Dear Japan

I’d like to say some interim thanks to you for having us over these past two and a bit weeks.

You have been overwhelmingly welcoming to us. You haven’t minded in the least where we have camped. You have laughed with us when we make gaffes. You have come up time and again and made conversation, and whilst google translate is a good tool, you have been patient when the message hasn’t quite got through. You have even brought us breakfast in the morning when camping out in towns.

You have lots and lots of convenience stores which are always a welcome site when we are hungry, and we have started to expand our repertoire of things to eat, including, recently, the red bean filled pancake which I am glad to report was delicious.

Thanks to your population holidaying mostly in July and August some of your most beautiful locations have been quite deserted. Even where we have met people in these places, they have again been friendly and inquisitive and always wanting to know where you are from, where you have come from and where you are going.

Your baths( Sento) have been an absolute delight, especially when we have got cold from a wet days cycling. The feeling of pouring a bucket of hot water over you needs to be bottled and exported.

Whilst accepting that a lot of Japan is very hilly, you have put tunnels in to take away the worst of the gradients. We have then experienced the delight of a speedy descent that cools and evaporates all the hard earned perspiration from the previous ascent.

Your supermarkets are a cornucupia of delight and we have got bolder and bolder in terms of what we buy.

Your wildlife is quite spectacular, from the graceful egrets and herons,the massive koi carp to the graceful kites that seem to have no fear of man and sail past you no more than 2 metres away. Sian says that she will give your rather large black and yellow spiders a bit of a miss thanks very much.

Your weather has been great, and when it has rained you clearly are a prepared country and always made sure that there are shelters that soaked travellers can get dry.

You have also arranged that the Yen is quite weak, so even the good old pound buys quite a lot of currency, so your country comes over as terrific value. We'll happily continue to recommend Japan as a fabulous place to see on a bicycle.


Finally I have enclosed some photos of our favourite moments so far.














Regards
Roddy and Sian

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