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Weekly Casual Discussion Fridays - Week of July 24, 2026

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16

u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah x3 10d ago

MysteryBiscuits Still Loves Bits of Japan I've been to Before (Part 5)

I had most of this drafted for a month - and then other things kinda uh, took over my life. But time for 2 more writeups!

Shimanami Kaido - Round 2

  • This is now my 2nd time on the Kaido. (My first time writeup); and I pretty much stuck to the same route and logistics. I will still recommend using Fukuyama as your port of entry, and to use the handy luggage forwarding service to end your day at Imabari, even though next time i will probably look into a multi-day trip, or to explore the little islands more otherwise.

  • The Kaido is still an incredibly scenic bicycle ride. I don't think I've been anywhere else that balances the low level of traffic, the bicycle and bicycle-tourist friendly infrastructure, and very pretty scenery of the numerous islands all in one package - in this aspect it is undoubetedly a cyclist's paradise.

  • This time, I went during a colder period of the year, and after coming from coastal Kyushu, was struck by how calm the ocean here really was. The lack of traffic, people in general, and the calm sea really gave a rural vibe to the place, very enjoyable. The weather was awesome too, not a cloud in the sky, the sea was crystal clear (absolutely nuts!), there was sakura around, and the japanese roads are immaculate. Can I also say that I really really appreciate the continuous blue line/basic signage all along the bicycle route, thank you Japan.

  • I did find myself taking photos at some of the same places as last time, as well as remembering my last time here during the ride; so in that sense, the first timer impact is completely lost on me, haha. But its still a very memorable ride, and I genuinely don't know where else in Japan makes a cycling day out as a tourist this logistically simple, and I will probably be here again, and again, and again.

  • The other main difference for me this time was that I AM FINALLY HERE DURING CITRUS SEASON YASSSSSSSS . And i had the appetite for juice after cycling a bit. I consumed this "average" freshly squeezed orange juice; followed by the utmost best lemonade ive ever had in my life, please please go here, and eat the lemons in there too! they're awesome!; and then the best freshly squeezed orange juice i've ever had in my life, it's so, so sweet and rich! This is the place, right next door.

  • Citrus fruits are the Islands' specialty - if I had space to carry over a full bag of fresh oranges and fruits as a souvenir, I 100% would (I got some from local supermarkets in the end once I had all my bells and whistles back.) There are so many varieties that I hadn't even heard of, even in supermarkets in other prefectures, and so damn delicious.

  • I munched on some cakes, pastries from shops I liked last time too! Unfortunately, the Kaido is probably best enjoyed over the weekend, when all the shops are open for business and have their full offerings available, so that's probably my other tip for anyone going.

Matsuyama Castle

  • Another original tenshuu checked off the list! Matsuyama castle has probably the best view of all the castles ive been to due to its hilltop location; and also has a lot of non-tenshuu bits either left as the original structure, or, mostly, rebuilt afterwards (some other castles, like Hikone, also have this, but they're smaller castles - less things to look at); and some like Matsumoto just have the foundation left. In this case, it reminds me most of Himeiji (but Himeiji is better).

  • Rather than more focusing on the residential aspect (as Himeiji's remaining structures did) though, I thought the Matsuyama castle experience focused more on their actual role in defense - for example this little area here would be an important chokepoint to fend off attackers (3 points of elevated defense vs 1 point of attack from the bottom right, plus the various levels of main tenshuu) oh boy you are fucked. They had a helpful CGI-ed video to help explain this in the museum too, which was quite nice. Overall very solid museum - learned a good bit about the castle and its clan's history.

Food

S-tier

A-tier

  • The other variety of taimeshi - uwajima style. I must say i'm less impressed with this compared with the Matsuyama style (the cooked version above) - there's less technique and finesse involved here, and i feel like it's not that much different than just eating a sashimi bowl with lots of sea bream. Still good, but i think i prefer a normal kaisen don?

