hey, it’s a learning opportunity, not doomscrolling, doomscrolling would be if you didn’t get challenged in any way by it and you still kept on being stuck in the same thinking tracks ^^
with 35mm lens and a cropped sensor you’re getting something similar to >50mm, so it’s hARD NOT TO, I have to hold my hand directly straight ahead of myself when I hold an A4 sheet of paper to be able to get it all into the lens xdddd
But yeah, I really like focusing on the item that I want to draw people’s attention to ^^
I’m not, and here’s a bit of trivia! Both in Tokyo and in Kansai every station of JR has its own stamp right next to the exit so that you can collect unique stamps from everywhere that you go ^^
JR and konbinis also sell those nifty little empty notebooks with train decorations so that you can put a ton of stamps into them ^^
I did it the first two times when I was in Japan (I actually kept forgetting to bring the notebooks with myself most of the time xddd), so this time I just decided to clear my head and not collect them ^^
May 6th, 2026
i’m sorry i didnt mean to burn wanikani down now everyone will have to suffer because of me aaaa
xddd
Life
I’m actually just looking through the pictures for the first time right now ^^
The view out of the Shinkansens is beautiful ^^
For the big part of today I went back to the 18mm-105mm f/3.5-5.6 lens because I was dangling it off my neck and I wanted to take lots of pictures fast ^^
I arrived in a city called 尾道 that is famous for one specific thing, a local tourism thing organized by the city…
瀬戸内しまなみ街道! A very long bike trek that I heard about my a complete accident, but it was on the shinsansen route between 広島 and 大阪, so why not give it a shot? It’s a trip from 本州 to 四国, that I still have never been to, it crosses through many bridges and rural areas, so should be cool, right?
Before I set off, I looked around the city and tried to take a few pics, a big part of the plan of the city is build around BIKE RENTALS EVERYWHERE, but it also has its own identity and cute things as well C:
I LIKE CUTE THINGS xddd
But yeah, eventually I got myself a bike (just after 1pm) and I had a big goal: arrive at the final station in 今治 city by 7pm, before the bike rental station closes down in there ^^
And with almost 6 hours time, it shouldn’t be that bad… But one thing that needs to be kept in mind about the trek… is that it’s 76 kilometers as designed on a line.
So yeah, you jump on an initial ferry that takes you to the beginning of the course…
…and off you go! 76 kilometers, 5.5 hours to go!
The first section of the road felt like it was the weirdest to me, the bike felt really small compared to mine, I forgot to change my skirt into pants before I left my suitcase in a coin locker, so I was worried it’d get tangled in the brakes, but as I kept going, my worries were getting unfounded ^^
Then, after 10km, you arrive at the first bridge. Fun fact, over this ride, only something like 30% of the whole road was actually dedicated secured bike lanes, for the rest, you ride on an asphalt and there’s cars everywhere ^^
Fun fact two, until recently, where in order to boost the tourism they gave up on it, all the bike-only roads and bridges were actually tolled roads, so asphalt: feel free to drive on it, protected bike lane: pay for it ^^
And out of each bridge as you go, there are steep roads down at which you can easily develop speeds of 45km/h, that was really fun, less fun as you climb the bridge though ^^
This is also around when I started getting INCREDIBLE weather, and it kept throughout the rest of the track too ^^
On the second island, I got a little lost and miSSED THE HUGE ASS BRIDGE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, and then I needed to backtrack a few kilometers to make it, but I understood the mechanism behind the bridges after that ^^
The third island was the flattest, and cycling through it felt pretty consistent and smooth, though the dehydration started kicking in and the third island started my intense cravings for stopping at vending machines to get another 600ml of any liquid into my veins xdddd
I had a lot of people wave at me along the way to say hi, and because I had a camera on my neck, they were posing for the photos as I was crossing them by, but I possibly made some of the worst pics of any pose I could think of xddd
Aaand, midpoint! When I saw it, I got really excited, island 3 clear, time to get on the fourth one!
