Page 3, Monkey Bikes and more gates

The next morning we got up folded our futon mattresses up and took off. We went for breakfast, kind of Denny's like with good coffee. The restaurant was across the street from Lake Yamanake so we had a nice view. It seemed like bizarro world to me. Everything around me reminded me of places I would ride to in the States, the lake, the restaurant, but the people, the language and most signage was Japanese. I had to keep pinching myself "I'm in freaking Japan".

After breakfast we rode down the street a bit a came across a group of Monkey bikes. We just had to stop and look at these things. A monkey bike is basically a tricked out Honda Mini-Trail. Normally these are bikes for kids, or used as pit-bikes as stock they only have 50cc of displacement. But these monkey bikes had been heavily modded out. They use larger motors some 110cc and others bored out to 138cc; the larger capable of 90mph. They put things like performance exhaust, oil coolers, disc brakes, carbon fiber, and aluminum to make them fast. Since the bikes are not stock, they are very illegal. So the riders are basically squids and they scatter in all directions when chased by the police. So these guys were on some sort of group ride, standing in groups chatting. Nice guys, they seemed pretty cool. With the monkey bikes were other types of bikes, a few sport bikes, I saw a CBR600 and a Hyabusa. A very modded scooter was with them too. It was funny to see men straddle these puny little monsters. When they took off it looked odd to me, but they seemed to be having a great time.

Today our goal was to loop around Mt. Fuji. We went around the north side first, eventually dropping down to go back east with the mountain to our left most of the day. Today we explored more tight twisty mountain roads. The roads are used for selective logging and have been paved. At the side of most roads concrete retaining walls hold the bank back. The roads usually have a concrete trough/ditch for water runoff. It is amazing how much work has been done on these roads. They are in great condition and look like they will last for many more years. As we had practiced the day before, going around gates led us to many desolate roads. James had a map with tons of squiggly roads we were looking for. He also had a GPS so we had some idea of where we were most of the time. We kept looking for roads that would take us higher up on the mountain. Sometimes the road would turn to gravel, sometimes to a soft dirt road. Both the DR and Dakar handled any condition well. On some downhill sections of road we turned our engines off. We were hoping to see some wildlife. At one stop, we saw what I think were antelope? in a field below. Then James matter of factly said, “There are wild monkeys out here too”. Like this is a normal thing. (freakin Japan). We continued our coasting but didn’t see any monkeys. We kept getting glimpses of the mountain, we were so close. Later in the day clouds kept trying to hide the peak from us.

We had gone around enough gates that we weren’t sure how to get back to the legal side. On one road we saw a sign that claimed we would be cited for trespassing, and James was hesitant. His Japanese side wanted him to not break laws, but my American side wanted to. ;-) I told him let’s keep on exploring past the sign and I will pay the ticket if we get caught. Thankfully we didn’t get caught. On the west side of the mountain we started to drop down to more major roads. But at one point we saw some troops in fatigues on the road ahead of us. So we paused so they could march away from the gate we wanted to go around. They were gone pretty quick, so we headed down to the gate. This one was pretty well blocked, we had to go down a little swale, then climb a pretty steep bank, then up over the top we got around the gate. It was easy on the dual sports, but no way could I have done this on a street bike. We started to see more riders out enjoying the day. Once in awhile a bike would pass us. I saw a bike coming up fast, it flew by. It was a twin two-stroke bike like a TZ Yamaha, and he was on the pipe. He past us just before the entrance of a corner, he just swung his leg out and flicked the bike down on the right and railed the corner. The bike sounded very cool, and the smell of bean oil was awesome. Two strokes on the street, freakin Japan. Up the road we stopped and took a little break where some fellow riders had congregated. Some came up to talk to the weird Gaijin. While standing there, some Bosozoku riders roared by. We got on our bikes and followed hoping to run across them.

Here are some video links.

Video of twisty mountain road 13MB
Video of first night’s evening ride toward Mt. Fuji 8MB

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Jeff

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Page 2, Moonshine Mt. Fuji Ride

James used to ride a Blackbird and is still on a forum with me. He had offered to let me ride his wife’s black Suzuki DRZ400. I am still amazed at his generosity, but that is very Japanese so I understand. He has lived in Japan for 16 years and I think it is wearing off on him. He rides a blue BMW F650GS Dakar, a very nice on-off road bike. We ended up taking an overnight loop around Mt Fuji.

In the morning we met near my hotel in Yokohama where his bikes are stored. The ride out of Yokohama was fun; it was not too hard to remember to stay on the left side of the road. I just always yelled "LEFT" in my helmet every time we pulled on to a road. We went over to his place and picked up some gear. His wife even made us some breakfast, she is also very nice. Good people. I am honored to have met them. James had mentioned that filtering/lane splitting was the norm and to be ready. This was my first experience and I loved it. Although at more than one point I did think to myself "Wow, I hope my bars are not wider than his" ;-) Between trucks and buses was close. We finally got out of town on the toll expressway. We stopped at a rest area; these rest areas are huge and we saw at least a hundred bikers meeting up. Out on the road seemed like 10 times the number of bikes on the road here. Maybe 10 percent Harley, the rest ranged from every bike made. Lots of domestic bikes, ones we can't get. Like the CB1300 SUPER BOL D'OR, I like that one. I even got a brochure at the dealer later.

