A ride over Shikoku's Karst region with a passenger.

[Guest dmizer]

Here's a brief, also unedited and raw, helmet cam video of me riding over Shikoku's karst region. Pay no mind to the goofy helmet chat.
 

[wessie]

Nice road. Is there a section of Alpine-like hairpin bends to climb through to get to that plateau?
 
 

[crosshairs]

Nice roads..looks like it was fun

[Guest dmizer]

Nice road. Is there a section of Alpine-like hairpin bends to climb through to get to that plateau? 

HA! You're asking that in jest, right?
 
But just in case you're serious, you mean like this?

 
Really fun road coming down from there after my video cut off too. The unfortunate thing here is that there's just too much good road to video all of it.

[pattonme]

I'm *so* jealous. I spent 17 years in Japan and haven't been west of Ohsaka, let alone on an MC.

[Guest dmizer]

I'm *so* jealous. I spent 17 years in Japan and haven't been west of Ohsaka, let alone on an MC.

17 years in Japan without a motorcycle would be torture. It was 7 for me before I got my license. I think the real charm in Japan is exploring the back country and checking into a ryokan in the middle of nowhere, run by an 80 year old pensioner who doesn't have any preconceptions.

[pattonme]

I was 6 years old (my bro 4) when our family did a trip north from Tokyo up the coast, a lap around Hokkaido and back down the other side of Honshu before taking a south leg back to home. Imagine 2 blond (more like white) haired boys with sharp blue eyes wandering around fishing villages and Minshuku that haven't seen foreigners in 200 years if ever, let alone white people. And all I spoke was kindergarten Japanese and my parents not much better. In 1978. To say we were an oddity is an understatement. My bucket list is to go re-run that trip (and the rest of the country) on a bike.

[Guest dmizer]

Kyushu's where it's at for motorcycling. Shikoku is also incredible: http://i.imgur.com/7cU5l4F.jpg
 
Hokkaido and Tohoku are good, but the coast isn't that fun, and that's where all the people live so traffic isn't great. The twisting roads over the mountains in the center of the island are the better route.