, what am I going to do about it?” Well, it’s too late now because there’s no backup, right? I don’t know what I would do. Maybe I told my friend in uh Kurashiki, my friend Shin, when I met him after on the way home, I said, “Next time, I’m going to call you because all you got to do is lead people along the and I have a map for you.” And he’s really good with maps and things. He can ride a bicycle. So, I thought I said, “Maybe I’ll just call him.” hire him and send him out. But anyway, you might want to think about if the guy gets sick, what are is the plan? And the last day we did the Yume Shima Kaido, which is the baby Shimanami Kaido. And I would highly suggest this for families, for senior citizens, for anybody who just wants a beautiful, easy ride among four islands. And you don’t have to do the whole thing. You can do whatever you want. That’s where we picked up the bike, the ebike there, and we dropped it off on another island. But they’re connected by four lower suspension bridges. People are really nice. Very few cars. That’s the place to go. So, we took the ferry out from Imabati out to um Yugishima about an hour. rented the ebike, rode to Iwagi four the fourth island and dropped off the bike, paid the, hundred yen each and then we rode the ferry back. So that would be the other option. So I think that um I highly recommend doing the yug shima kaido. It’s like the baby Shimanami Kaido. In fact, it’s not even on the regular Shimanami Kaido because it’s off. You cannot get by ferry from Onomichi to Yugoshima. Although Yugeshima that and they also it also goes by the name of Kamiima. I don’t think you can see it. Kami Chimima is the name of all the islands. Okay. It also goes by the name of Yugishima Kaido. They got different names. Yugosima is like dream islands of Kamishima. That’s a beautiful, beautiful route that anybody can do and you can rent and the people are super nice and the people at Yugi um not I think it’s city hall they’re kind of running it and there’s one lady there I can’t remember her name right now she’s married to an English man who’s a musician she can speak English fluently of course and so she can help you um really really nice so that’s why I would say if any place you’re going to go go to the Yukeshimakaido um I’m Not sure how you get from Onamichi to there. There must be a bus or something. But we did it by ferry from Imabati to Yugi La Island and took it back from Iwagi. That is the most beautiful route I think for if you want peace and pristine nature and just being in a nice little community. And I would also suggest that you stay overnight or one or two nights there and just explore those islands. There’s more than four islands and there’s some with bridges and fairies, but you got to have time because you got to take the ferry and the fairies are very infrequent even especially out there. So, you could do a a elaborate kind of tour maybe three days, two nights or something or even overnight. Uh you could Takub Bing, that’s another thing. The shipping system, you know, the Japanese Takubing, the domestic delivery service is the best in the world. fast, quick, safe, not that expensive, and you could send your baggage there and then just take your small bag and and and go down there. Um, in fact, I use Takubing even for me. So, when I was from Kyoto, I sent my suitcase to Onmichi, the first hotel there, and then I um sent it from there to Imabati and Imabi back to Kyoto. It was about 2,000 yen, so about a little less than $20, what, $15 each time. But, you know, although it did add up, it was worth not having to carry the suitcase around. And I had a lot of stuff because I was just, you know, what if it rains? I need rain pants, I need this. Most of the things, of course, I didn’t need, but um that’s that’s another way to to to do that. This is just just ship it. and Sagawa Takubing, Sagawa delivery service, they have a specialty that if from like Onomichi to Iabati, if you get it to the front desk by 9:00 a.m. cost 2,200 yen, they will have it there by that night. So if you’re riding along, so what you could do is from Unamichi, send it to the hotel. Now, the only problem is not they don’t go to every hotel or place. So, you got to make sure that the hotel you’re staying at is where the Sagawa delivery service takubing goes um goes to. Then that way you can just send it and you don’t have to carry anything, right? Except just your backpack, your light backpack. So, that’s a convenience that they have that the Takub Bing sending it and it saves you a lot of money and things. So, you could do that going to um Yugosima. Anyway, I really think that the future of that area is going to be in Yugosim Kaido. And again, that’s not part of Shimanami Kaido, although it’s, you know, it’s connected. You can ride from the Shimanami Kaido down to there, take the ferry across and you’re in Yukishima. People don’t go there because it’s off the beaten track and everybody’s trying to do that 75 km oneshot deal. So, no one’s even stopping at Yukishima. Very few people were were there. That’s why everyone should go. That’s the best kept secret of that area. I would highly suggest before the tourists really start coming, make a plan to go to Kamiima, which is those group of islands, also known as Yugi Shima Kaido. You know, they they take the same name. It’s the baby Shimanami Kaido I call it. And there is a route that that they have set up 50 kilometers. You know, the regular one is 75, but you don’t have to do it all in one day. You can just do part of it. You can do part of it and stay overnight and do the rest. But again, it’s not as hard as the Shiman Kaido. It’s not as hilly. So I say do if you’re going to go anywhere, go to Yishima, which is really not part of the Shiman Kaido Kaido in the first place. Okay. Anyway, that’s kind of what I wanted to talk about. But um at the end, I’m just going to talk about some of the challenges that I did talk about. the weather was hard because we didn’t know um the bicycle shop cancelling on us which it of course it’s his policy and he does state it in advance so there’s no problem with that part but you don’t have any say so if you don’t have a backup plan you you really are so you don’t have anything to you can’t do anything right um ebikes we use ebikes for older people for children ebikes makes it makes everything completely different. It makes everything doable. It it it actually if you if you’re older or you’re not as strong