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2003 Hokkaido Touring |
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After several delays and postponements I was finally able to secure almost 3 weeks to visit the North island of Japan; Hokkaido. I had been told by fellow riders that Hokkaido is the bikers heaven of Japan. This because the roads are fairly well maintained, there is a considerable dearth of traffic lights and there are so few cars. In Japan you are torn between the NEED to use the highways and the DESIRE to NOT use the hi-ways. As most of Japan is highly developed, there is much traffic and many traffic lights all conspiring to prevent you from making any really good time getting from points A to B. So if you are traveling any great distances the natural tendency is to want to get on the super slab and just rock it to the area that you want to get to. The reason you DON'T want to take the high way is that it usually prevents you from actually seeing the real Japan. On a hi-way, like in any country, you see little of the special things in the places you are passing. You cannot get the local flavor of a place. The other reason I tend to shy away from hi-ways in Japan is the tolls. ALL hi-ways in Japan are toll roads. ALL! So not only is there a massive cost in taking a highway from Osaka to Aomori, but there is the added hassle of needing to dig out money every time you want to leave the confines of the inter-prefecture system, even if only for fuel or eats. It can be a real bummer.
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