I actually felt like the bridge to the fourth island was SO HARD TO CLIMB, but maybe that was the dehydration I was feeling xddd
At the start of the fourth island, you get to something like a “cyclist sanctuary”, where you can sit down, grab something to eat, take amazing pictures and enjoy the view ^^
And they had booths and stalls too! The German one had a guy who was really curious about me and what I’m doing here, ALONE, WITHOUT ANY FRIENDS, but the guy wasn’t German, even though he looked like one, and only wanted to speak English, even though I was excited for the opportunity to speak German with him xddd
And yeah, at the food stop, I had a Japanese person stop me and ask me questions about languages that I’m learning, I showed him the キミゼロ light novel and tried to read a bit, told him about learning Swedish at the university, knowing how to mostly speak English, German and Polish and he was like “damn”, as he only apparently knew Japanese aaand programming languages xdd
Apparently he was frontend, so we had some topics in common as well, he gave me a postcard with Hiroshima on it and after the cute exchange, I still had ways to go!
By comparison, island 4 felt uneventful, and it was a quick road to island 5 after that ^^
And as soon as I arrived at 大島, the rules changed, protected bike lanes showed up, inclines started being really big and long and I really started feeling as if I’ve gotten a second wind and was pumping my fist in the air as I cycled down really fast C: xddd
The final obstacle was to climb the bridge to 四国, and that one was GIGANTIC as a bridge, and a GIGANTIC incline just before that
…and… I’ve made it?
IVE MADE IT. 4.5 hours of time passed, 4h8m just cycling alone :DDDDD
This was the third longest cycle I’ve ever done (after Ireland midlands at over 100km and Ciechanów to Warsaw at 90km) and one of the most hilly ones (after the Zittau-Czech Sudetes mountains), and it combined all the fun elements of those bike rides. I think the sights were by far the best out of those four (also thanks to the weather!), but I just slightly preferred the Sudetes one because they had dedicated protected bike lanes along the way, rather than riding on the asphalt roads ^^
I was so stupidly happy when I arrived and my legs were still dancing, so I went around 今治 to rest my legs a bit ^^
A lot of restaurants were closed after Golden Week, so it wasn’t easy to find one, but I found one ran by a Japanese person who’s been to Hawaii and been a Hawaiboo xddd
Apparently, despite the weather, today was a meh day for the business, so he was happy to see me, and though in English, as I was dead by then, I still managed to chat with him a bit ^^
AND LOOK HOW TASTY IT LOOKS, 焼き豚卵飯, I’m getting pretty good at taking food pics xddd
Got myself a LOOOOT of food to replace carbs and was slowly eating at it ^^
…and came back to 尾道, not without surprises though, because the bus just put me in pitch black and asked me to find a way back xdd
…but I did, and getting back felt wonderful! What a day C:
My hotel was in 福山, and since my legs have been sore by then, I went for another walk to stretch my legs. Fukuyama is known as a Rose Town, and will have a rose event in two weeks, so there were roses all around the city ^^
Here’s the Fukuyama castle, specifically illuminated for the night at 10pm ^^
And, rose park, in the middle of the city!
I’m glad they’re already in full bloom now, was able to take some really cute pics ^^
And yep, Rose Promenade lives up to its name!
also, damn, that’s a creative gachapon ^^
Today was by far the most active day of the trip, between cycling, walking another 20k, I crossed 5000 calories today and 600 minutes of physical activity and I’ve started really worrying how to replenish it tomorrow, because if I just stuff myself with candy, I’ll probably feel dizzy, but if I try to go for protein, I’ll probably just inflate immediately. I don’t often get this much physical activity and I’m definitely not a nutritionist, so it’ll be a “try-not-to-mess-up-your-body” challenge.

…if anyone had any advice…?
Though, if I’m thinking correctly, I should be having a really fancy dinner tomorrow, tomorrow we’re taking a train to the northern coast of Japan, and who knows what I’ll find there…? Well, I do ^^
See you tomorrow!