We packed up our bikes in the morning and said goodbye to our wonderful host (shout out to Kazu at Nasubi Mt Fuji Backpackers) before making the short trek to Shin-Fuji station. When we got there, we disassembled our bikes as best we could (aka, removed the front wheels, handlebars, and seat posts) and packed them into bike bags. After buying our tickets we were told that we couldn’t bring the bikes on the train. After a bit of back and forth with the ticket collectors and a very helpful information kiosk person translating for us, we were able to board the train to Nagoya, though it was very apparent that the ticket collectors weren’t happy with us. Fortunately there was plenty of space on the train for our bikes to be out of the way of other passengers.

video: Shinkansen going through Shin-Fuji station. 

The ride was only about two hours and the train wasn’t very busy. When we got to Nagoya we quickly built our bikes back up. Mateo figured he had packed too much stuff and opted to send some of it back to our host in Fujisawsa who was already holding on to some of our luggage until we got back to Tokyo.

Domokun spotting on a Japanese Post Office form.

We parked our bikes in an underground bike parking area (complete with a bicycle escalator) and went to the post office to mail Mateo’s stuff. After that we grabbed some “craft beer” at a local restaurant and then headed off to our AirBnB.

video: Bike escalator in action.

Mini boots of craft beer.

After dropping off our gear at the AirBnB we decided to do a bit of sightseeing and rode to the Ōsu Kannon Temple which was fairly close by. We walked down the street to the local shopping arcade, bought some street food, and then went back to our AirBnB to figure out the next couple of days and prepare for the 136km ride the next day.

Ōsu Kannon Temple

Mateo getting ready to pay to feed pigeons at the temple.

Prayers / wishes in the temple.

Street food vendor.

Delicious, cheap street food.