Biking in Japan (2024)

13/04/2020

BTS: Behind the Scenes
Here is a picture of Prince Leia from a staff party...we worked for Nozawa Holidays for almost 3 months during the winter season. Did you know that work exchanges are a really cheap way to experience a new place? In total for our 5 month trip (including plane tickets!!), we spent 5000$ each..1000$ a month. That includes snowboards/gear and food and accommodation and travelling around by bike in big cities and rural areas and staying in hotels once in a while and flying to and from Canada (easily another 2000$). However, if you include the money we made during the work exchange..it comes down to 1000$ for Nay and 3500$ for Alex for 5 months travelling in first world country Japan. Money aside, work exchanges also let you experience much more than if you were to stay in a hotel next to a ski mountain for a weekend...language exchange, local interaction, learning a new trade, powder and time to learn how to snowboard, meeting new people, etc,..
All these numbers to say that its more accessible than most people think. It's more about being ok with less money and a little less comfort in exchange for time and experiences. Obviously there could be more reasons that travel wouldn't be possible, but if you got enough for the first plane ticket, that might be enough to start!

05/04/2020

BTS: Hellooo
Thought we would do some of the "Behind The Scenes" for Biking in Japan. 🌟 DUMPSTER DIVING 🌟!! 🤭 Did you know that in Japan everything is wrapped in plastic? Did you know they put all the expired food in a garbage bag seperate from all the other trash?
If you combine=
free food+
free transportation+
tent
= 0¥ for expenses while travelling rural and urban Japan + Very low impact on the environment
!!!!
How much good food do you think is thrown in the dumpster?
To the google!

26/03/2020

-We're home baby-

23/03/2020

Day 145!!!: On retourne chez nous! C'est finit Biking in Japan! 🚴🚴
Ok It's not that simple or easy to sumarize, but honestly after fighting through all the travel loopholes to get Alex back here from Europe, he ended up in quarantine anyway with a 6 month jail time if broken (Quarantine is mandatory for anyone coming from Europe). Seems like its time to just go with the flow of things and call it a day. This week has been an insane and crazy adventure..and I didnt even have to leave the house! Meanwhile, Alex has been in a plane almost everyday. On Sunday, within a couple hours (though not an easy decision at all), we decided to go home and the next day I somehow made it to Tokyo to meet him with all our stuff. The next adventure is waiting for us back in Quebec 😁..it never stops...
Hopefully we'll be back in Japan again soon. Next time much more prepared and longer on our bikes! Even though we didnt even come close to accomplishing all we wanted, we learned Japan is very special and Sugoiii. We love Japan!! Ok byeeeeee Mattane 🤸🤸
Impossible de résumer tous ça...To be continued...

05/03/2020

Day 126 : Shenanigans in the city 🤸🕺
*We renewed our visas
*Sushi train
*Slept in our tent
*Temple time

Also!
*Alejo went to the UK to see his doc in a Cambridge film festival🌟
*Planning on seeing some family in the next couple months and showing them around 😁
*Back to Biking in Japan on the 21st 🚴🚴

11/02/2020

Day 103: Previously on Biking in Japan...
*Bear pong in the front yard
*Snow storm from Siberia blessing Nozawa
*Snowboarding in Powder
*Alex's documentary being accepted into regional and international film festivals like a badass
*Learning more Japanese everyday...and spanish...and french...and english...and australian
*Last round of the mutated virus went around the house
*Last month here before getting back on our bikes
🤗🇯🇵🏂🌏🗻🚴🌬️🌀⛄❄️🌨️☁️☀️😁🤗

25/01/2020

Day 88: Climate change! Hey! We had a powder day this week (great for learning to snowboard 😁). The truth is most days are slush and ice with some ok days mixed in. This season has been the warmest and the heaps of snow the locals are used the to seeing are nowhere to be found. Japan also happens to be a popular summer vacation for Australians. Its not just them talking about the effects of climate change, the people from New Zealand talk about the sky turning yellow and red cause of the neighbouring fires. Back home in Canada, the Coastal GasLink pipeline is being constructed and greenwashing is doing very well.
Entonces! Alors, theres work to be done! What is something your doing to cope with this mess? How can we support you? The more I think about solutions the more it seems whats best for humans is also best for the planet 🌏🌎🌍

16/01/2020

Day 79 : Hi! We're alive! We've been having a hot struggle adapting to the sudden change of environment which looks something like:
* Taking 3 weeks to get finally go up the mountain and buy our season ski lift passes
* Getting sick
* Not sleeping well after we suddenly stopped burning 2000 calories a day
* Getting used to a different time crunch with our new jobs
* Spending 24h with many people instead of the two of us
And now where here! More grateful everyday that we're living here figuring it all out! An now the Fire Festival! An epic and heavily symbolic celebration that's been going on for 150 years! Kids lighting torches, sake, people attacking eachother with fire, more sake, chard and scratched faces, drunk 42 year olds on top of a shrine that every(drunk)one is trying to burn down. Except the drunk 25 year olds that are trying to hold them back. 3h later, the whole thing crumbles and the massive crowd retreats to avoid the heat.
The most massive fire I have ever seen all while a blizzard is coming down. If it's not clear in the video it looked like hell on earth. 👌

