Mountain biking in Japan

[pink poodle]

I've just wrapped up a snow play holiday in Japan. While there I saw a lot of promotional material about mountain bike riding during the warmer months. I even saw a few rental bikes on display (my favourites were hung outside a shop and buried under about 1m of snow!), mostly low end all mountain dual suspension or fat bikes.

I was unable to gain any in depth information about what riding styles were catered to and the quality of the trails etc. Most of the images presented were of happy groups riding along fire roads in beautiful scenery, but the usual gnarly catch phrases were present as well...down hill, gravity, chair lift, gondola ride...and nearly everyone in these towns owns a front end loader or bulldozer.

I know a few burners have spent significant time in Japan, hopefully some of you are able to shed some light on what is actually on offer?

 

[shmity]

I have a mate who worked in Hokkaido for a few years. At the resort he worked at he was involved in the ski season during the winter and helped manage and build mountain bike trails in the summer. Very much in its infancy still from what I could gather and the videos of the trails I've seen cater to a much lower skill level than elsewhere. Probably fun enough if you are planning on being in the area anyway at that time of year but doesn't seem to be somewhere I would want to dedicate a trip to just yet. I would opt for the opposite end of the country and head for Okinawa etc during the summer instead.

 

[Dougy]

It's getting there slowly. The resorts have been pretty slow to pick it up due to to usual corporate narrow mindedness but those that have seem to be make headway. Fujimi Panorama in Nagano was the first and the best known and have been at if for nearly 15 years. The trails do show it being very well worn in but it a fun place to ride for a day or two. Fukui Izumi down near Osaka is the closest thing to what most Aussies would call a bike park with some gnarlier trails and a few big jumps. Hakuba has made a good push in the last couple of summers with a few Aussie expats in the mix. Not what we'd call DH yet but certainly some good gravity riding to be had and massive potential for steep and gnarly. Fujiten on the base of Mt Fuji is a small bike park set up by Japanese freerider Daiki Takahashi which has some nice flowing trails and a couple of small jump lines and is fun for a day of hanging it out.

Most of the best DH stuff is down south on what we'd describe as "local tracks" and mostely only accessable for organized races much like some of the tracks in SEQ. There's S Trail in Shizuoka which is a private club trail that cost's $50/year to be a member of the club and they do a dig on the Saturday and run races on the Sunday. It used to be pretty exclusive, ie you had to know someone which is Japan MTB all over, but it seems to be opening up a bit more now. There's another 'by appointment' place north of Tokyo but I can't remember the name at the moment.

Commercially you now have Yamabushi Trails in Shizuoka as well that take you for a days ride. A bit like Heli in NZ bt with out the heli and the vert. Same concept though. They shuttle you up, you ride down for an hour or so, have a feed, rinse and repeat. There's also Trail Cutter in Nagano I think that does the same thing. Cost's are AU$100+/person for the day depending on which trail/level/package you choose.

Over all I'd say you could spend a week here riding and have fun, don't come here looking for Whistler/Euro type gnar as you'll be dissapointed, then toddle off to the tourist traps of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. You can go to Okinawa if you like cyclones and sweating your arse off but then Cairns has bike tracks on top of that. :tape2:

 

[pink poodle]

Okinawa is for fishing.

Thanks for the input gents. I spent a little time in Hakuba this trip, and the resorts there certainly imply they love the gnar. Time will tell.

It so seems the supportive industries, such as mountain bike shops with reasonable prices and quality stock, are hard to find. If the bike industry is anything like the snow sports indistry equipment would be very expensive.

 

[Beej1]

Okinawa is for fishing.

Thanks for the input gents. I spent a little time in Hakuba this trip, and the resorts there certainly imply they love the gnar. Time will tell.

It so seems the supportive industries, such as mountain bike shops with reasonable prices and quality stock, are hard to find. If the bike industry is anything like the snow sports indistry equipment would be very expensive.

I spent a week in Hakuba in 2004. Back then the guide who took me on a few backcountry trips said he was big into downhilling some of the resorts there in the summer, and was trying to grow the industry to make up for the downtime. We boarded down an off-piste section of Tsugaike (which I constantly mis-pronounced Tsu-gee-yaki from memory) that he said was a great run, showing me rock drops etc. It certainly looked good from what I could remember. The last time I thought about it was a number of years later when I got into MTB more and wondered about going back there. A google back in '07 or '08 showed little information, so I ditched it and focused on getting to Whistler instead (which took another 3 years).

