Day 178-179 Catching Up with Hokkaido

Sep 8 • Blog, Hokkaido • 1024 Views • 6 Comments

OK, people. It’s no secret that there’s a big time lag between my blog and where I’m at in Japan with my pink bike, Sakura. (It does take quite a bit of time to write in two languages in between my cycling and everything else that happens, I assure you!) While I intend to write all about cycling and the deliciousness of Japan’s regional nibbles I’ve had, I figured it’d be good to write about what’s current. I’m getting closer to my goal, Soyamisaki, which is the northern tip of Hokkaido. I want to let you know when I get there!

So let me fast-forward 100 days in my blog for now. I’ll come back to all the rest, so no worries.

I left Sapporo yesterday, where that city name is known as one of Japan’s major beer brands, Sapporo Beer. While I waited out the typhoon to pass, I was fed like a big cow by my friend and his family, adding even more difficulties to cycling with my recovering left hand with those unused muscles. (For those of you who have missed my updates – I broke my left hand by trying a moped and I’d been resting for about 6 weeks.)

I cycled from Sapporo to Bibai yesterday, and Bibai to Fukagawa today. The side wind and rain that wanted to spend time with me soon passed, and I was welcomed by the pretty fields of potatoes. Some had already been dug out from the ground. That’s some impressive amount of potatoes!

There are many farms in the Hokkaido’s vast land, which looks a lot different from the rest of Japan. Their seemingly-never-ending roads are surrounded by miles and miles of fields of potatoes, asparagus, corn, sunflowers, melons and rice, just to name their major produce.

The rice fields are all yellow now and getting close to the harvesting season. I cannot believe I’ve been out on my tour from the beginning of the rice planting season till now. It wasn’t my plan, but you just never know what happens when you try new things, such as going on a cycling tour.

As I cycle and watch seasons change around me, so many thoughts go through my mind. How blessed I am to be able to cycle through such beautiful places, and the fact we must really take a good care of it. A happy life is maintained on a series of give-and-take’s. I’ve experienced it throughout this tour by my encounters with many wonderful people. It is the same with our environment. We simply cannot keep taking from this earth and not return her the favor and love she has given us all this time.

Japan is going through a tough time with the aftermath of tsunami disaster, which was followed by the Fukushima power plant situation. Wherever you are in the world, now is the time to think about making the right choices for our own present and future, whether that be sustainable energy, transportation or food. Hell, we are already way late in taking the right action with these things. It’s time to catch up. First, get your bike out!

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