Motorcycle riding with FHI boys

Went on an awesome motorcycle ride with a few guys from FHI this weekend. It was great mostly because I didnt have to plan anything and they all have things like navigation so all I had to do was show up. First stop was a ropeway in Nikko that I have been to a few times, but it was a beautiful day.

We headed to a restaurant the specialized in game type animals where they served Bear and Deer, but they also served Salamander so we had to try it once.

The salamander was ok, kinda didnt really have much taste but you eat the whole thing.

Anyone who happens to read this who lives near Tochigi and like to ride motorcycles the route we rode on was from Nikko on 169 to 23 west, then back on 23 towards Yunishigawa Onsen, then to 121 and up to Hunter mountain on the Nichien Toll Road (400 yen for bikes) towards Shiobara I have ridden the opposite way on this road before, and this way is a better ride, I think we took 400 down to 56 then back to Utsunomiya.

Hiking and Moto

Took a nice hike in northern tochigi/fukushima to Tashirosan and the nearby marsh, generally with the hiking club we dont just summit one mountain so we did a couple peaks, that you can see labeled on the post, Tashirosan and Taishakusan, the post is at Taishakusan.

The main purpose was this field in the clearing.

The next weekend Hiroi san and I went on another motorcycle ride in Tochigi up route 15 from Kanuma towards Ashio then back through route 58, both towards the top are not that great riding I suggest only riding route 58.

Moto Day Trip

Took a little motorcycle ride this weekend up to a spot my friend Hiroi san had pointed out previously. Nice ride through a windy road in Tochigi starting around Nikko and then up through routes 169 to 245 up around 249 to Yunishigawa.

I took the same picture above in the winter in front of Yunishigawa.
Here it is for a compairson.

Moto Trip to the Flower Park

Updating a few older posts:
My coworker and new friend Hiroi san and I took a moto ride around Tochigi and ended up in Ashikaga not too far from Utsunomiya.

There is a huge flower park there. When Hiroi san first told me about it I thought it was just a park with flowers, but this thing is the real deal.

This season happens to be the Fuji flowers, basically a tree but all the hanging flowers come from one tree as you can see in one of the photos below.

We also saw a nice little shrine along the way.

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Nagano Motorcycle Trip

Our energy saving summer schedule came to an end so after working 6 days this week I had a three day weekend so I decided to go to Nagano by motorcycle despite my route being "not recommended" by my Japanese colleagues. Here are the highlights: first country road from Utsunomiya was washed out by the Typhoon, here are a few pics near the wash out.


Those are pieces of the retaining wall for the road in the middle of the river.

It started raining on my way down a mountain pass, and couldnt find a hotel for hours while lost in Nagano.
Hung out in Obuse (one of my destinations) for only an hour or so, then missed my exit to meet my colleague and see the monkey park. Monkey park was pretty sweet, although only about the size of the one pool.


Saw some beautiful views along route 292, 55, 353, 145 and 120 from Nagano to Utsunomiya if there are any other motorcycles out there in Japan looking for a nice route.

View at the mountain pass on 292

Waterfall near Numata route 120.

Road down the mountain pass from Numata to Nikko maybe still 120.

Check out the rest of the pics here.

Nagano Motorcycle Trip

Taipei and Moto Adventure

Not really Japan related but Misato and I went to Taipei. Check out the pics, there are a lot of us from arms length so I hope you enjoy. Taipei was much nicer than I was expecting, clean and safe. We ate a lot of delicious food and saw some pretty views. I finally got my motorcycle!!!! My ride back from Tokyo was a bit busy for the first half, but the second half was nice through a mountain pass. Misato and I then took the bike out up in the mountains up north of Utsunomiya. Got off to a late start, but took a break at a nice bridge. Started to get a bit dark on the way down and since it was our first ride on my new bike I was a bit timid, but it all turned out ok with a nice steak dinner at the end 320 grams is more than I was expecting. Any motorcycle riders out there in Tochigi the hunter mountain pass is a nice ride from Nikko to Shiobara.

Taipei and Moto Adventure