Japanese Road Trip
By David Edinger, AKA Factory Racer
October 21^st, 2025

We arrived in Tokyo a few days before we were to pick up the motorcycle and meet the other participants. This would allow us to get our internal time clock on track and explore the city. A good friend of mine joined us on this trip and his son works in Japan. So he met us at the airport and helped us figure out the trains into the city. Everyone has seen pictures of packed trains in Tokyo but add in the fact that we were each hauling a very large gear bag after a very long flight made it tough. Once at the last train station we still had to drag them another 15 minutes through the busy streets to our hotel. We elected to stay in the Shinjuku district which I’d the Tokyo equivalent of Times Square. So after a quick Sushi dinner we were down for the count.

 Great start, departed a city of 20 million in the drizzle and it continued all day added with for a one of the bikes had rear brake troubles. It kept freezing up and we adapted by pouring water on it until we could make it to the hotel. 

 The hotel was amazing, it was along the coast, traditional Japanese room, free spa, drinks, everyone wore traditional robes including us to dinner after visiting the spa and the food and drink just kept on coming. The food selection was, a visual treat and amazing. 

 The first full day of exploring included several temples, the Emperial Palace grounds, a very interesting shopping street of small booths, more temples and quite a few people dressed in old traditional dress, including tourists. Then we were off to meet my friend Robbie and his son for Karaoke. It wouldn’t have been my first choice but his son Josh insisted that it was a must do in Japan. You have your own private room and drinks were included so eventually we relaxed and enjoyed it.  

 Then my wife Missy and I walked up and down every busy street in the Shinjuku district just taking it all in. We walked into a huge Pachinko parlor which I had never heard of. It reminded me of a slot machine parlor in Vegas but it was some sort of video game. Then we stumbled upon a different type of parlor where it seemed similar to a machine where kids put a quarter into a machine and a toy comes out, very interesting because these were all adults. 

 We finally met with the group of fellow riders and guides. The riders were a mix from Germany and Austria, California, New Jersey and Texas with the guides being from Italy, the Netherlands and Japan. We did the motorcycle handover, initial briefing and a team dinner. 

 Our first day of riding was a wet and at times a foggy ride. Getting out of Tokyo, a city of 20 million took a while but it was a good day of riding as we headed south towards the coastal city of Kawazu. One of our Austrian friends Gundrun had some bike troubles with her rear brake. It froze solid twice and we had to pour water on it the cool it down and free it up, but we eventually made it. This hotel and the evening was amazing. Free drinks upon arrival and all night, they had an in house Japanese spa and sauna, the rooms were traditional Japanese with the sliding doors, bamboo floors, an in room balcony overlooking the ocean and the beds/ mats on the floor. The dinner was an amazing 6 course Japanese meal. What a start….. 

 The next morning the rain was finished and the tour company had replaced Gundruns motorcycle with another bike all together. We headed back North a bit towards Mt. Fuji. We spent the day riding mountain passes with amazing views of the bay below. The switchbacks were a riders dream, however there were several sections throughout the day that we dealt with wet roads with lots of wet leaves and small twigs. This only slowed us up a bit but it forced us to follow car tracks through the leaves rather than the traditional lines a motorcyclist would take through the twistys. As the day went on and the elevation increased, the fog also returned. At the end of the ride we ended up at a fancy hotel on a hill overlooking a beautiful lake.

 It was a crisp morning but warmed up quickly. The ride was through the mountains as we headed further south towards the sea. There were some great twisty roads but one section wasn’t more than a lane and a half wide with 180 switchbacks and was a bit unnerving with isolated oncoming traffic. We also stopped for a picture at the home offices of Suzuki. We ended just before dark in Hamamatsu along the bay adjacent to the southern coast. 

 We left the next morning for an hours long ride along the coast towards the ferry across the bay. After departing the ferry the roads were amazing as we worked our way north to Kumano. The pavement was great and it was non stop switchbacks for hours. As we got about an hour from our destination we rode up into the mountains with the sea to our left on a road wide enough for a small car but it was two way traffic and the road was very twisty with leaves, twigs and moss on the tiny road so it was a bit challenging but it led us into town and I had about 18 miles of fuel left in my tank. We stayed at a nice resort spa with complimentary drinks, and and a fire pit. The rooms had on the back porch a small round wooden tub big enough for one person filled with hot water. After a quick soak we had an amazing meal and then it was back to the complimentary bar and outdoor fire pit. 