and you feel handicapped, the ebike bridges that gap. Not completely, but it makes it much easier. And some have three, some have four different speeds. And with the with the gears is something like 30 or something. You know, you have 30 different possibilities, but actually you probably only use two or three in the first place. But anyway, ebikes. Um, and be careful about when you’re making a a rental agreement with any company that you read about cancellation policy and about insurance. And try to get no cancellation and with insurance is included. I think Giant is included. I think I’m pretty sure it is. I think Shimoni U Japan was. But the company that we made, the one that I had a little argument with, they didn’t have insurance. So you got to be really careful of of you know what you what you’re doing and remember the English part like I had the the problem and as Jar wrote it’s it’s cultural. Yeah. The way they wrote their policy they wrote it in Japanese and they they they wrote it again in English. They translated it wasn’t AI. I could tell it was a Japanese writing created this confusion and it’s not their fault in a sense because they’re trying but it when it comes down to that kind of really detailed and concise information I think they need to all they should run it through a native English speaker at the end. My suggestion to a lot of those businesses down there is run it through AI and then have it checked by a native English speaker. you know, hire somebody 5,000 yen just to read through it or something, you know, don’t don’t think that just because AI did it that it’s correct either. Okay. Um, oh, one thing about health, too. So, last year we had somebody with Parkinson’s and we had Barry who had was diagnosed with colon cancer. And very, very sad is that Barry passed away about back in January of this year. He was supposed to ride with us this year again. And Yuko, his wife, who came with him last year, um she was worried, so she came with him and she was going to ride if he rode, but at that point already he had the canc of the colon and I think he was bleeding and so of course I didn’t think it was a good idea, but I didn’t say anything and they they they made the right decision on just um joining us for dinner and doing touring of that area by taxi. They didn’t ride. But he passed away, not from the cancer, but from a blood clot. And so she came with his um some of his belongings, his shoes, and she wore his t-shirt kind of to fulfill Barry’s dream to cycle the Shimanik Kaido with his good friends Joe and Jenny. And so he was supposed to ride the first year, but due to COVID, he could not. He was supposed to ride last year and then he was diagnosed with cancer and then he passed away. So Yuko um rode you know kind of on behalf of him to fulfill that dream. So health is one thing. So anyway my point is that we have even with senior citizens or people are older you have health issues. Uh this year we had Jinny. Jinny had something called uh aphib. Aphib it’s when she she explained to me when you have the heart chambers dev 2 and they’re beating at the different time. They’re supposed to beat together right? Well, they beat at different times and that makes increases your pulse. So, she had an Apple watch on and she was always checking and for a lot of the part of the trip her pulse was between 100 and 135. She even told me something goes up to 140. That’s high, right? I mean, that’s just resting. And so, my I was really worried that if something happened along the way, I wouldn’t know what to do, you know, and how to do this. But Joe was, you know, with me and he said it’s really up to her and her decision. She knows her body and so we did ride and she did rest a couple of days which was a smart decision and she rode the other days but Alaska tough man you know you got Joe at 83 years old and he’s riding he’s riding you know he’s tough you know he you know nothing stops him. In fact, last uh two years ago, Joe had a spine problem and he couldn’t walk more than maybe 20 to 50 yards, 20 to 50 meters. I remember because we stayed at the Imabi Cooksai Hotel and we ate all our meals in the hotel because Joe couldn’t walk outside of the hotel because he couldn’t walk well. He was going to get a spinal operation after that. In fact, the doctor wanted him to do the spinal operation before the Shimanami, but he said no because if something happened or complication happened, he couldn’t come. He was willing to come on the Shimoni without being able to walk hardly and ride. He could ride, but he couldn’t walk, which was really interesting. But he was willing to fly all the way. When they fly from Alaska, it’s a huge huge journey. It’s almost like three flights. They got to fly. Anchorage to Seattle, that’s one, three and a half hours. Seattle to Honolulu, that’s five hours. And then Honolulu to Japan, that’s nine hours. That’s a huge journey just to come and ride the Shimanami Kaido, especially if you got, you know, imagine you have back issues and genius has heart issues, but yet they came three times, three years. It’s it’s it’s amazing. That’s like Alaska tough, you know, like like wow, you know, like you know. So anyway, but health issues, you got to be careful. And um I remember two years ago, the only thing that ever happened on one of these two trips is that Jenny banged the pedal or she banged something and she started to bleed. And I think she was on blood thinners, so the blood was starting to come. And I remember Joe’s face when we stopped and she goes, “I forgot the first aid kit.” And there I am, the guide, thinking, “What? First aid kit.” Never even thought about it. You know, I was so naive, right? And I jumped on my bike and I rode back maybe, I don’t know, three or four kilometers looking for the last store trying to get bandages and antiseptic. And I finally got there. It took me a long time, 20 minutes. And then I flew back and I rode back as fast as I could. By then they had started going already because the bleeding had stopped. So now after that from the second year on I always carry my first aid kit which is kind of heavy. Maybe I should got a smaller one but you know I got this because and I carry it with me in my backpack after that happened. So definitely if you got an older crew or even younger crew I’d carry a first a at least something that can stop the bleeding right. So health issues are always really really important and um but the reverse side of that