Flying home

July 12, 2023

We are looking forward to (and hoping for) a leisurely trip home. Our flight times seem reasonable - we depart Itami Airport at 7pm and have 90 min to connect with our flight to Canada at Tokyo Haneda Airport. Thankfully, we shouldn’t have to deal with our luggage and immigration as we did when coming to Japan.

We have a late check out, 2 pm from our room, we are going to have lunch at the hotel and then wait for the driver we hired to take us to the airport. We want to get there early and get our trikes checked in.

A fitting way to depart…lunch at Hotel the Lutheran. We have loved it here.

Barry had an interesting lunch…an omelet filled with rice and good things, along with salad and soup. Tasty.

Our driver was early and a most cheerful fellow. He and Barry efficiently packed our trikes into the back of the van. They are standing up and we are off. Throughout the journey to Itami, he asked us many questions about our travels and most of our responses reduced him to giggles of disbelief.

The driver took his responsibility to us very seriously. He helped get the trikes on the scale and then he stood behind me as we settled the details with the clerk. He wouldn’t leave until we had been taken care of. Arigato!

The trikes are through, now the luggage. It seems to be taking a long time, but we are early, so no problem. The driver has bid us farewell.

We are not too happy. They are charging us for extra weight and it seems like too much money. We are unable to change it, so we move on. These things are the luck of the draw and who you get for check in. When we came to Japan, our trikes were heavier, packed in boxes and no fee.

Now that the frustration of check-in is behind us, we are ready to explore. We really like this airport. Itami is only 18 Km from our hotel compared to 50 Km from Kansai. As well, one could ride from Osaka to Itami, whereas you are not allowed to ride to Kansai. Itami is smaller, more laid back, easy to get around and they have interesting shops for browsing. We liked the expansive outdoor viewing area of the runways. A storm is brewing and the wind is fierce.

Every place in Japan has a mascot and this is the mascot for Itami airport.

Much care has been taken to make Itami appealing with lovely flowers on the outside deck.

Itami Airport is the original airport for Osaka. Neighbours protested the sound pollution they would suffer if the needed expansion was done here. As a result, Kansai International Airport was built further from the city on reclaimed land, and Itami remains as a domestic hub. We will fly from Itami to Tokyo for our connecting flight to Vancouver.

Of course, there is an extravagant food floor with tempting offerings to buy. The displays are vibrant and full of character. From the looks of him, he is not impressed that we decided not to buy his sweets. Fun to browse.

Oh this is tempting..we love the buns filled with red bean paste, but the ones with a whole chestnut are superb.

Not sure what these treats are but we liked the colourful character who represents them.

We will get a few of these buns to have with coffee. Really liked the ceramic bowls that come with the treats at the rear of the display.

Itami is a laid back place with great seating for relaxing. We can see our plane and are hoping to see our trikes being loaded.

Our plane to Tokyo is looking nearly ready to receive us. We are a bit nervous as our plane is leaving late. Oh no, we don ‘t want to get stuck in Tokyo overnight again. Just found out that we have to change terminals (by bus) and go through immigration again. 🤞

As expected, it was a mad dash to make our plane. We ran to the bus, which was at the far end of the airport, the bus took about 10 min, we raced through immigration (yeah!) and we made it with time for a bathroom break and…

…..Hokkaido soft cream…wow. We are so excited to make the flight and have one last taste of Hokkaido’s exceptional dairy offerings.

Once again, we are seated at the Emergency Exit. Dinner on our flight…we chose the Japanese option and it was tasty.

We have flown with ANA, All Nippon Airways and we are very happy with their service. It is a joy to fly with a crew who are so professional and who work tirelessly to ensure that their passengers are comfortable and looked after. We have never seen a crew work so hard as this crew of Japanese flight attendants.. They never stop. If you get up to go to the bathroom and they see that one is busy, they will jump up and find one that is vacant. It is this work ethic, their pride in a job well done and their support/respect for their team and passengers which embody one of the things we love about Japan. Convenience store staff, subway workers, cleaning staff, professionals….no matter the job, we rarely saw workers who appeared to be bored or disinterested in what they were doing. There is a perceptible sense of respect and pride, for themselves and what they do…as well as for the team and the customer.

We slept a few hours and suddenly we are in Vancouver. Going through customs was a breeze…we input our data on the terminal and were given clearance to go. Just need our luggage and our trikes.

A big sigh of relief…our trikes arrived and they look okay. Barry’s fenders are a bit out of alignment, but that should be ok. But what to do about the cat behind me in its cage, still unclaimed.

We are both happy that our trikes look okay and arrived in one piece. So much easier to handle this way instead of in huge boxes.

This was great…he had a skookum ramp which is now folded up and our trikes fit well. We can now relax.

Our taxi van driver who transported us and our trikes from the airport to Tsawwassen. We had a wonderful conversation with him.

We found a good way to get to Tsawwassen. I had read that the airport worker who directs people near the taxi stand will arrange for a van to come. It arrived in a few minutes and the fare was $55. We will stay at a hotel and take the ferry home to Saltspring Island tomorrow. Unlike tonight’s sailing of over 3 hours and multiple stops, tomorrow is a direct sailing.

In Tsawwassen I went in to a convenience store to get a few things…the floor was filthy, the clerk was uninterested and I left feeling sad that our country has much to do to try to regain this sense of pride and generosity in one’s job that we enjoyed in Japan. I recalled the busy productive environment of Japanese Convenience Stores where workers were keeping the shop tidy, taking care of customers, greeting all who enter and leave…were generally engaged in their job and service to their customers. Feeling jet lagged and with a huge sense of counter-culture shock, I didn’t buy anything and took refuge in our room. Sleep seems like a better option. I felt impaired wandering in the real world. Too much too soon.