 The group split up into two groups, challenging and more challenging. We opted for challenging. The early part of the day was along the bay and then into the mountains with once again twisty roads, amazing scenery and along river beds. Finally we met the other group in an area full of Buddhist temples and spent some time taking pictures and entering two of the temples. After a quick ad hoc luncywe pushed on to the capital of Japan, Kyoto where we planned to spend two nights including a rest day to get some laundry done and explore the city. By chance it was supposed to to be a significant rain day. My bike is the Ducati Multistrada V4S and my fellow riders are mostly on BMWs ranging from 750’s to 1250’s. But I am getting the worst gas mileage. When we hit downtown Kyoto and I found a gas station on the wrong side of the road my gas gauge said I was 3 kms…..from empty. We hooked up a few minutes later with the rest of the group and headed on to the nights hotel and a nice evening meal. 

 We spent a relaxing rest day in Kyoto. It rained most of the day so it worked out well because my wife and everyone else braved the rain to explode and enjoy the city.  

 Today we were heading for the most famous castle in Japan, the Himeji castle. So we split up into two groups. Those that wanted to tour the castle took the direct route. Those (including us) that just wanted to walk the grounds and take pictures took the scenic route which included more of Japans great switchbacks and some more of the single width/ two way traffic roads. With yesterdays rains we had some wet patches and fallen leaves in the morning but an amazing afternoon. I had no idea Japan was so mountainous. 

 Today’s ride was one of our longer rides, there was more highways then we have done previously but we still arrived almost at dusk. Fifteen miles from our hotel it started to rain, again. We stopped at a scenic mountain top view with a chair lift to the top for the view of the ocean and the “five lakes” the place we ended up at was a small Buddhist hotel where we were given traditional garb to wear to dinner and to the spa. There is one of the most traditional Buddhist temples a short walk from the hotel and a ceremony that is open to the public but…it leaves the hotel at about 4:00 am so we will pass. Plus it will be raining, so we will walk up after breakfast to see the temples before we depart again, in the rain. 

 We had a short break from the rain after breakfast and went up to see the temples, amazing gardens, buildings and architecture. We left in the rain and other than about an hour of sunshine, we rode in the rain all day. We were at higher elevations and the trees were in full color mode with snow on the mountain tops so it was a bit chilly and wet. We stopped at a small touristy town with thatched roofs, it reminded me of the Netherlands. We all took a bus into town for an amazing Japanese meal of course with shoes removed. 

 The next morning we awoke to 34 degrees. Our seats were frosted over and the locks on our bags were frozen shut. After dealing with that we took off all geared up and with plenty of layers. Luckily the hotel had a laundry so we were able to dry our gloves from the previous day. Because there is nothing worse than wet gear on a cold morning. It gradually warmed a bit but we were in the mist of the tallest mountains yet. This is Japan's ski area and the surrounding mountains were covered with snow. We stopped briefly to visit another former shogun castle and continued onto our hotel. It also was a ski town with thermal baths. Indoor baths/ outdoor baths, private baths, and free sake after 4:30. This is a very traditional hotel with a no shoe policy and traditional Japanese robes and slippers worn throughout.

 We passed on the ride that six of us went on today since it was a rest day. We went for a walk, watched a movie and soaked in the thermal baths. Followed by a pizza for dinner at a small cafe here in town that was predominantly Anglo tourists. 

 Today was supposed to be a short ride but with enough stops that it would take us until dark to arrive. We stopped at a wasabi farm where real wasabi is grown, not the fake wasabi you get in most sushi restaurants. Then to a place where the snow monkeys have adapted to sitting in and enjoying the hot springs. Then it was up the mountain on the highest road in Japan. The temperature dropped to just above freezing and the snow along the side of the road became significant including patches of snow on the road. And then, we hit the road closed gate. This meant backtracking and coming back up the mountain from the other side. This added another 2 hours of riding, now in the dark. So a long day turned into a very long day. But all was well despite my only having a dark shield. P.S. we were only 33 kms away 

 A chilly morning but it warmed up quickly as we headed downhill. We went by two dormant volcanoes, one had a car halfway submerged in the water which was a photo op. The other was up the hill a ways and it was cold and very windy. From there we worked our way to the hotel in the popular touristy town of Nikko. We walked up hill a way to dinner after Missy walked into town to explore and get some exercise. 

 Our final riding day, dry, and sunny. The first half of the day was twisty roads but the pavement in some sections wasn’t ideal. More leaves on the road which ended up with one bike going down. The rider wasn’t hurt and with a little effort the bike was still rideable. The next stop was the Motegi race track for lunch and then to visit the Honda museum and collection. After we got back on the road towards Tokyo we got on the highway for a blitz back to the hotel where we turned in the motorcycle and began the final evening’s celebration.