Freewheeling on Route 46

I've been taking a few bike rides in recent weeks. Actually I cycle about 20% of the time, push the bike uphill about 10%, and freewheel downhill for 70% of the time. My bike has no gears, its a "mamachari", so I get my wife to drop me and my bike off up in the high country and then head home downhill.

Yesterday I cycled 30k from near Iwami Ginzan, and took Route 46 all the way back. Some of the time its a 2 lane road, but some of the time its a single lane mountain road. It passes through a couple of villages, and down a couple of mostly uninhabited valleys.

Lots of people busy in the paddies, planting by machine, and also by hand. Most appeared to be at least 60 years old.

Stopped in at a couple of shrines. The shrine in Oe has 3 beautiful huge cedars flanking the entrance.

There is also a few nice temples, and of course many roadside altars.

Lots of empty and abandoned houses, both in the villages and on the hillsides.

In the heat of the middle of the day most people are inside, but this guy was out and about. I think he was out scouting around for gardens to raid. I saw one this lunchtime in my own village, single male out of the cover of the forest. I suspect he will bring the troop back around dawn.

There were also lots of flowers still. In the last valley there were a lot of wisteria.

Typical Japanese landscape 5

The sun sets over a paddy of ripening rice.
This photo was taken in my village while walking to Bon Odori.

Golden Week: Inaka style.

Golden Week occurs in early May, and is a very busy holiday period. Airports, train stations, and expressways are clogged with millions of Japanese tourists all travelling at the same time.
Where I live, out in the countryside, very few people go travelling however. Early May is time to plant the rice.

Most Japanese farmers are only part-time farmers, as japanese farms tend to be very small, and could probably better be called market-gardens. Most families in the village also have a rice paddy, tambo, and the huge subsidies paid by the government make it worthwhile to plant rice.


Rice growing is heavily mechanized, but the corners of odd-shaped paddies still need to be planted by hand.


More photos from my village