01/01/2020

Jour 64 : Bonne année!!! Mais avant de parler du Nouvel An, parlons de Noël! Eh oui, on a pris un peu de re**rd. Notre expérience à nous c’est que Noël est passé presque inaperçu. Comme si cette fête n’avait jamais existé. En effet, avec seulement 2% de Nippons chrétiens, le 25 décembre n’est tout simplement pas férié. Alors, si vous adorez décorer votre sapin, savourer votre chocolat chaud, voire de belles maisons éclairées, offrir et recevoir des cadeaux, et bien, vous êtes nés dans le bon pays. Par contre, si vous haïssez entendre la même musique de Noël pendant un mois, vous angoissez par ce que vous ne savez plus quoi acheter et que votre carde de crédit est loader, si vous vous sentez obliger de surconsommer, de courir partout et d’être stresser par le temps afin d’aller voir oncles, tantes, parents, enfants et amis, si vous sentez la pression sociale d’être heureux pour cette journée si magique et que cela vous angoisse, et bien, vous viendrez au Japon l’année prochaine. Dans notre cas, notre opinion se situe un peu entre les deux.

01/01/2020

Day 64: This lil cafe crew wishes you a lil happy new year from lil mountain town! ♥️ Hope everyone makes their wishes come true in 2020 ♥️
Previously on Biking in Japan....In reality both of us got pretty sick this week and forgot about taking pictures. We'll make up for it when you see the meters of snow that dropped the last couple days 🙏...to be continued...
Also exciting things are happening in 2020 for documentarist Alexandre Beaumont-Vachon 😁

22/12/2019

Day 54: Ok so theres a small town (Nozawaonsen - 3500 population) in the mountains covered in hot springs (free public baths called onsens) where we're working for Nozawa Holidays, a 15 year old ski/lodge/rental/cafe business run by mostly Australians with the litteral blessing of the Japanese locals. Theres about 60 employees and everyone's keen. Like this guy, who is an official residante and grocery extraordinaire.

22/12/2019

--- COFFEE BREAK ---

Au cours des trois prochains mois, nous aurons notre petite routine étant donné qu'on travaillera tous les deux à Nozawa Onsen. Eh oui! Même en voyage ça peut devenir routinier! Pour éviter les redondances, nous allons désormais poster deux fois par semaine pour ainsi vous donner que la crème de la crème!

By the way, voici le café où Naomi travaillera, qui ouvrira ses portes demain matin!

19/12/2019

Day 51: Here's some ramen we ate in a restaurant underground. Goodnight Nozawaonsen 👍

19/12/2019

Day 50(!?!?!?!): Shinkansen Bullet train time 🚅 Our biggest success was managing to carry everything in one shot! Set up our bikes again in Iiyama and biked up the hill to Nozawa late at night. We're here for 3 months! Time to snow🗻🏂⛷️

17/12/2019

Day 49: KANAZAWA!!! 金沢=gold swamp? If you speak Japanese, please let us know if that's right!
We felt we we're long due for a shower so we payed for a hotel 😁 Super cheap because it literally opened a couple of days ago. Many cubicle beds in one giant room. So theres a nice illusion of privacy even though you can hear your neighbours breath...kinda like a tent. We felt right at home.

17/12/2019

Day 48: It was dark. We set up the tent. Went to bed. Oops we woke up in the middle of a golf course 👍 The golfers watched us in our frantic packing state 👍
Totally unrelated is this picture of a shrine we past a couple days ago. Most of them have bright red/orange archways and stone statues and are beautiful!

15/12/2019

Jour 47 : Après quelques jours à pédaler sur le bord de la mer, avec les vagues et les plages, on se demandait si on allait vraiment à l'un des plus beaux spots de ski au Japon. C'est alors qu'aussi près de 250km de Nozawa Onsen, on aperçoit notre première neige.

Tourne la tête à droite : les montagnes🗻
Tourne la tête à gauche : la mer🌊

14/12/2019

Day 46: Previously on Biking in Japan - Spent a couple days without wifi - camped in front of straight ocean. Biked for a record 60km. Found cool rock archway and faced crazy, angry, ocean wind and rain. We we're merry. 80km to go until it's train time! 🌧️🚴❄️🌧️🚴❄️🌧️🚂

14/12/2019

Day 45: Spent 2 days with out wifi this is what happenned - ended up in a small town where most stuff was abandonned or closed. Knocked on a small shop to ask where we could find food. She responded 'nowhere', but then opened the kitchen/cafe next door and made us pasta. To be continued...

