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May 16

Towards Nobeoka

Early start to try to find a supposedly free internet place at an NTT building, as written in the Lonely Planet guide of the Swiss couple. Unfortunately (probably because Lonely Planet published it) we were informed that the place no longer has free internet service, or any internet service at all. Eventually we went to a hotel, where I stocked up on more business cards (they had a free-use printer), and then said bye to the couple.

At this point I want to mention that the business cards are a big hit! It was a good idea, atleast for a trip in Japan, and I recommend it to any who are willing. I think maybe in some other countries business cards may seem pretentious or strange, but it's just not that way over here.

I then went to try some Hiyashiru, another local food item. The restaurant I chose was the same one I unsuccessfully tried to go to the day before. I had tried going the day before after its lunch hours. The lady recognized me. The restaurant was called Yasantei (I think), and I have to say it has the most beautiful toilet in Japan. The food consisted of a number of dishes, including gomadofu (sesame flavored tofu), as well as tempura with mochajiyo (tea salt) and hiyajiru (a cold miso soup type mix they pour on hot rice). Pretty decent fair, my favorite part being the sesame tofu. That was scrumptious.

Now I've wasted my next 2 hours at this Internet cafe, and having a nice late start on my cycling day. Oh well, updating this diary is fun. The plan now is to head north towards Beppu, where they have nice hot baths (so they say). They also have a keirin track, but unfortunately the last day of races was a few days ago. Guess I'll have to hit the ones in Shikoku.

On the way out of the city (around 4 p.m. already), I stopped by some bike shops and made small talk. I had the ulteriour motive of trying to get some old Japanese bike shop posters, if they had any. If you've ever seen any you know what I'm talking about. They're super cool and Japan retro looking. I was unsuccessful.

About 3 hours later, as it was starting to get dark, I stopped at a roadside fruit stand. I had scoped out some likely camping spots, and then stopped to ask if there was a local onsen around (so I could take a shower, first). As I was talking to the owners, another man who had stopped for some goods butted in, and tried to help as well. As it turns out, he was going to a minshuku (guest house-type hotel) down the road, and I was finally convinced to put my bike in the back of his van, and get the ride with him. It took us about 10-15 minutes to get there.

We weren't too late for dinner. Minshuku's usually cost relatively cheap, about 4000 yen, for overnight stay including dinner and breakfast - considering the homemade meals you get, this can often be a great deal. They are very similar to the English "Bed and Breakfast" places. It was just the couple who run the place, my new friend Kawashou-san, and I. We stayed up until pretty late, eating, watching TV, drinking satsumaimo shu (a liquor made of sweet potatos) and talking. They told me of how Samurai used to court ladies with Sanshou leaves (that we ate as part of our meal), and we exchanged songs: the lady sang the old song about the Sanshou leaves, in Japanese, and I sang one in Hebrew. I also learned some things as far as travelling by car in Japan, in that they have places called Michi no Eki (translates to "Road Station" - basically rest stops), where you can get free maps, etc. I had heard about a bus stop in this area that was built by someone, so that it looked like a bus stop from the movie Totoro. The master of the house said that I should get information about it at one of the rest stops.

On the whole, I have to say that the night hanging out with them was pretty magical.