After we got off of the expressway we rode up on this tiny narrow road into the mountains; turns out all the roads are tiny and narrow when not on an expressway. That is why folks drive such small vehicles. Normal American cars almost take up the whole road. But the bikes were perfect for narrow situations.

We rode tight twisty roads toward Mt Fuji. We stayed at the end of Lake Yamanakeko with a view of the mountain and the lake. After we checked in we went for a quick ride up the mountain as far as we could. The road was closed, but we just went around the sign. But maybe we should not have. Up the road we passed a bunch of military vehicles going the other way, including some Hummers. It turns out this was an area where the Japanese Self Defense Forces practice. Apparently they lob shells onto Mt. Fuji a dormant volcano. But they didn't seem to mind us so we kept going a little ways until the road was completely blocked. There must be snow on the road above that point. On our way out we went down a road that was not posted keep out, it looked like a place where tanks must practice, it had some steep sloped concrete ramps and terrain like a track. We took a small trail to get out and had to stop to lift a rope gate to get out. I looked down and saw what looked like a functional artillery shell next to my front wheel. It was about a foot long and a couple inches in diameter. It must have fallen off of a truck or something. We did get off of the mountain without being arrested though. I guess we didn’t try hard enough.

We rode back to our Ryokan (motel) and on the way stopped at a great Italian restaurant. I was looking for some protein so I had the salmon pizza, very good. Later we went to our traditional room and put down the futon mattresses and made our own beds. I was beat, very sleepy after riding in all that fresh air. We were on the east side of the mountain, the side you see from Tokyo, the next day we would ride around the mountain and see it from all angles. We saw Monkey bikes in the morning...

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Jeff

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Page 1, Moonshine Japan Trip April 2009

At work I participated on team in a LEAN activity called “Moonshine Wars”. Teams were given processes in the factory that need improvement. Our team came up with a quicker way to drill holes in cargo floor beams. Our team won against 21 other teams from the company. Our “Grand Champion” prize was an expense paid trip to Japan for a week. We got to spend the week with Chihiro Nakao “Father of Moonshine” to tour Japanese factories. He is a teacher so we called him “Sensei”. He consults with major companies around the world (Porsche, Mitsubishi, IHI to name a few) to help them become LEAN using Japanese methods. He mentored with Taiichi Ohno. I am just amazed he spent time with a scrub like me. He wants to give back by mentoring others. He also shared with us his country's culture. We were enrolled in what was called a “Moonshine Seminar”. The term is used because moonshine runners built their stills out of readily available materials at hand; each still might have been different, but functional. Each factory we toured had Moonshine Shops, where whatever was needed on the factory floor could be fabbed up very quickly. Kind of like our garages where we prepare our bikes for trips.

To me this was a dream opportunity, a trip of a lifetime. I work in engineering, but have been interested in improving manufacturing processes. I have been a fan of Japanese engineering and manufacturing for years. I have had Suzuki’s in the past, and I currently own Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Honda motorcycles. I also have a couple Japanese cars, an Acura and a Mazda Miata. So to be able to witness products being produced in Japan was a huge honor.

My goals for the trip were to learn more about LEAN and Moonshine from the Sensei, ride on a Shinkansen bullet train at 180 mph, absorb as much local culture as possible, try not to appear as an ignorant American, ride a motorcycle on the wrong side of the road in Japan, and not create an international incident. ;-)

Before the trip, I met a new friend on a motorcycle internet forum who offered to let me ride his wife’s motorcycle for a couple days. So after the Moonshine Seminar we took a ride around Mt. Fuji on dualsports.

Our team flew from Seattle, WA to Narita, Japan, then to Nagoya, Japan

At the beginning of our Moonshine Seminar, we got some cultural training at the Inuyama Festival. This is a festival that happens each spring while the cherry blossoms are blooming. The blossoms are called Sakura and the Japanese people adore them. The have picnics under the trees at night with Sake. The festival was intense; it has been running for about 375 years in a row. It was held at the Inuyama Castle which is one of, if not the oldest castle in Japan, placed in its current location in 1573. The festival is hard to describe, so I have included a couple links. But what I saw were these tall three level floats on carts, with dolls on the top level, the next level is where the dolls were controlled, and the bottom level had young kids playing recorders and drums. This whole contraption was being pushed by a crowd of guys yelling and grunting, having to lift the cart some to steer it. They would move the cart to a gate that is an entrance to where a god is, and then perform with the doll a little play for the god. I think this was to please the god? It was an interesting festival and all age groups seemed to be seriously interested.

Info on the Inuyama Castle and Festival

Inuyama Festival on Youtube

During the week we toured several factories; Mitsubishi, the plant where the Japanese Zero was produced, Yazaki, ICM, a Toyota Motomachi auto plant, Hitachi Appliance and IHI who produces jet engine turbine blades. At each plant we walked fast while sketching in our notebooks. Our Sensei said, “No questions, look and you will know”. It was hectic, fast paced and I loved it. Lots of learning happened that week. We were treated like Rock Stars at each plant; we had buses, taxi's, trains and bullet trains to whisk us around the country. We also stayed at some of the best hotels too. We even had exposure to a traditional Japanese bath. Lots of fish for meals, all three, I even ate a fish eyeball. At the end of the week we Americans had had enough fish. We went to a place for burgers near the Tokyo Dome. ;-) Boy were they good.

Then after the working tour, I met my new friend James and his wife in Yokohama. We had dinner and made plans for the next days ride…

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Jeff

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