12/12/2019

Jour 44: On avance vers notre destination, 45km à la fois. Aujourd'hui, le bruit des vagues nous a apaisé. L'eau est toutefois revenu du bon pied avec une bonne pluie froide de plusieurs heures. C'est ce soir qu'on enfin pouvoir réellement tester si notre système de bagages est waterproof!🌧️💧☔

12/12/2019

Day 43: Goodmorning japanese time!
Fall. Tunnels on tunnels 🌀
Have you ever been to a restaurant and before leaving, the owner gave you tons of hot packs, because its chilly out?

10/12/2019

Jour 42: Best spot so far..we're feeling grateful for our life choices/priviledges when facing North Korea on the other side of the ocean. There was even a sink at the top of the mountain to wash our clothes!
Also we love this tent, it's cozy..product placement? how do we get sponsored?

09/12/2019

Day 41: Made it to the opposite coast (Sea of Japan) yipiiiiiiiiiii
Also Going down to sea level in one shot was the best biking section so far 🚴🚴🚴🚴🚴🚴🚴!!!!

08/12/2019

Day 40: On our first rainy day -

It was a slow realisation that the map had lead us down some random road (again) that dissapeared into a non-road (again)..hours of pushing one bike uphill at a time in the bush will hopefully become a fun memory some time soon. The downhill was its own challenge. For some reason only the sharp corners were paved?

07/12/2019

Day 39: Hole in the fence that we can only assume is a train crossing for bikes 🚴

06/12/2019

Jour 38 : It is a better road she said. It's gonna be faster she said. We won't be close to big trucks speeding on the highway she said. Well... it was half true!

05/12/2019

Day 37: It's getting frosty ❄️
Today was an internet day, along with some fixing and some chilling. Also last night, officially slept in a cemitary...tonight will be the second time...🌛

04/12/2019

Jour 36: Hier soir, on a couché à côté d'un château à Himeji. Mais ce n'est pas tout! Il y avait aussi un zoo juste à côté. On s'est donc endormit sous la (douce) musique de cris d'animaux inconnus.
Also a lady in the parc told me that there are 30 cats that live there and then she proceeded to point them out and tell me their names!

03/12/2019

Day 35: Aioi our knees hurt from those mountains...
Back on the road today. Who knew getting up early means that you can double your distance. +50km yay. Today we met another biker person for the first time and he happened to be from Toronto and knew a lot of tips and answers to questions we didn't know who to ask! And we also met a nice farmer man who gave us free persimmons (go get some if you haven't tried) right from his tree yayyyy 👩‍🌾🚴

02/12/2019

Day 34: Goodbyeeee 😁 We wanna give some love ♥️ to this anonymous lady for always being herself and for bringing us delicious food and being a ray of epic sunshine. Everyone looks forward to having a session with her. Today happened to be our last session here. We signed her english book with some drawings and our favorite words.
Also thanks so much to Lily and the family who run this community center! We see you working so hard and you're totally killing it! We really can't thank you enough for everything and for making here the easiest/welcoming place to work and to live! It really is beautiful in Hinase even if we only got to see most of it this weekend 😁 and it's beautiful in the English club because you make everyone who enters feel at home. We'll be in touch ♥️

01/12/2019

Jour 33: En tant que cycliste, tu as tendance à regarder les autres vélos. Je suis alors aller parler à ce gentil monsieur puisque je trouvais qu'il avait une belle bicyclette. Avec mon faible japonais, j'ai réussit à lui exprimer mes sentiments envers sa monture, à lui dire que je ne parlais pas japonais et à lui demander si je pouvais prendre une photo. Voici donc le résultat.

01/12/2019

Day 32: We're passing into December while capturing some of the craziness and good vibes that are in this house! Richie and Levi from Budapest arrived today and Alex (a different one) from Ontario the day before. The unicorn has been around for a while. We know they'll have a great time at the English Club with the Toyoshimas 🦄
Kanpai!!! Santé!!! Cheers!!! Egészségére!!!?!!!!

30/11/2019

Jour 31: On dit tranquillement au revoir à Hinase, en faisant toutes les petites activités durant notre dernière fin de semaine. Comme aller au fish market et voir des pieuvres vivantes se promener sur le plancher et monter la montagne "Hinase", où il est carrément écrit "Hinase" un peu comme à Hollywood.
No fish we're killed in the making of this weekend 👍

28/11/2019

Day 30: Salsa teaching lesson at the English Club 🕺💃 and getting gifted with more homemade food!! 😭 We're so grateful to all the other small experiences we had today too like a small bamboo flute concert and some beautiful watercolour sketches from Yamachan, Vegan okonomiyaki and oyster okonomiyaki and japanese drumming and many japanese lessons and everything in between 🥰
This time featured are crepes with soy whipped cream, lemon custard, coconut cream, chocolate, persimmons, kiwi, walnuts and lemon cake ahhhhh its hard to stay calm in front of so much beautiful food

27/11/2019

Day 29: We found a job at a ski resort for the winter season! Soon we will leave Hinase...but first! I must begin my inevitable career in acting when I decided to travel with a cameraman. 🌟
Do you prefer shorts or down jacket when its cold?

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