is Joe and Jenny are an example of they didn’t let health issues stop them and yes things could have happened and it could have been bad but they risk they took their risk and they both are home right now in Palmer Alaska sitting finally and I’m sure satisfied and happy they did it. So again, it’s up to you on what you know risk level you’re you are willing to do with. So weather, health, um you know, rental bikes. Oh, one more thing. Onomichi hotels, the costs have shot up. You know, last year probably was about 15,000 yen, which was still I thought kind of expensive for a three-star hotel called the Green Hills Hotel, which is the one we always stay at because it’s in the prime location, the prime real estate. The ferry is right in front. The rental bike is the rental shop, Rento Japan, is maybe 20 meters down on the right side. Everything is very centralized around there. It’s a five minute, four minute walk to the station, if that. So, all of that is is around there, but it was about 15,000 yen last year. Now, this is a three-star hotel, right, with a harbor view. This year, that went up to 22,000. And uh we stayed in a corner room. And if if you want the most expensive room, it’s the corner room that that’s a bigger room and it has two windows and that was 27,000 including breakfast on the weekend. The weekend price is a little bit higher. So onamichi prices were high. Imabati prices stayed about the same and that’s because Imabati is a depressed area. So maybe lodging if you started out of Imabati or you stayed in Imabati, it’s a little more it’s a little cheaper. But the town itself is not much going on. There’s a lot of shuttered down stores along the the shopping arcade and things and I really hope I would do well. The one good thing that I did find is that the Immabi taxi drivers which in one of my previous videos I talked about how they were the most unfriendly people in the un most unfriendly taxi drivers in Japan. Well, that image has changed. I met at least four this time. And all of them were very nice and kind and um you know fun in a way because I remember one guy we we there’s six of us. One, two, three. Yeah, we we had all our bags, five of us, excuse me, five of us and a taxi. I said, “Oh, do you have a taxi? It takes five.” He goes, “Yeah, this one.” And it was like a regular sedan, but you know, like he he said that the middle you can take one more. We had all our bags. It was going to be like one of those animal house kind of movies where you all try to squish it into the car or whatever. But he was willing to do that. I thought that was really kind of fun. That would have been fun. But of course, everyone thought that was a dumb idea. So, we took two taxis. But anyway, my my point is that um yeah, my image of Iabati taxi drivers has changed and they have much nicer taxis. Some are still old, but some of them are newer. So, yes, I that has changed and I’m happy to note that um service in Cooksai Hotel was good for us, better than maybe two years ago. Still a little slow, but still, you know, good. And so, all in all, that part was, you know, a lot. Um anyway, I think that’s pretty much Sorry, I went on and on and on, but so that was our trip to um the Shimoni. We if you want to do the full package, that’s the way to do it. You do it for three cycling days in each place. So basically four nights, four nights. So eight nights you’re looking at and then three days cycling in each one and then you can cover pretty much everything. I feel now like I have covered most, not most, a lot of the Shimaname Kaido and probably have seen more than most people because most people only do it one time and they do the one shot across and they’re rushing to get to the end because of the time that they don’t really see much. So if you want to see the Shiman Kaido, you can’t do the one shot because you don’t have time and there’s always that stress. Can I make it? Can I make it? I got to get there before sundown, right? because you don’t want to be out dry riding in the dark and you still got to get if you get to Iabati across the bridge you still got to go 5 kilometers to get to the town and it’s busy it’s like a city right so it’s it’s cars rushing down and you don’t want to be riding in the dark so you want to get there when it’s you know when the sun is still out and when it’s you have daylight so that too is a high stress when you start riding you want to make sure you get there so you’re not going to think about should I stop and have lunch and I stop and have a lemon special sweet drink. You’re worrying about I got to get there. Of course, when you get there, you feel relaxed and relieved, but you didn’t see much that you just accomplished the the Shiman Kaido. If you want to see the Shimanam Kaido and the Yugi Shimakaido, then please you got to um you got to ride you got to ride in parts. And again, I would highly recommend this. Another thing that was interesting, one last thing is that we were there and it just started the day we were there. It was this. Oh, can you see it? Sorry, you can’t see it. It’s called the Shimanami journey by cycle ship. And what it is is it’s a new ferry system that they were experimenting with. Um, let me see. I’m going to put it on here. So what it was was they’re trying to connect the two fairy systems because the two fairy systems don’t connect. That was another problem. You can’t get to the other side. This is the new psycho ship, Lazuli, that they’re trying they were testing to see if it worked or not. Meaning that they were trying to test how many people would ride. And so they they had us and it was like 2,500 yen that we could ride all we could for 2 days. And we used it for 2 days. So we got a good deal on that. Um it would take us all the way to Omishima Island which is where Inukuchi port which is where you couldn’t go before. And then there’s a connecting ferry down to Imabati. So you could actually see the entire six islands by ferry for that price. But the problem was with this is that it was only a test and so October the first and they could only do it on Saturday, Sunday and holidays and they only had 10 times in that month and it was a test to find out if there were enough um passengers to make it worthwhile. Well, you probably can guess my thinking is that I’m thinking how can you test it 10 times only and then expect that you have a good reading of if people will use it or not. And the other reason was I had this this paper, right? I