Almost the end of March and it’s still a little cold at dusk. Thirty minutes before sundown on a windless day with my hands starting to freeze I powered up the drone and engaged (don’t you love that word 🙂 ) the camera mode.
When I first purchase the drone I envisioned myself videoing the Japanese countryside with its acclaimed, for the price the 4K camera, now all I want to shoot is still photos with it… Oh! how I get things wrong.
Introducing the Anafi drone from the French company parrot. She’s compact and has a great camera, but lacks obstacle avoidance sensors… do I need those? Only time will tell.
As a proficient drone pilot with two hours of flight time under my belt 🙂 I felt it was time for a challenge because we all love a challenge, don’t we…
Sumoto castle has been a favourite of mine since moving here all those many years ago. My Showa era apartment, with its Japanese style toilet Washiki Benjo 和式便所, cold water only bathroom and head-banging brain cell losing door frames was and still is located at the base of Mt.Mikuma the mountain, which is really a hill 🙂
After work on many occasion, I would make my way up the gruelling when drunk path to view the city light nights below, alas the view from the castle was mediocre, trees had taken root and were obscuring the city view…boo…
Fast forward twenty years. The city must have scored a ton of cash from somewhere, They had decided to clean up the castle. A new public toilet was built, and trees on the East side were cut down to make sweet as picnic area. Trees on the North side were also mowed down, thus exposing the amazing once hidden stone foundations.
Droning at the present time is allowed around the castle, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (国土地理院) has an online map to show you restricted places to drone. Any area not in red is fine as long as you follow the Japanese drone rules and laws.
Droning and taking time lapses of the castle, Hell even just more photos? It’s only a stone’s throw away. Funny how we fail to see what is in front of us.
And it t
After riding my Honda PCX150 into the ground, I finally needed a new two-wheeled companion for the new year.
About six months ago I made a list of possible motorbikes/scooters which fit the way I ride and ended up with five bikes on that list, I’m not a sports bike person, so hardcore petrol heads are going to cringe a bit.
I hummed and hawed for the good part of those months and broke my touring needs up into a few groups.
The Super Cub and the NC750S failed here. My criteria, enough space for clothes for two days, onsen kit, summer sleeping bag and bivy sack.
Simply 350km per fill up, because I mainly spend Sundays travelling around the Island of Shikoku with many a gasoline station close on that day of fun.
The X-MAX, NC750 and Forza all easily hit 400km. The cub and the PCX come around in at 300km.
Yeah, seriously… only the PCX and the NC750S can do this, the X-MAX requires an optional part. Not sure what Honda’s R&D was thinking when they designed the Forza cockpit.
Japan requires an engine capacity of 126cc to ride on the highways, and since I live on Awaji Island, to leave the island, I need a motorcycle legally capable of using those highways. Granted if I wanted to go north, Awaji island does have a ferry service for bikes with an engine capacity of 125cc and under, but this then ties me to boat schedules which is something I want to avoid when getting off and on the island.
The PCX150 can ride the highways; it’s just not good at doing it.
Judging from real-world user blogs, the Yamaha X-MAX rides in at 32km/l (72mpg) compared to my old PCX150 38km/l (90mpg). The Forza is apparently around the same as the X-MAX and the NC750S chimes in around 30km/l (70mpg). The Super cubs’ mileage is off the charts, doubling any of the above.
Weekends usually involve beekeeping, which eats my weekends and leaving me with just scraps to tour on, thus, for now, sits the Honda Super Cub on the bench as a touring bike which is sad because even though it scored the lowest marks on my check-sheet, this, in my opinion, is the ultimate tourer for Japan.
Ride Slower, See More
The Yamaha X-MAX checked all the boxes, and after riding her for two months, I must say. I am most pleased with the choice I have made.
Ride on…..
At almost 4km long, surviving a 7.2 magnitude earthquake before the competition the Akashi Bridge is currently the longest suspension bridge in the world.
This tour runs between April and November, the trip is 2 hours long, Twenty minutes of those up top and costs 3000 yen for adults and 1500 yen for children. There are some conditions so please check their website.
You need to book in advancd and since the tour is weather reliant remember to have a backup plan.
Japan’s most dangerous festival
YOUは何しに日本へ？
Landlocked Gifu prefecture is well known for insect delicacies from soy sauce boiled locusts to the more evil hornet larvae.
Held every year on Culture day (文化の日 Bunka no Hi) the 3rd of November in the small mountain city of Ena this festival attracts over 100 hornet-keepers who bring their boxed hornet nests to be weighed and sold to the public. On TV it’s plugged as Japan’s Most Dangerous Festival（日本一危険祭り Nihon Ichi Kiken Matsuri）, The chances of getting stung are fairly high (as I did) , But in reality it’s not that dangerous unless you are allergic to bees.
The festival starts at 10:00 and runs for around three hours. Festival food like venison and wild boar sausages, sticky rice goheibo mochi on a flat stick and dipped in an adult black hornet sauce are available if you get hungry and can endure the forty minute wait.
If you are a beekeeper or have no problem with little flying insects buzzing around your head, I highly recommend this festival. Just remember to bring your beekeeper’s suit if you want to go in the hornet tent. If you have asthma or hate smoke, don’t even think about the tent, the smoke bombs used are rather obnoxious.
Campgrounds and a hot spring (Onsen) are located nearby if you want to rough it. The Onsen was 600 yen and a refreshing break from the buzzing black hornets.
The night before I decided to stay on the outskirts of Toyota city at a reasonably priced hotel and take a sixty-minute drive to the festival in the morning.
Five years, 67,000km and my first scooter and all I can say is Thank you. I rode you into the ground, I mistreated you and punished you severely, and you kept on giving.
But honestly, The PCX is a great machine. I had almost no issues with her, and the ones I did have were user made… like crashing into a ditch and crapping out on ice… And more than once I might add.
I travelled the island of Shikoku and many places in Kansai. Although I feel this scooter is to small for travelling long distances with someone who has little free time on their hands like me. Those times where I did have ample time for long rides I found the PCX comfortable and easy to park are tourist spots because of the small footprint.
Last year my friend’s beehives were ravaged by hornets, so whenever I have the chance I like to check on them for him during hornet season.
Now, This year’s weather has been pretty much disastrous (lucky us) for the hornets on Awaji Island, torrential rain in spring to hinder the nest building followed by a couple of huge typhoons in late summer which drove the final nail into the coffin for the underground dwelling species. As for the hornets who build up high and dry, well…. Even that practice was no match against the tree uprooting wind and the bucket loads of endless rain
Equipment used
Hard
Soft
Golden Week 2018 consisted of me camping out, catching swarms and playing with my
Last year around April the owner of the land my Ayuya apiary lives on decided to kick me off her land. What sucks sorry disappoints me the most is the time I lost developing the apiary, money aside I probably lost close to 1,000 hours of work over three years and only got to harvest one hive.
In 2016 I was lucky enough to overwinter six hives which were due to be harvested the early summer of 2017, But because I was kicked out I needed to move them to a new apiary. Sadly three of the hives did not take to the new area, and two were stolen, yes stolen – seriously! – from the new location.
CLEANING UP! What a BITCH! The job of cleaning up that is, not the land owner 🙂
Man I am lucky to have a fellow beekeeper friend who has a excavator.
