{"id":17437,"date":"2024-05-10T06:54:50","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T10:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sunflowerit.ca\/travel\/auto-draft\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T22:45:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T02:45:18","slug":"japan-a-neighboring-country-with-some-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sunflowerit.ca\/travel\/cycling-travels\/cycling-asia\/south-korea-japan-2024\/japan-a-neighboring-country-with-some-differences\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan: a neighboring country with some differences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shortly after leaving our ferry from South Korean, we started noticing differences in these neighboring countries. Beyond food differences, we realized that both the cycling infrastructure and cycling culture in Japan were not as developed as in SK. As a plus, we felt Japanese drivers were much more courteous than in SK. We saw a lot more couples with children as opposed to folks in SK pampering their dogs. Credit cards are not as widely accepted as in SK. Only to name a few differences…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this first segment in Japan, we started cycling from the island of Kyushu \u2013 the third largest of the four main islands and second the most populous. After a few cycling days, we crossed (via an under river pedestrian tunnel) to the island of Honshu \u2013 the largest and the most populous island, with the capital Tokyo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

2024.05.02 – [KR] Busan ==> Carmella Line Fery (4 kms | Total: 936 kms)<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

We enjoyed our last hotel breakfast in South Korea as it also happened to be the best breakfast offering from our entire stay in the country. Yesterday, we opted to purchase a late check-out until 2:00pm as the ferry company’s service counter only opened at 4:30pm. After loading the tandem, we cycled towards a money exchange office in China town to convert our remaining South Korean Wons into Japanese Yens. We also purchased some food staples for our evening meal on the ferry. We still managed to arrive at the Ferry terminal by 3:00pm. We learned that today’s ferry sailing still had 1st class room available – unlike their website saying these were all sold-out. As the check-in counter opened, more guests started to show up including a few cyclists. It was interesting to go through the security screening process with the tandem. Once we got to the ferry waiting lounge, there were over 8 cyclists who had gathered to exchange their stories. The real heroes of the group was a young French couple (Bertrand and Marion) who had started from France and had been cycling for the past 17 months<\/a>. Our 1st class bunk-bed cabin was compact but comfortable. Its small size was kind of a reminder of what to expect in room sizes in Japan. As there were no showers on-board, I visited the ferry’s onsen public baths. The ferry departed the port of Busan at 10:30pm.<\/p>\n\n\n