had this paper. Oh no. Um I had this paper, right, that said well you can’t see it but sorry. Anyway, it says basically it explains the times explains I got this from the ferry driver who I met last year and when we were talking I said I want to go to Omishimon. I was at the Onichi side and he goes, “Oh, did you know about this new um this new tour? Not tour but ship.” And I said, “No.” He gave this to me. So I go around asking people at the hotel and at the bicycle, “Do you know about this?” Nobody knows. So I’m thinking and I met the owner or the person in charge, Mr. Nato. He was in charge of that project to to to you know to see if this would work. I told ntoang there’s no way that you would know in 10 days give you a result that whether it’s good or bad that’s not enough and I said I asked all the people around onomici if they knew about this and he said that nobody knew and he goes yeah yeah you know and this is kind of typical of Japan that they didn’t get the word out fast enough that nobody really knew and nobody really understood what it did so I said 10 days is not enough but what he told me is the government you know this has I mean, JR West is kind of sponsoring this. The government policy is they only give you three days to find out if it’s worth doing or not. And he was able to negotiate for 10 days. That’s why they took Saturday, Sunday, and all the holidays in October. That was about 10 days. And that’s why he actually got more than normal. But I said, “That’s crazy. You need at least three months, maybe six months to see if it’s really worth doing or not.” And he said, “Yeah, but cannot.” So I don’t know if this goes well then they will have this ferry system that goes down from Onomichi all the way down to Imabati. You transfer once at Inukuchi and you can get to Imabati or you could go around there. You could actually go down there cycle and then come back. It would open up a lot more to do. And vice versa if you’re in Iabati you could come up and you could do the onomitry side a little bit ride maybe and then get back. You just got to make sure you hit that transfer point. So we’ll see what happens. But that’s the newest thing. At least they’re trying to revitalize the area. And that’s why I have to admire that they’re trying, but sometimes the the little things like I always say the Japanese are such diligent and good and hardworking people, but a lot of times they trip along among on their own feet. It’s not somebody else tripping them. They trip themselves because they make things too complicated or they forget to do the marketing. like you know they got all these nice really nice posters and everything but the word is not getting out people don’t understand how to sell it you know and Yug Shima I met the people there Yugi the people uh at Yugay facility Yug island nicest people and I they got beautiful they got beautiful in English pamphlets you know all these things about the islands they got it well written super nice but nobody knows and so they have that part. So I told them, “You folks need a YouTube channel.” Or I said, “Oh, why don’t you hire me and I’ll make a YouTube channel.” But this is what they need. They got the hardware. They got this. They got little small maps. I don’t know if I have them here, but they got all these things. They got all these things that um I can’t find it right now. They have all these little things that already they got the hardware or the or the the actual printing matter but they don’t have the word out and that’s where the Japanese were always behind in getting the word out by social media to foreigners which means that there is an English thing and they do have an English speaker. She’s very good and she would get her husband to actually check if they had to. So yeah, it it would be great. I think it’s just the knowhow and they’re always behind. I would say they’re behind in SNS maybe, you know, social media maybe 10 years, maybe sometimes in some degree even 20 years. You know, who’s using fax machines? Only like the Green Hills Hotel is still using fax machines, right? But anyway, I want to thank you for watching and um I hope to make more videos from now on. I have been lazy for the last couple of years because I’ve been working. I’ve been playing sorry pickle ball and I’ve been it was just getting so much time. I was taking so much time to edit the videos. You know, a 10-minute video was taking 25 hours, you know, just to do everything. It would became overwhelming and of course not cost effective. But I hope to use some of these new apps and things, you know, like, I don’t know, Cap Cut or Descript or something. And I start my new tour or trip with my sister’s group that are coming from Hawaii. They’re flying at this moment right now. And if you’re on and you’re watching from Japan Airlines to my sister and her gang, hi. Um, and they’re arriving tonight and I’ll be taking them for two weeks through um, Kyoto, Nagoya, Nagano, Kanazawa, and to Tokyo. And so I hope to maybe put up some shorts or some short videos about what we’re doing. So, thank you very much. Um, thank you for those of you in the in the comments. Thank you J Star for all the comments. Vitamin T sounds like a great bike ride, respectfully Japanese style. Big miss. Yeah. So anyway, you always hear me complain a lot about the Japanese system. It’s not the people. It’s not their intention. It’s the systems they have and the way they have been raised and brought up and their educational system that doesn’t teach them the critical thinking skills and the question of why or how do we make this better? Why is it like this and how can we make it better? Just like Rusty said about Disney, their motto is what can go wrong and if it does, what are we going to do about it? That sounds so American, right? Or so Western, right? Like like you know like um I don’t think any Japanese is ever really thinking about that in that way. At least most Japanese aren’t. So thank you very much. I will try to make more videos. So hopefully, you know, again, if you’re interested in any of my videos, please subscribe and like the video if you did and uh share the video if you find it interesting. And also um please um be be um on the lookout for hopefully short videos that will be coming out in the next week as I move about with my sister’s group to different parts of Japan. Thanks again for watching and listening. Appreciate it. And I’ll talk to you on the next video. Until next time,

