On this day 70 years ago, Australia launched a domestic automaking industry at Fishermen’s Bend in Melbourne to produce Holden cars. Not many outside Australia that the Great Southern Land once produced cars, and perhaps even fewer still are aware that Oz exported some models to Japan. These weren’t cars assembled in Australia and shipped to the world’s then second-largest car market (as would happen in the late 1980s and 1990s, notably with the Subaru Outback). They were cars made with the intent of attracting Japanese consumers. Ironically, one of the cars marketed was the Mazda Roadpacer, a car slightly…
Winter is coming to the Kanto Plain, but 2019 still has a final flourish of beauty before the bleakness. A stroll around the Aoyama/Omotesando areas produced some late-autumn gems. Autumn 2019 has been a mixed bag in terms of weather. Terrible typhoons wreaked havoc on many areas in the Kanto region, but there have also been many delightfully sunny days. Kogarashi ichigo is the term used to describe the first north wind exceeding 32 kmph in a season and is a general indicator for the onset of winter. Winds have picked up this week, but not enough to qualify as…
Having completed about two-thirds of a circumnavigation of Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake, the final day was supposed to be an easy jaunt to the train station and a comfortable ride home to Tokyo for the Kangaeroo crew. “Ha, ha,” laughed the devil. On paper, the last leg of the Biwaichi circumnavigation was a mere 60 kilometers on a flat course, nearly all of which was isolated bike tracks. For the first hour, that was precisely what Kanageroo and the missus got as they headed out of Seta and off toward Hikone. The bitter taste of a terrible time at…
Fatigue, muscle soreness and endurance were going to be the order of the day on the Kangaeroo crew’s second leg of Biwaichi, the circumnavigation of Biwa, Japan’s largest lake. Mrs. Kangaeroo had completed the 70-plus kilometer first leg with barely a hint of trouble, but not being used to cycling, it was going to be the second day that presented a big test as it would display her recuperative powers. Typically, she was magnificent! She woke with a huge smile and full of beans, getting into her Kangaeroo.com jersey and racing down to the hotel restaurant for the fancy buffet breakfast.…
Blessed with a long weekend and loads of motivation, Kangaeroo and Mrs. Kangaeroo got out the foldups and built up the resolve to circumnavigate Biwa, Japan’s largest lake. The 235-km shore length is not for the faint-hearted, though plenty make the trip in a single day, courtesy of the almost completely flat course. Nonetheless, it’s a demanding distance for irregular cyclists, so Kangaeroo had cause for concern regarding the missus, who admittedly cycles day, but does so on an e-bike and not an old foldup with no track record of triple-figure journeys. Anyway, putting aside the concerns, Mrs. Kangaeroo remained…