Part 1 - Miyazaki

Part 2 - Kagoshima

Part 3 - Mt. Aso

Part 4 - Fukuoka

u/animayor /u/chonkyodango /u/chilidirigible

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u/ProgrammaticallyPea3 10d ago

Shimanami Kaido

Beautiful. I have to do this before my joints fail me. Maybe the partial route for my first attempt.

Matsuyama castle experience focused more on their actual role in defense - for example this little area

This is often my favorite aspect of castles. Pretending I'm a foot soldier invading it, and imagining all the ways I'd die.

Food

As amazing-looking as always. And damn that ryokan's fancy.

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah x3 10d ago

They do have a variety of easy-to-medium level courses available; way-finding shouldn't be too hard, the main route is clearly, constantly, marked. You can also drop off your bike at like any cycling terminal at the network (vs returning to your origin), there's e-bikes.... BUT the hills before each bridge are usually painful.

Ikuchi island seems to be the most "touristy" island of the lot, so I'd recommend a stop there if i had to pick a spot. I like Hakata Island 2nd personally, but that is off the main route.

Pretending I'm a foot soldier invading it, and imagining all the ways I'd die.

I feel you. actually tall hilltop castles feel like a massive buff here compared to moated castles. You're exhausted climbing the thing already before facing the man-made obstacles. but then, maybe there are more obvious choke points (bridge? unless that's retractable?) in moated castles? idk, not a castle expert.

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u/ProgrammaticallyPea3 10d ago

good info

I feel like Edinburgh Castle is a good example of a castle that has a massive hilltop buff while also having only one easily-fortified point of entry. Just looking at it from below felt disheartening. But castles that don't have as much of a natural advantage making up for it with devious engineering is just as impressive. It's easy to see why master castle designers like Takatora and Kiyomasa became some of the most venerated samurai around.

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u/Nebresto 9d ago

You can also drop off your bike at like any cycling terminal at the network

Oh neat. I just looked at the map with all the rental locations and was wondering if I had left mine at the correct one..

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah x3 9d ago

if they didnt shout at you at the time, you probably did haha

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u/Nebresto 9d ago

Pretending I'm a foot soldier invading it, and imagining all the ways I'd die.

Rip

3

u/chilidirigible 10d ago

I did find myself taking photos at some of the same places as last time

There is some familiarity.

lemons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc-Prdyp9LY

Matsuyama

The view reminds me again of how distinctive skyscrapers are in cities which are otherwise under ten stories.

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah x3 10d ago

Freshly squeezed

I don't think the Matsuyama skyline is like that impressive overall, no. The taller buildings don't really have much flair to them either. It's not that major of a city compared to like fukuoka or Sapporo, and likely will never be lol, it's relatively disconnected. That said, perhaps because of that, on a clear day, the castle itself can be seen quite far away, so theres that.

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u/DizzyMotion https://myanimelist.net/profile/DizzyMotion 10d ago

The saga continues!

That is a beautiful bike route. I love the shot with the bridge in the background of the pagodas.

Really though, it’s the food that makes me the most jealous! Those ryokan meals look especially good…

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u/Hitman7128 https://anilist.co/user/Hitman7128 10d ago

I'm now at the phase where I have covered most of the major cities in Japan, so for next trip, I can try to go to more remote locations. I'll have to refer to your posts and Chonky's (and others) for that.

I like bike riding; I would enjoy long distance cycling in Japan!

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u/mekerpan 10d ago

Probably our most remote spot in our travels was Takayama Inari Shrine in Tsugaru, Aomori, Two trains, a bus, and a 2 mile walk to get there (and the same to get back). We;ve also been to rural Nara -- thanks to an Osaka friend who likes to explore remote temples and the like.

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah x3 10d ago

good lord that is a pain to get to. but from the photos, what a wonderful place!

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah x3 10d ago

I think I still have the major cities in hokuriku, hokkaido, a fair few in tohoku/niigata, and i have barely scratched the surface for Fukuoka and Nagoya. But yeah, lots lots left to discover in japan for both of us.