Mike has enjoyed cycling the beautiful Shimanami Kaido four times, and on three of those memorable journeys, he was joined by his longtime friends, Joe (83) and Ginny (79) Lawton. Their first adventure began in Imabari, and over the years, they explored the route from Onomichi as well. This year, they completed both the Onomichi and Imabari sections—bringing their Shimanami Kaido experience full circle!
Even with four years of experience, each ride brought new discoveries and challenges. The Shimanami Kaido offers so much more than just a cycling path—it’s a journey through nature, culture, and local charm. In this livestream, Mike will share helpful tips, personal insights, and ideas for those looking to explore the authentic and lesser-known sides of the route.
📺 Join the livestream this weekend!

Japan: Sunday, October 19, 2025, at 11:00 AM
Hawaii: Saturday, October 18, 2025, at 4:00 PM
Alaska: Saturday, October 18, 2025, at 6:00 PM
West Coast (U.S.): Saturday, October 18, 2025, at 7:00 PM
East Coast (U.S.): Saturday, October 18, 2025, at 10:00 PM

Shimanami Kaido video playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo6ddSednflxaNzyvzemAJ8pPOS8HmqO-

#1: Part 1 – Ready to cycle the Shimanami Kaido? Getting there and preparing for the cycling ride of your life!
• What to know and prepare for on the b…

