Our most facinating tour through beautiful Japan is coming to an end today. We are on our way back to Tokyo, the largest city in the world.

Each of the riders on this tour was surprised how many hidden treasures it offers to its visitor and how well everything is organised here. Even in a big city like Tokyo, very much to our surprise, we didn't even need to go through traffic jam. Everything went very smoothly.


I would like to thank all the riders and Adrian very much for their wonderful company, for the good times we had together, and the great rides. And also for your adventurous spirits on our scouting tour here in Japan.

An amazing country which already now I am looking forward to coming back again.

Hope to see you again soon

Angela

As soon as you are away from the bigger cities, narrow and winding roads are only waiting to be explored...

Michael is enjoying a strong coffee in one of the typical small family-run Japanese cafés. It usually takes a while until your coffee arrives as each cup is brewed freshly!!

Today's big highlight was Japan's Motegi twin circuit! 

As the name says it has two race courses. The outer one was designed for Indy car races only, whereas the inner ring is mostly used for the Moto GP races nowadays.

Even though there was no big race going on...

... we got the chance to watch some of the smaller class race motorcyclists during their trainings

Racing motorcycles sure is demanding and requires a rest every now and then

Before we left Motegi again, we visited the Honda Collection Hall inside the circuit

From right to left: "In the beginning there was a robot..."

A last coffee from one of the countless increadible vending machines This one even shows you all the process via a camera

First thing in the morning, before we left the elevated town of Kusatsu, we were passing by the sulfuric spring waters which made the place so famous. With temperatures of 48 °C, the waters coming out of the ground here are the warmest in Japan.

Nice scents in the morning

... and, of course, she was showing us how it works

Our tonight's hotel offered a fantastic buffet. And it looks like there was some serious Sake tasting, too

This morning, our ride led us through a mystery forest on a small and narrow two-ways road. It is quite a relaxing experience riding through Japanese forests. No need to hurry at all

The Himi fishmarket brought different experiences than we thought at first And in the afternoon we followed our paths back in time to the village of Gokayama.

All riders in a meditative formation

The big surprise in the end came for one of the Austrian riders.... They were preparing "PALATSCHINKEN"!!! Someone seems to be very happy
(Also another rider in this group was extremely happy, too, about the banana pancakes with ice cream!!! )

A rice frog???

Edelweiss Bike Travel goes Japan! 

With our new tour "The Secrets of Japan", we are discovering another white spot on our map, touring around the world.

What was my first impression when I arrived here in Tokio a couple of days ahead of tour, got only supported by the riders who started out this first tour with us. Even though in this comparatively small country, everything is more compact and more populated, it welcomes us with a surprisingly large and green mountainous area as well. Everything in the daily life of the Japanese people runs very organised and makes travelling by motorcycle an enjoyable experience.

The courageous explorers on their motorcycles are Pia and Peter from Switzerland, Annette and Michael from Germany, Hana and Michael from Israel, Karl from Austria and David from the USA.

This scouting tour has started out of Tokio and so far took us during the past two days along the south coast to the most famous mountain in Japan - the volcano Mount Fuji

Another big topic for non-Japanese people travelling the country is food. How would you know what to order on a menu that you are not able to read?
Well, the Japanese have a solution for everything, it seems

The gondola ride up to the volcano's rim walk was a fun thing to do

Thank you Adrian for explaining the menu so patiently to us