Interesting what you say about prices - back then the same guide was ribbing me about the crappy hire equipment I had to put up with, including a board with a 240mm waist and size 30 shoes. He told me about the snowsports district in Tokyo (Ochanomizu?) and said to haggle myself some gear since they wouldn't sell much of the wide board/big show stuff. Found my way there once back in the city and walked away with some pretty high spec gear for way cheaper than I'd be able to get it here. But that was 13 years ago I guess ... and it took about 10 shops of staff crossing their arms at me saying "No sanju! No sanju!" before I found any places that had big boots.

I loved Japan. I'd go back there in a heartbeat. Nothing quite like walking down a shotengai in peak hour and just seeing a sea of black hair for hundreds & hundreds of meters ahead.

 

[pink poodle]

Tsugaike (which I constantly mis-pronounced Tsu-gee-yaki from memory)

I've made and witnessed many good mispronunciations over the years, but none will beat the crazed American demanding the staff at Goryu call him a "cab" to their competitor "The Hap-pony mountain". Lucky for him they employ a few English speaking foreigners on their service desk each season.

 

[sukebe]

I lived in Japan from 2001 to 2005 and have travelled back annually since (married a local ). I've been taking a bike with me for the past 6 years but have found myself gravitating towards road ride adventuring. While I'm usually only in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara), ive found the mtb scene to be very limited and "those in the know" tough to find (and keep in mind im reasonably competent with the language). I've joined a couple of club rides but they were pretty lame. Except for a small number of ski resorts, Ive never found much beyond limited back country hiking trails that usually involve as much carrying your bike as riding it. I now stick to one area where I've got about 20km of good trail riding single track.

In the last couple of I years I've gravitated to more road ride adventuring. I don't ride road much in Australia, pretty much just commuting, but the road riding in Japan is phenomenal. The countryside is littered with an entire redundant road network, either old roads that have been replaced by tunnels or logging roads to nowhere that are no longer used or only used very sporadically. Within 10km of my in laws, in any direction, I have countless ribbons of bitumen snaking up gullies, sidling precipitous cliffs, negotiating massive landslides on forgotten roads; and I never see any cars, rarely see other people at all. I usually take a hard tail with knobbies and slicks to ride both mtb and road. This year I'm taking a road bike. I still don't care for road riding in Australia, but I look forward to it in Japan.

 

[pink poodle]

^ I remember reading a few years ago that mountain biking was considered to be for rich/old guys and thus relatively untended due to the cost.

I would imagine road riding to be fairly safe there as well, based on the level of caution most drivers seem to exhibit around pedestrians. It is either a genuine concern about hitting someone or panel beating is really expensive.

 

[Haakon]

I would imagine road riding to be fairly safe there as well, based on the level of caution most drivers seem to exhibit around pedestrians. It is either a genuine concern about hitting someone or panel beating is really expensive.

Either that or they're just not all bogan fuckheads like we have in Australia...

 

[Dougy]

^ I remember reading a few years ago that mountain biking was considered to be for rich/old guys and thus relatively untended due to the cost.

I would imagine road riding to be fairly safe there as well, based on the level of caution most drivers seem to exhibit around pedestrians. It is either a genuine concern about hitting someone or panel beating is really expensive.

Hahaha! Kanto drivers are anything but cautious. I've become so used to having truck mirrors miss my head by mere inches, avoiding opening car doors, and avoiding sucidal grannies that road riding in Australia would be a breeze. I treat each ride like a blind, full-pace DH run. My "road bike" is a hardtail with 80mm forks, discs, and 2.3 Spec Compound DJ tyres! Perfect for having to hop up gutters, bomb stairs, and take evasive action to avoid the nut bags on the roads where I live.

Poodle to be completely honest I'd save my coin and go to NZ or Europe. As I said in my earlier post you could spend a week here riding but it's a lot of messing around for really not that much return.

 

[pink poodle]

Hahaha! Kanto drivers are anything but cautious. I've become so used to having truck mirrors miss my head by mere inches, avoiding opening car doors, and avoiding sucidal grannies that road riding in Australia would be a breeze. I treat each ride like a blind, full-pace DH run. My "road bike" is a hardtail with 80mm forks, discs, and 2.3 Spec Compound DJ tyres! Perfect for having to hop up gutters, bomb stairs, and take evasive action to avoid the nut bags on the roads where I live.