#2: Part 2- The Real Story of Riding the Shimanami Kaido with all my problems and mistakes.
• Cycling the Shimanami Kaido – The Rea…

#3 Part 3 – Cycling the Shimanami Kaido: Going Home!
• Cycling the Shimanami Kaido in Japan:…

#4 of the 5 video series: 10 Things to Know BEFORE you cycle the Shimanami Kaido!
• 10 Things you should know BEFORE you …

#5 of the 5 video series: The best map of the Shimanami; a MUST for English speakers and the key to a successful Shimanami Kaido!
• “The Shimanami Toso Map!” A MUST for…

#6 Joe’s Shimanami Kaido: Getting to Imabari on Shikoku Island (Part I)
• Joe’s Shimanami Kaido: Getting to Im…

#7 Joe’ Shimanami: The best kept secret and it is not the Shimanami Kaido! (Part II)
• Joe’s Shimanami Kaido: The best-kept…

Other videos about Japan:
Getting to Work in Japan: • Getting to Work in Japan – my morning…
Best Rice in the World: • The Best Rice in the world – Japanes…
Japan Bath: • Japan Bath Culture: Japanese bathtubs…
Japanese curry: • Japanese Curry or Indian Curry?

YouTube Channel page with #shorts and long format videos:
/ mikematsuno
#shimanami #japantravel #cyclingjapan #japantrip #traveljapan
#shimanamaikaido, #shimanami, #yumeshimakaido
#shimanami #shimanamikaido #cyclingjapan