Grandpa J Roads

One of my strongest memories of my Grandpa J is his love of taking the route less traveled. On trips, he did everything that he could to avoid taking the highway. This usually meant slow speed limits, frequent stoplights and the inevitable look from us passengers at the highway, just over there taunting us with the cars whizzing by. These roads also gave a glimpse into something else; a time that had passed us by, small town life and agriculture. Things that we may very well miss when speeding by the world trying to get to our destination as quickly as we possibly can, and certainly that are missed when flying over these spaces.

This trip in Japan has featured so many Grandpa J roads. I have no doubt that more will feature in the coming days as the software that I am using prioritizes the road less traveled. This is exactly what I want to on this trip. Not only is it safer by avoiding those roads with the most traffic, but even more than that I am getting a chance to see a side ofJapan that otherwise I would never be able to see.

In my first few days of riding, I have passed numerous farms, seen villages that are hanging on knowing that the demographic reality of Japan means that when the towns inhabitants pass away there’s no one to take over as the population of Japan has become more and more urbanized in the last few decades. I’ve seen relics from an era when these roads were the main thoroughfare and by slowing down have also come across numerous kind strangers. At the same time, there are times when the road has a little bit of extra elevation gain, but that seems a price worth paying to see places few others from outside of Japan ever get to see.

And yet, even with the opportunity to see these places, they are still passing by so quickly. The kilometers keep going by and while I haven’t been in a rush to get to my destination, I still do find myself pushing forward whether that is to get out of the rain or simply to get to the next convenience store for another snack and time off the saddle. There are people that move slower through a place but yet I feel lucky to have the opportunity to see what I am seeing. Obviously Japan is so much more than just Tokyo or Kyoto, but those are the places where I’ve been before, those are the places where I’ve explored and have a comfort with. They are spectacular, but they are without a sense of place or rather they have a particular sense of place but matched with the new globalized every place. Just down the road from the temple you can find a ShakeShack which is across the street from the same luxury stores that are found in every major metropolis. All of this is great, but so is Kyushu, the island I have been riding at the start of the trip.

Along the way, I have listened to a book called “Things Become Other Things” by Craig Mod. It is a book about walking, it is actually a book about walking in Japan. About taking the time to see what surrounds you to be one with nature. But more than that, it’s about relationships, the relationship with the place and the relationship with the world around you. I knew that this trip would lead to realizations, would help me discover something that I wasn’t yet aware about. I just wasn’t sure it would happen so quickly, in that way things really have become other things. This trip was always going to be a reminder to slow down, but so quickly in these first days, I was reminded that this reminder has been there all along since I was a little boy with my grandpa taking the side road to Ann Arbor, so that he could take the time to understand the relationship with his world, the world around him.

Day 2

Distance (day) - 87 km

Distance (total) - 139 km

Climbing (day) - 735 m

Climbing (total) - 1322 m

Convenience Stores - 1

Tunnels - 7

Day 3

Distance (day) - 58 km

Distance (total) - 197 km

Climbing (day) - 625 m

Climbing (total) - 1947 m

Convenience Stores - 1

Tunnels - 0