to Satsumasendai, Super Hotel, not so super after all

December 8, 2023

Yesterday’s visit to the Crane Observation Centre was a bit disappointing since the schedule didn’t allow us to spend as much time as we’d like there. Plus, we wanted to go to the other areas which are heavily populated by the visiting cranes. The only way to access these areas is with the use of the e-car they provide free to visitors. We will detour to the Crane Observation Centre on our way out of Izumi.

The Wing Hotel is an older hotel that offers whatever you might need

Each floor has a free library of manga books.

After a couple of days in Izumi we are ready to ride. It’s a beautiful day for riding.

On our way out of Izumi we passed this building with striking murals of cranes

This is a bunker used during WW2. The land, where the golf course is now located, was the training ground for the airforce that would bomb PearlHarbour.

While we were checking out the bunker we met this man who passionately told us (in Japanese) all about the site.

It turned out that our new friend is a volunteer guide at the crane observation centre. it seems that he never travels without his notebook and was proud to show us his notes and research.

We have read of other accounts where young teens were called upon to help with the war effort in Japan, also with a number of fatalities.

An interesting bit of history about WWII along the road. Farm fields surround one of these plane bunkers, but access has been clearly provided from the road.

There was a second bunker to see. This one sustained considerable damage, but is still standing.

We decided to visit the crane observation centre a second time as yesterday our visit was too rushed. All vehicles entering and exiting the crane centre grounds are sterilized to ensure the health and safety of the cranes. A significant task handled by volunteers.

Wow, what a good decision to come back. We are seeing more birds and we are able to observe them better as we are much closer to them. Check out the sheer volume of their size, starting with their wingspan.

These 3 cranes seem to always stick together, which makes us speculate that they were probably together on the migration from Siberia.

Cranes in flight, looking for other places to feed. As well as their beauty and size, the sounds they make to each other are deafening.

The close-up view we have of these cranes and gaining an understanding of their history and need to migrate, make our visit here fascinating and worthwhile.

Above, you can see a large group or Eastern Rooks swarming in the sky.

Being able to use their e-car, we got to out oft the way places, like this with a blind for use to comfortably watch the cranes without disturbing them.

This wee car was a lot of fun for riding around and getting to areas otherwise unavailable to us.

It is challenging to take a photo that does justice to the magnificence of these cranes.

This is a huge lens…would love to see his photos.

A small bridge at a river has this lovely panel on the railing.

The ride to Satsumasendai has not been a lot of fun as we had to ride much of it at dusk or in the dark. The highway had heavy traffic as well.

The route is quite pretty following the coast, but we don’t love the heavy traffic. The road typically has a better surface than the sidewalk, but none of this can be relied on. We did this route on our previous visit to Japan

The sunset is stunning. The downside is that we will be riding in the dark and it will become quite cold as well.

Our dinner will be takeout bento boxes from the Family Mart across the street.

We arrived! The Super Hotel is proving to be a little frustrating. Its footprint is tiny…no parking at all, the services are strangely scheduled as the building has only one onsen, meaning that men have it a few hours, then women etc. We have been spoiled at other hotels. We locked our bikes outside the front door as this was the only place we could find. The biggest problem however, was how tiny our room was. The dimensions were 12 sq m and our bed was small. The only way you can move around is if the other person is in the bathroom or on the bed.

Whether your party is one or two persons, the room size is the same at 12 sq m. There are a few larger rooms, but this is the standard size. The strange thing also, was that there was a bunk bed above our bed. We piled our bags in a corner and called it a day.

Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 1,673 km (1,039 miles)

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