Yamaha Journey Vol.08

From here, it's on to the Izu Skyline. A very well-known road, both domestically and around the world. As you wind your way along its 36 km of twisting soaring roadway and varying elevations with the Pacific Ocean and Mt Fuji offering glimpses of rich scenery. Amongst the many charms that the Skyline area offers heading south, is a 150-year-old Gassho-style folk house restaurant where one can satisfy a road warrior's hunger. The range of unique dishes to partake in here include local wild game such as deer, boar, rabbit and badger. Every one of them is superb, although I'm still too fond of badger to see it cooked. The restaurant, smoked in centuries of history, has a traditional earthen floor encrusted in ash from the iron stove in the center of the room said to stave off insects and bacteria. A unique atmosphere where once, among an odd gathering of diners sitting around a huge slab of a table cut from a massive tree, hearty conversation just flowed like another special dish to savor.

Heading further southward on the Izu Skyline followed by a turn inland, you will come upon the Odaru Onsen (hot springs) just beyond the Amagi Pass. The hot spring inns in this neighborhood include places where you can bathe without staying at the inns. This is a boon for weary riders. There are a variety of hot springs on offer at the inns, even one where you can enjoy bathing in a cave! Although there are indoor baths as well, the majority of them are of the open-air type and at one with the deep valley nature at the heart of Izu. The myriad of hot springs dotting this vast valley certainly makes a lasting impression. Riding through this area, it is interesting to see so many wasabi fields. I can imagine the beautifully clean water of the inland Izu region producing wasabi of the finest quality. The spicy bite that climbs right up through your nose is a characteristic of Japanese wasabi that distinguishes it from Western horseradish. Although Japanese wasabi has become well known around the world, there are still few places where one can experience real fresh wasabi. It was quite an eye-opener for someone so foreign to it like myself to learn that wasabi is cultivated in spring water trickling from the rocks. I hadn't even really considered what kind of plant wasabi was.

There is yet another conundrum to enjoy right beside the Odaru Onsen area. A loop bridge called the Nanadarukouka bridge. A massive feat of human engineering springing out of the lush green forest. One would expect a bridge like this on a coastal highway or a Tokyo Expressway, but not here coiled up on a mountainside in the forest. If left to think about it for a while, it makes perfect sense that a structure like this is here given the varying elevations of the area. But when I first saw it, I was amazed by its alien contrast with the surrounding landscape.

I just love traveling by motorcycle. It's probably the same for anyone who does long distance riding, but after a few days on the road touring, being on my motor cycle is like being home. In fact, every morning it feels like a place that I have come home to. Taking it a step further, I feel that if a car is a "moving room" and a bicycle is a "riding tool", for me my motorcycle is a trusty "steed". It won't be ridden unless fed with fuel and given essential care like oil changes. But if you look after it, it will be a trusted companion that will take you to all sorts of places.

When staying at a camping ground, you generally need to park a car far away, but a motorcycle can be right there with you, resting as you are, together. This leads to a remarkable attachment to your bike, similar to how you would feel having your horse nearby. The same feeling is there when riding in testing conditions like wet weather – my bike is not simply something I'm riding, but a trusted horse who is weathering the rain with me. To me, my motorcycle has an irreplaceable presence and the more I ride it the more I grow to love it. It feels like the travels we've been on together have been an experience for my motorcycle as well. I guess this feeling is probably something unique to riders... and.. It is something that is very important to me.