Continue reading »]]> Despite the plum rain I stayed dry most of the time. I made my way from Fukuoka to Okagaki, from there on I rode to Kitakyushu and  took the ferry to the main island Honshu and cycled until Ube.

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Special thanks to: Kay Makishi (U.S.A.), Joel Abad (Japan), Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Christoph Flossmann, Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> it’s all about Traffic!

I solved the riddle of the browser game I mentioned in my last post. I simply had to enter some more text into those text fields and now it’s possible to transport my bicycle trailer on my flight from Tokyo to Seoul. It reminded me of the riddle from ‘The Secret of Monkey Island‘ in which you have to ask the navigator for a necklace which makes you invisible to ghosts:

Please give it to me!

No!

please!

No!

please!

No!

please!

No!

please!

No!

please!

Okay!

And some say you can’t learn anything from video games! I don’t even have to pay extra! However, this advice is not a walk-through for the game. Because the game company Korean Air told me that this is an exception and not how the game is supposed to be played. So perhaps I cheated. But I told them I’m a cyclist not a camper (That was just a note for CS freaks. By the way CS does not stand for Couch Surfing no and also not for Cyber Sex).

As I did a lot of research about how to travel the cheapest way in Japan I’d like to share this knowledge with you.

Flying:

Japan has no discounters like Ryainair or easyjet in Europe. If you hope to find a domestic flight – let’s say Osaka to Tokyo – for about 30 € so about 3.200 ¥ your search will be in vain! The cheapest flights here are about ten times higher.

One of Japan’s first discount flight companies is Starflyer:

To catch the flights from Tokyo to Fukuoka for about 30.000 ¥ (385 AUD, 370 CAD, 284 €, 234 GBP, 451 NZD, 371. 94 USD) you have to book at least a month in advance!

If a quick arrival is not a priority and you don’t have to reach inland locations, you should check out the ferries. Prices for routes from Tokyo to Sapporo are available for 9.900 ¥ (118 AUD, 122 CAD, 94 €, 77 GBP, 148 NZD, 122 USD), and they even have an Onsen on board!

The cheapest way to travel to inland destinations (especially if you have very bulky luggage like I do) is of course, by bus.

Fast but expensive – the train network with its Shinkansen amongst others.

Compared to many – not only Asian but even Continental or American – rail companies, train tickets in Japan are expensive. All local rail companies in Tokyo (Seibu, JR East, Metro, Tobu Line just to mention a few) do not offer either day- or half day passes nor any group discounts.

A very useful page to search for train connections if you can’t speak or write any Japanese is this page here

So happy travels!

Special thanks to: Dania Lazor Fairchild, U.S.A (text revision); Hubertus Neidhart from  Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich;

Continue reading »]]> Realtime point and click adventure

The bicycle journey through Korea is already planned and I have even found three hosts already. I will start in Seoul and cycle to Pusan, but the stops in-between are still a secret. Also the first 500 km through Japan is planned. Please don’t be disappointed about me skipping Okinawa and Kyushu. It simply makes no sense booking a flight or a ferry to the (Air)port of Naha (Okinawa) which is minimum 300 € only to cycle around the island for five days and take the ferry or plane back from the same (air)port and pay another 300 € for transportation. As there are no ferries from Pusan to Kagoshima in the south of Kyushu I decided to skip it completely. It’s kind of sad as I really wanted to see Nagasaki so badly and was also curious about Kagoshima of course…

Oh, right now a new “brilliant” message reaches me. Recently I discovered a new video game genre called ’real time point and click adventure’. It’s one of those new browser games and called “book a flight including bicycle trailer from Tokyo to Seoul”. What’s new about this kind of genre? You can enter complete messages into certain text fields and will get a reply. So I asked Korean Air how and where to book my bicycle trailer, which is 120 cm by 60 cm by 50 cm. According to their player’s manual it’s possible to book sports equipment if the total lengths of three sides do not exceed 277 cm. So I booked the flight. Now they have got back to me telling me they are sorry but a bicycle trailer is not sports equipment. Well, yes I like real time point and click adventures, but in many cases they are more expensive than the usual 69,99 €…

Japan’s Ferry lines

Special thanks to: Natalie Canham, UK (text revision), Hubertus Neidhart from  Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich;