Page 5, More bikes and return to Yokohama

As it was afternoon at this point it was time to head for Yokohama. We decided we would take some of the toll expressways to make time. I am glad we did, because one was the Skyline expressway. It is a nice road that climbs and drops and climbs forested mountains near Mt. Fuji. You could see places where Drifters have been practicing. At one stop we had a good view of Lake Ashi, one of the 5 lakes of Mt. Fuji. Incredible views were in every direction. We dropped down out of the mountains, through a town and back on to the expressway. Wow, you go through toll booths on these expressways, and a few miles down the road is another toll booth. I had told James I’d pick up all the tolls, but at one point I said half joking “how many more toll booths are there?” I think between the both of us the tolls were at least $40 bucks from Mt. Fuji to Yokohama. The roads were great and the expressway bypasses the congestion in towns. It was worth it to me.

One feature of the toll roads is huge rest areas. They have the normal bathroom stop, but include restaurants, outdoor booths selling food, convenience stores, and even a gas station. We stopped at one; it had a kind of carnival atmosphere to it. And literally hundreds of people stopped at it. We also saw a very large selection of bikes that had been out riding that day. I saw lots of Japanese bikes we don’t get in the US, Moto Guzzis, Ducatis, BMW, a couple Harleys, custom scooters, and some cool two stroke sport bikes. I like the sound of the two stroke square 4 Suzuki RG500, very cool. We got something to eat, James got the Burrito hot dog, I got the minced chicken on a stick.

We headed toward Yokohama on the expressway. The traffic was heavier than in the morning, but no worries this is Japan, we just lane split. It was an odd sensation to see brake lights come on all around me, but I just followed James between cars and didn’t slow down. It became quite natural to do this.

We eventually made it back to Yokohama and James stowed the bikes. Thanks to James for an awesome ride. He is a great tour guide. That helped a lot to; I just trusted where he was taking me and just followed along. All the while I was soaking up the scenery.

From there I walked back to my hotel and picked up my luggage. I took a train and then the subway up to the Asakusa region of Tokyo. Of course I rode the subway the wrong way, but thankfully I got to my Ryokan in time. The next day I spent as a tourist in Tokyo. I took the subway down to Yoyogi park to see the park and the Meji shrine. Then I came back to Akihabra, and the Ueno motorcycle mall. I took more pictures there and explored the bike shops. Then at night I went to Ginza which is kind of like Times Square in NY. Lots of lighted up buildings.

The next day I shopped for gifts, then caught my flight from Narita back to Seattle.

I accomplished all the goals I had set for the trip:

Learn more about LEAN and Moonshine from the Sensei.
I saw more and learned more than I could have ever expected. Now to apply it. I saw companies that are years ahead of us in efficiency.

Ride on a Shinkansen bullet train at 180 mph.
Wow was that cool, it is an awesome way to travel.

Absorb as much local culture as possible.
I was amazed at the industriousness of the Japanese people. Every person seems to be busy and working hard. It is their way of life. In the city they seem to work from 9am to 10pm. In walking around my hotel one morning I saw an old woman out in front of her building picking up small scraps of paper. Another woman was washing the chrome trim around an entrance door to a building. I didn’t witness any crime (well maybe some motorcycles trespassing). It is a nice feeling to be able to walk in an urban area at night and not have to worry about crime. Also Japanese people seem to truly care about one another and visitors. It felt like a big family. The goal seemed to be “get along at all costs”.

Try not to appear as an ignorant American
OK, I will be honest. That may not actually be possible. ;-) I did try though.

Ride a motorcycle on the wrong side of the road in Japan
Check. It was not near as hard as I had expected. You get used to it quick.

Don’t create an international incident.
As far as I know there are no outstanding bulletins or warrants. But we did try our best to cause an incident.

Thanks for reading my report. I hope it helps folks know more about Japan. I saw some an awesome country and some cool bikes, I had to share. It was a dream trip for me, a chance of a lifetime. I am thankful I had the opportunity!

Here are some links to video taken on the ride. Some video was shot using a camera attached to the handlebar of the bike. The rest is taken with a digital camera.

Video of riding into mountains 34MB Large

Video of mountain road riding 31MB Large

Video of lane splitting 14MB

Video of Suzuki RG500 Gamma 9MB

Video of riding in Yokohama 17MB

Link to Yokohama to Mt. Fuji Region in Google Maps

GPS tracks in Google earth













Page 5 of 5, The End

Jeff

View more of my Japan photos

Page 4, The Bosozoku

We had seen some Bosozoku riders pass by. In researching the web on Japan before the trip I had happened on to YouTube videos of some extremely flamboyant styled motorcycles with riders making all kinds of racket with their bikes. It almost seems like they are trying to play some sort of tune. What I do know is that these guys are the “rebels without a cause” of Japanese riders; unless the cause is to annoy people. ;-)

Here are some links to YouTube clips:

Bosozoku tune Bosozoku Bikes

I am concerned they might get some sort of carpel tunnel injury, whacking the throttle the way they do. When I was in Yokohama I heard packs of these guys making as much noise as they could as they rode around the city late at night. Actually I like the sounds better than loud flatulent Harleys we have around here.

We rode down the road a ways and James saw the Bosozoku stopped at a rest area. So we turned around to see if we could get some pictures. Cool another cultural exchange. Oh, I forgot to mention, these guys are basically gang members, some call them “Speed Tribe”. They hang out and cause trouble, in an anti-social way. This is out of the ordinary for Japanese, as they normally try to not stand out. Also, supposedly these young toughs are junior Yakuza candidates. I didn’t see any missing fingers though.


James explained in Japanese my fascination as a foreigner and asked if it was OK if I took pictures and video. They were happy to oblige, and actually showed off their bikes and noise. Their bikes have flashy bright colors, chrome and polished bits. They turn their turn signals skyward for style; they fold their license plates up horizontally so they are difficult to see. Most bikes have a huge padded sissy bar on the back too. One guy showed me that the gauges on his Honda Hawk were USA spec and read MPH instead of Kilometers. A couple of the bikes were two-strokes and help to fill the higher frequencies of their orchestration. The riders have a certain style too; they wear painted half helmets with a visor, vests with fur collars and brown knee length boots. One guy was sitting on the curb sipping a canned coffee drink with two fingers and smoking a cigarette, looking like a modern day James Dean. Here are a couple links of a bike revving and the tribe leaving the rest area. They got together and were blipping there throttles for a mile or so. We could hear them for awhile in the distance.

Video of Bosozoku riders 5MB

Video of Bosozoku Bikes leaving 19MB


Continued on Page 5 of 5...

I found more pictures and put a "+" sign on the additions.

Jeff

View more of my Japan photos