Fuji Surprise – Japan by Bike Pt. 11

I can’t express how great it is when you camp the previous night in the dark and wake up to find yourself in a majestic place. I had no idea I was sleeping with Mt. Fuji looking over me, I may not have been able to climb it but it was still a great experience being around it. It’s flat for kilometres around it’s base, you can see it from miles away and you can really feel it’s presence.

This one was setup to stop motorcycles.

This was the 3rd roadblock I had found riding around Fuji, it was definitely closed. I considered for a minute going by foot but I thankfully thought better of it.

So close but yet, so far.

So it was off down the mountain, pointing my bike west going no where in particular. Just following the squiggly lines, my proverbial Yellow Brick Road. Coming down the mountain I got stuck behind a truck, usually this would upset me but it was still very much autumn. As the truck was flying past the trees it was pulling all the leaves off, leaving me with a beautiful flowing wake of twirling leaves to the tunes of Beethoven on my MP3. I doubt I’ll get such a perfect experience again, it was certainly one of those motorcycle zen moments and very fitting it was on Mt. Fuji.

After coming back down to earth I was feeling a bit famished. 7/11s are literally everywhere and my breakfast would often consist of 1L of Iced Coffee (they didn’t have smaller) and a small bento box. Certainly not the healthiest but riding a bike all day isn’t easy work so I could afford a few liberties with my diet.

One of the more scenic 7/11s.

Having parked at the 7/11 I proceeded to take my helmet off and went to take my headphones out, surprisingly the earphone bud stayed in. I tried my darndest to get the damn thing out but I was only succeeding in pushing it further in. I was starting to think about how I would approach the poor girl at the 7/11 to remove the earphone, I didn’t think I was going to get out of this one without looking like the craziest Gaijin in the world. I could see an international incident brewing in this small town 7/11.

I still held hope though, I apprehensively walked in and started roaming the aisles. There had to be something I could use to get it out. To my great surprise and luck, I found a sewing kit, replete with tweezers! I was saved and so was the store clerk, a regular Fuji miracle.

Across the road I noticed a bit of foreboding metaphor. There was a trojan horse, the headphones had offered me the gift of music, before lodging itself in my most sacred of homes, my head.

I have no idea of the war history of this monument.

Probably best I didn’t try to climb it.

I was to get another great surprise today. Japan is a big fan of tunnels and out the front they always tell you how long it is. Well this one was 6.7km! This was going to be awesome..

They expect you to go 40 through here.

It was a little polluted in there.

I can definitely say it was a lot of fun. The air however made the whole thing feel like a giant exhaust pipe, I probably shouldn’t have stopped for a picture, my poor lungs.

I didn’t take many more pictures today, the roads were amazing and I was having too much fun to stop. The following pictures are from Route 299 around Fuji and Nagano. My route for the day would have looked something like this.

Those little mirrors weren’t much help..

Shame about the power lines.

Good a place as any for a bathroom break.

Going through a small mountain town (for Japan) I spotted a Net Cafe, I figured it was time to treat myself after nearly a week of camping. My current showers consisted of wiping myself with wet wipes so a good scrub was definitely overdue. It also gave me a chance to go through the photos, plan some sort of route and charge my gadgets. Not to mention grab some beers and play some games. So it was another cubicle for the night, what adventures awaited tomorrow?