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Beyond Exercise: How Cycling Can Deepen Your Connection with Japan
Cycling has brought me closer to the people and places of the Kanto Plain, revealing sights, sounds, and encounters that I would have never otherwise experienced.
I’ve been cycling for as long as I can remember — ever since I earned my first scabs and scars as a young daredevil during the 1980s. The past 14.5 years in Japan have been no exception (minus most of the daredevil behavior).
During my early years in Japan, cycling was simply a convenient way to get around my corner of Tokyo while getting a little exercise in the process. However, over the years, as I piled on the kilometers and covered more and more of the city, I realized that there was a greater meaning to my riding ritual. Jaunts around town have evolved into two-wheeled adventures that have taken me as far as Mt. Fuji. Cycling has brought me closer to the people and places of the Kanto Plain, revealing sights, sounds, and encounters that I would have never otherwise experienced.
