Emma and Tim from New Zealand - Honshu

On the spur of the moment, Emma and I rented a Yamaha FJR1300AS from Rental819 in Ikebukuro for several days. The booking process was remarkably easy, and I was really impressed at how we were forwarded plenty of information in advance about the rental process, road rules in Japan, and the bike itself (including a PDF of the FJR1300 user manual!).

Picking up the bike was very straightforward – we chose jackets and helmets, checked over the bike, paid the rental fee, packed the panniers, and got on our way. I had initially been concerned that a Japanese rental company might not have appropriately-sized gear, but the shop had several viable options.

Over the course of seven days we covered about 1500km. To give an idea of how far you can comfortably travel, our route was:

Day 1. Tokyo-Hamamatsu (250km)

Day 2. Hamamatsu-Nagoya (115km)

Day 3. Nagoya-Kyoto (130km)

Day 4. Rest

Day 5. Kyoto-Katsuyama-Kyoto (400km)

Day 6. Kyoto-Nara-Nagoya (200km)

Day 7. Nagoya-Tokyo (350km)

We had initially planned to do the trip by train, but the rental fee, toll fees, and fuel costs added up to be only marginally more than that of two JR rail passes.

When we booked the bike, I hadn’t been aware that June/July is a ‘rainy season’ in Japan. We were lucky enough to have pockets of excellent weather; whenever we got caught in the rain, though, it was relatively safe to soldier on, given that Japanese roads are extremely well-engineered, and drivers seem to be reasonably level-headed.

Other visitors to Japan will be oblivious to the existence of the small towns, farms, and landscapes that we were privileged enough to ride through. The Shinkansen might be convenient for intercity travel, but nowhere near as fun as a bike, and can’t get you in to those out-of-the-way places that can make a vacation unique.

Josep from Spain - Tokyo, Hakone, Izu

Josep from Spain rented a Harley Davidson Street 750 to take weekend trips from Tokyo and he wrote a great article about it! This is an extract:

"It finally happened, after all this years riding my Harley Davidson in Europe, and my trips to Japan, I could combine the two aspects of my trips for a weekend ride on the Central Japan roads. An experience that was for long time in my bucket list, and it’s still at the top of my list. Why? Even before returning the Harley Davidson at the Rental 819 store, I was already planning the next road trip.

On the first day, I took the Hakone mountain roads and enjoyed, almost alone on the road all the way to the lake Ashi. At this point, I started to see more fellow riders around the road. After some sightseeing around the lake and the shrine, I went for lunch to a small local restaurant next to the lake. In front of my table, there was a map of the whole Hakone area and roads, which led me to my improvised afternoon trip to Odawara castle, only half an hour from the lake and the chance to enjoy more mountain road before going home.

Second day, I planned to get even further. The ocean skyline was awaiting on a really bright day. Passed again through Hakone on the Expressway and got on the road to take the Izu skyline parkway. A scenic road that goes all the way North to South of the Izu peninsula. The views were splendid, and even that the whole ride took one hour non-stop, I wasn’t tired at all. I was way too motivated for it to be tired. My last stop was at Mt. Omuro, an old volcano, used as a scenic tourist spot."

Looking forward to use your services again on my next trip.

Greetings,

Josep

You can read the whole article on this blog: Hype in Tokyo

Kaifa from Singapore - Kansai

Kaifa rented a MT09 Tracer from Osaka and went to visit one of the three most famous views of Japan: Amanohashidate, north of Kyoto prefecture. When he came back he sent us this nice e-mail and pictures:

Thank you for making things so easy! I had a great time with the bike. I also want to thank the staff at the shop in Osaka for their help! 

Here's some pictures I took!

Looking forward to my next ride!