It was a good decision to stay in Tsawwassen. The price was better, we had a spacious, very quiet suite with breakfastincluded. We are positioned nicely to get to the ferry for 2:45. We hung out in the lobby and the staff not only let us store our trikes in their office, they brought us Dilly Bars from their freezer to make our wait more enjoyable. Coast Tsawwassen Inn….highly recommended.

Almost home. We can see Saltspring Island and we look forward to seeing our friends, Leslie and Chris, at the dock as they have kindly offered to get us and our trikes home. Arigato!!

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Comment on this entry	Comment	11

Rich FrasierWhat an amazing trip! I've learned so much about Japan from you - it's been eye-opening. And I'll say again that I love your upbeat approach to bike touring. I know there were some tough days in there, but you stayed positive and really had a great experience. Thanks so much for keeping this journal!!
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9 months ago

Barry BartlettTo Rich FrasierHi
Your appreciative comment means a great deal to us.
You summed up our experience very well as it was indeed at times tough, yet always extraordinary. As fellow cyclists we know these times. We hope to return to Japan in the fall.
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9 months ago

Susan JamesThis was a wonder read! My husband and I are going to Hokkaido in about 10 days with our foldable Bike Fridays and I really enjoyed reading about your experience there! Thank you for taking us along.
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9 months ago

Barry BartlettI hope you have a wonderful time. I envy you the ease of travel with Bike Fridays. We love our trikes but they have a bigger footprint. Will you be writing a journal? If not, I’d love to hear how it goes. Take care, enjoy and do try the ice cream!
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9 months ago

Susan JamesTo Barry BartlettWell, we're back from our Hokkaido trip. We were surprised at how hot it was (80s and humid) but we were blessed with no rain the whole time we were riding. We had soft serve everyday; it was incredible. I would not recommend riding the coastal roads up to Wakkanai as it was really crowded with cars and as courteous as the drivers were, we still had some close calls. We took relief by going inland one time and it was devoid of cars and beautiful but there was a lot of climbing. So hills with no cars or flats with cars were our options. Thanks again for your great tips!
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8 months ago

Bruce WatsonTo Barry BartlettThanks for the detailed log entries. I have enjoyed reading them. I hope to do the Shikoku Henro (Pilgrimage) by trike next spring. It looks like you were riding TriFly 20 bikes. I have been looking at them as well. How were they set up? What motor / gear set-up did you use? How about the panniers? Thanks again.
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7 months ago

Barry BartlettTo Bruce WatsonWe are happy that you enjoyed our journal. Japan is an amazing country for cycle touring. We just booked another trip to Japan. This time we are going for two months, from late October to late December. Our focus this trip will be Shikoku and Kyushu.
We love our Azub Ti-Fly 2o's. The smaller wheels means a smaller fold-great for flying, etc. We have a Shimano Steps 6100 motor with the largest battery that Shimano makes...excellent range. We have always ridden with Arkel panniers. They are made in Canada. Unfortunately, my panniers (RT-60) that are designed for recumbents are no longer made by Arkel. Mary Ellen has Arkel GT-42. She loves them. You do need rain covers for these panniers.
If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Have a great trip!!!
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7 months ago

Kelly IniguezI"ve come to your journal late. Thank you for including all of the details that newbies need to know - like registering your prescriptions and showing your passport to not pay sales tax.

I was especially interested in how you fared with trikes, as a LWB Stratus rider. I have a friend who gave up this year on plastic wrapping her diamond frame bike for travel to/from Europe. Even though she carried the airline's written policy on plastic wrapped bikes, the hassle finally became too much. She is in Germany as we speak, flew United (didn't have to pay their new $200. bike fee), but also had her bike in a box. She prefers the plastic wrap, and thinks the airlines always handle her bike carefully because they can see what it is. But . . . .

Thank you for the excellent journal, with all of the details and the photos!
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7 months ago

Barry BartlettTo Kelly IniguezThanks for your nice comments. We are leaving October 20 for another two or three months of cycling in Japan.
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6 months ago

Bruce WatsonTo Barry BartlettI am planning to cycle the Shikoku Henro (88 Buddhist Temple Pilgimage) next fall (2024). From what I can gather, the Japanese authorities are pretty strict on e-bike motors, with a max power of 250W. Beyond that they are considered motorcycles. Did you find this to be any problem? Also batteries. I cannot find any way to ship my own e-bike battery, they seem to be much bigger than regulations allow. Is that why you had HC-Works doing a battery for you? I am assuming that I will have to buy a battery in Japan and leave it there when I return home. My plan is to study Japanese in Osaka for 3 months, mainly because of HC works, then return home for a few months and then go back for the Henro. I am interested in the logistics of getting your trike to Japan and managing betteries and registration. Thanks! And enjoy your current trip!
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5 months ago

Barry BartlettTo Bruce WatsonHi Bruce,
Shipping your own battery is possible. However , there is a lot of red tape and it can be quite expensive.
We have never been questioned about the size of the motor. Yoshi did say that anything over 250 watts is not legal. Grin technologies, from Vancouver used to sell batteries that you could legally fly with. They are called Ligo batteries . Each battery is below the legal 100w/h . You stack them together to form the size of battery you want. (36 volt motors only).
On All Nippon Airwys you are given 100 lbs of baggage allowance . However, each piece of baggage has to be no more than 50lbs. The first trip we shipped our trikes in very large e-bike boxes. The trikes were totally dismantled to fit in the boxes. We were not charged for overweight baggage, even though we we clearly overweight. Twice now we have folded the trikes and didn’t use a box. We were both charged $200 for our trikes. You could say that your trike is a mobility device and perhaps you won’t be charged. The Japanese authorities have never requested any registration for our trikes or the batteries.
Cheers,
Barry
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5 months ago