Poodle to be completely honest I'd save my coin and go to NZ or Europe. As I said in my earlier post you could spend a week here riding but it's a lot of messing around for really not that much return.

Sadly I won't be riding anywhere exotic for a long time. Tasmania is probably the highest ranking location on my wish list just now.

But until 7-11 rules the world distributing karage sticks to all and sundry with boss coffee vending machines are on every corner, Japan calls.

 

[fimpBIKES]

I went here in 2008
http://www.fujimipanorama.com/mtb/


it was the fkn best, rental shop was just as organised as a snowboard shop
we got there a bit late so had to compromise on the bikes

do it!!!

 

[Dougy]

Sadly I won't be riding anywhere exotic for a long time. Tasmania is probably the highest ranking location on my wish list just now.

But until 7-11 rules the world distributing karage sticks to all and sundry with boss coffee vending machines are on every corner, Japan calls.

Nothing wrong with Tassie mate. After this, my second, 4yr stint, here in Japan I'm looking forward to getting back home next month and riding SEQ DH tracks. Luckily, I don't have to want for karrage as my wife is a Japanese chef. I will miss the convenience of having a 7-11 200m away.

 

[pink poodle]

Nothing wrong with Tassie mate. After this, my second, 4yr stint, here in Japan I'm looking forward to getting back home next month and riding SEQ DH tracks. Luckily, I don't have to want for karrage as my wife is a Japanese chef. I will miss the convenience of having a 7-11 200m away.

My heart sinks every time I see one here...there is a lot of 7-11s in my area, but the Australian version offers such a different version of service.

 

[Mr Crudley]

My heart sinks every time I see one here...there is a lot of 7-11s in my area, but the Australian version offers such a different version of service.

7-11 here does suck the big one long and hard. Sounds similar to Taiwan's 7-11 which also have pretty cool edible things compared to the AU version which will mean some kind of over dried Sausage Roll thing. Gee, I miss Taiwan food now and 7-11 is probably at the lower rung but still great for what it is.

 

[pink poodle]

^ so good. They yielded many yen from me on a casual drop in to withdraw cash, and no doubt provided me with many unnecessary calories.

 

[Mr Crudley]

^ so good. They yielded many yen from me on a casual drop in to withdraw cash, and no doubt provided me with many unnecessary calories.

It is impossible to go hungry in Asia. I have to head home to make sure my jeans still fit me.
Stay too long and I risk barge arsed-ness.... Hmmmm...... barge arsed-ness......:tea:

 

[RudolphFentz50]

Im heading over myself in a few months for three weeks.
The consenscus on here seems to be that aside from Fujimi park and the very rare hiking track that doesn't require too much walking that there is very little in the way of worthy riding.
Im sure I read somewhere about some trails on Fuji mountain itself (mostly fast/ steep fire road) along with some random ones in the surrounding forrest. But again, maybe not enough to warrant lugging a bike around over there for?.......

The mountain based road riding is legendary in contrast however.
It sound as though the CX/ Allroad bike may be the better option?.............

 

[pink poodle]

Im heading over myself in a few months for three weeks.
The consenscus on here seems to be that aside from Fujimi park and the very rare hiking track that doesn't require too much walking that there is very little in the way of worthy riding.
Im sure I read somewhere about some trails on Fuji mountain itself (mostly fast/ steep fire road) along with some random ones in the surrounding forrest. But again, maybe not enough to warrant lugging a bike around over there for?.......

The mountain based road riding is legendary in contrast however.
It sound as though the CX/ Allroad bike may be the better option?.............

I guess that depends on what sort of riding you like to do..? It would likely offer you the ability to cover the road and fire road rides as you have mentioned.

 

[RudolphFentz50]

I guess that depends on what sort of riding you like to do..? It would likely offer you the ability to cover the road and fire road rides as you have mentioned.

Any, I guess is the generalised answer with good mountain biking as a priority.
However if it is as limited as it sounds I would prefer to maximise my time (and effort to cart a bike bag etc over there, around and back) by taking a bike to use the known quantity of sealed mountain roads (Touge).
It has a 42/42 biggest gear, 32c tyres and disc brakes so yeah probably capable on at least fire trails if not lighter hiking trails.

I will investigate further as I am still hoping to find some more trails. Currently seeing if its worth heading up to Hokkaido Alpine area or not in search of more trails.........