Traveling alone has its own pleasures, but there is a particular joy in setting out with a friend. Fortunately, an old friend who rode Japan’s historic eastern highway with me last year was up for another cycling trip. These journeys seemed to mean something special to him, too. How lucky I was to have him along.
The plan was to take a bullet train to an old castle town in central Japan, follow Japan’s longest river, the Shinano, down to the Sea of Japan, then turn north along the coast toward a city in Japan’s northern rice country. I knew almost nothing about the route when I began planning. Even so, I felt certain it would take us somewhere interesting.
And it did: day after day of encounters, adventures, and beautiful landscapes that moved me deeply. Here is the story, one day at a time.