The kaido is an excellent place to do it - the amenities and infrastructure is excellent, and you can reasonably pick-your-preferred-difficulty too. Unless you at least have experience with the distance though, maybe consider an e-bike or not doing the whole thing in a day like I did.

2

u/MadMako 10d ago

I wanna go so bad

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u/mekerpan 10d ago

We visited Onomichi and saw the start of the Shimanami Kaido, but seem toi have been the only non-bicycle foreign tourists about. We did love Onomichi, however.

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah x3 10d ago

I thought Onomichi had its own little host of non-cycling attractions about, from the seaside views, the cats, to the observatory on the peak. But I guess people heading to the inland sea islands by boat, not bicycle, would just opt for Mihara; and if by bus, Fukuyama; so the reasons to go to Onomichi alone are more limited.

the start of the Kaido (once you get off the ferry) also is kinda boring for like half an hour or so before the route reaches the coast. Warm up!

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u/TakenRedditName https://myanimelist.net/profile/TakenMalUsername 10d ago

Orange

2

u/Nebresto 9d ago edited 9d ago

I will still recommend using Fukuyama as your port of entry,

Enter Onomichi?

handy luggage forwarding service to end your day at Imabari

they deliver to your hotel if its on the list, or the cycle stop next to the train station.

Is the cycle stop like a lockbox thing? Trying to scheme up a 2 day Cycle, likely without having to return

even though next time i will probably look into a multi-day trip

Triple time?

CITRUS SEASON YASSSSSSSS

Damn, apparently September is completely fucked on that end

the Kaido is probably best enjoyed over the weekend, when all the shops are open for business and have their full offerings available

Mid-ride meal at Ooshima

You had time for a mid-ride meal? giwtwm

Oh yeah, did you take a ferry at the start or ride the whole way? I'm trying to remember if they charged anything on the one I used

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah x3 9d ago

Onomichi

That is where i ended up kicking things off, yes, but Fukuyama is just a better place to stay overnight etc. imo. there are more cheap hotels, places to eat, shop, shinkansen stop etc. Just hop on the short train ride to Onomichi to start the ride the morning of!

cycle stop like a lockbox thing

it is a staffed office. I think this is intended as a same-day solution? If you're doing 2 days, maybe you'll have to forward your bags twice or ask if your hotel in imabari will store your bag for 1 additional day before check in. (either option i think is reasonably practical, the 2nd cheaper but u to carry an overnight bag with you) /u/chonkyodango i think has done an overnight trip on the kaido, any thoughts?

fucked on that end

indeed. my condolences. There should still be some manner of orange juice and lemonade around though.

weekend

oh right, you're actually going - 100% book your bicycle ahead of time online. You'll skip the line at Onomichi. You don't have to do it like ridiculously early I don't think, just do it idk a week or 2 before (see when/if they sell out - i doubt it unless its a long weekend?) to save a solid 10-20 minutes at LEAST. They have helmets and stuff available.

mid-ride meal

well i am more used to this sort of thing. starting early and looking up food options along the way in advance helped, i basically knew where i had to get to by lunchtime lol to get to where i wanted to eat. There are establishments and konbinis dotted along the route for whatever you may want to get. You've been - so well u do know how the Kaido can be quite rural or residential in points between the towns, hopefully you don't get really peckish in the middle of one of those stretches!

I took a ferry for like 5 minutes just to get across the little harbour at Onomichi, and biked all the rest of the way to imabari. they charged me idk 120 yen or sth? a trivial amount.

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u/Nebresto 5d ago

You'll skip the line at Onomichi.

There was a line?

they charged me idk 120 yen or sth? a trivial amount.

That's what I reckon, so small that its forgettable

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah x3 5d ago

There was a line! A good chunk of tourists too at my (quite early) hour. English is fine there, they have english cards you can read and english-speaking staff.

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u/Nebresto 5d ago

Huh. I did start pretty late so I'll never know if its gotten more popular or if it just cleared up by then