It’s Chad’s first time in a hostel, and I can’t say he’s thrilled about it. I loved it, hidden in a small cove of Onomichi downtown area, we slept on futons on the floor and heard whispers of travelers through the thin walls. There was a magical garden in the back near the outhouse toilet and cats hidden in the trees. There was even a vintage closet full of great Japanese souvenirs you could buy at the front restaurant. We arrived in Onomichi last night, a port city in between Osaka and Hiroshima. We had researched great beachy things to do, and this bike ride is all the rage online.
Japan is a beautiful island with hot, tropical weather, but does that mean that they enjoy the beach and that they have a beach culture? Absolutely - not. Everything I’ve learned about Japanese culture leans conservative, and laying out in a bikini while tanning isn’t the most desirable thing to do despite the fact they have crystal clear waters and sunshine. I did a bit a research, and it turns out they have a few reasons for not beaching it; they work a lot, they follow strict seasonal rules so after summer months beaches close down despite the weather being hot into October, and they don’t love being tan so if they do head to the beach they really cover up.
I decided to see for myself. Shimanami Kaido is a bike path that goes from one Japanese island to another. We planned to bike from Onomichi to Setoda Sunset Beach, considering we’d be hot from biking around 25 miles. From there, we’d take the ferry back to Onomichi and head onto Hiroshima. Sounds like a plan! Beautiful islands, bridges, views, and then jumping into water at the end.
Too good to be true. It was one of the strangest, hottest, bike rides we’ve ever completed. We started off at 8am, getting on a ferry to the first island with a bunch of school kids and their bikes. We ferried through the port, which is industrial to say the least, and I figured once we got into the other islands the industrial vibe would change. That wasn’t the case at all.
As we rode our bike off the ferry onto the Shimanami Kaido path blue line trail, we rode past factories and ship making facilities and strip malls. Large cranes stood overhead as was shifted gears going up inclines. The landscape was pretty, but the industrial vibe threw me off.
The water taunted me the entire way, beautiful crystal clear but no beaches in sight. Barricades more like it, alongside the pretty lapping waves. We climbed a 3% incline up to the first bridge, which was a great view, and hoped the next island would be more nature, less industrial.
Wrong again, we ride through more factories, empty village towns, with overall an extremely lonely vibe. You know that feeling of lonely you get, when human spirit isn’t felt and you’re kind of left with just empty machinery? No? I didn’t know it until this bike ride.
With temperatures reaching 95 degrees I really, truly though the beach would have people on it and in the water swimming. I couldn’t help but think it cannot be empty though only a few weeks into off-season, people must want to cool down. We rode our bikes down a pretty bike lane that had palm trees lining the way and small staircases down to the water, but no people. I compared this to the US or Europe, where people would be down the steps swimming and sun bathing in the crystal clear water to matter what season, as long as it’s hot.
We were just about to the beach when we saw a line of stuffed people. Yes - you heard this right - stuffed people sitting on benches. The beach was deserted.. except for these stuffed people. It felt fitting. It felt like a scary movie, actually a scary movie could easily be filmed on these islands for sure, that sounds like a really good screenplay ready to be written. It looked like beach-goers were there one minute, and the next they all grabbed their things and made a run for it. Leftover cafe chairs were knocked over, flags were ripped and hanging up, a few people walked along the beach. I was determined to swim so I went in and dunked my head but the water was filled with plastic and luke warm. Weird art sculptures are scattered around. Occasionally a biker will pull over and walk out onto the beach to have a look and then quickly get back on their bike to keep on going (you can ride this route all the way through to Imbari). I have a feeling that if we continued onward, the best was yet to come, but we were ill-prepared for a 50 mile bike ride. Oh well. We sat in the shade to cool down and rest, and then showered off to get back to the port much earlier than expected.
The ferry brought us by the islands we just biked, giant industrial ships in the port, a Honda cargo ship, cranes and concrete docks.
Just like that we were on a train to Hiroshima, tired, sore and ready to shower.