Today I rode from Tsuruoka to Yurihonjō.

I rode 90 km, setting off at half past eight in the morning and arriving at half past eight in the evening. Even though I haven't had a chance to write my blog lately, today I wanted to ride as far as I could (while sightseeing, of course). I don't know why, but I wanted to practise speed, and I wanted to do a little experiment too. The experiment was to see how my energy and state of mind would change if I split the ride into intervals and rode each interval's distance as fast as I could. I split it into intervals of 20 km, 20 km, 20 km, 15 km, and 15 km.

The results:

The distance felt shorter I had more time for breaks, and even after riding 90 km I still had time for sightseeing My body was fine, but I got tired, and this way seems to put more strain on it Riding this way was more fun It may have been my fastest so far: a 20 km interval takes roughly an hour to an hour and a half (not exactly fast, but my luggage is seriously heavy!)

Would I do it again?

Definitely. If I need to cover a long distance, I prefer this approach Even so, it puts a strain on me, so I might not be able to keep it up for days on end

In the evening I went to McDonald's, fully charged my phone and power bank, and posted lots of blog entries too. Sometimes I need that kind of environment. Yurihonjō is a bigger town than I expected, but I don't think it's very well known. Even so, there were lots of foreigners in McDonald's. It's really ironic and hypocritical, but I was chewing on my thick beef burger while thinking, "you came all the way to Japan, so why are you in McDonald's?" There were Americans and Brits in the same group, and I thought, what a strange exchange. The Americans were incredibly loud, and I wondered why they're always so loud. A British woman was saying stupid things too, and I thought, no wonder Japanese people sometimes get nervous when they see British and American people.

In Sakata I went to Sannō Club. There was a kasafuku exhibition too, but the entry fee was expensive (it was 800 yen). I was torn over whether to go in or not, but after hesitating for a long time I decided to go in. I thought I might regret it if I didn't. I'm glad I went! It was really interesting.

Sakata's kasafuku is counted as one of Japan's three great hanging decorations, and its main feature is that handcrafted ornaments, each made with a wish, are hung from a canopy formed by stretching a red curtain around the tip of an umbrella.

I thought, those must take a long time to make. Each individual piece was intricate, and the embroidery was fine and detailed. A member of staff also showed me around the private rooms and the tea room. Apparently a famous painter painted a picture of a geisha in that room. Every room was lavish and luxurious. The ground floor was cool and pleasant too. It had a feel that made it easy to relax.

Just as I was thinking there wasn't much distance left and I'd be in Yurihonjō in five minutes, a huge number of insects suddenly appeared. One flew into my eye, I couldn't see a thing, and I nearly came off my bike. From one to a hundred, from a hundred to a thousand, and before I knew it, it was pitch black in front of me with a swarm of insects. I didn't have sunglasses, so I squinted to stop them getting in my eyes and rode through the swarm.

On a tour like this, if you have an "it'll work out" mindset, you can solve any difficulty that comes up. There's no way to properly prepare for things like this, so however much you prepare in advance, I think mindset is the most important thing. Among my friends and family, I'm known for my lack of common sense and my clumsiness. When I told my friends I was going to cycle the length of Japan, they always looked at me with troubled faces. They asked things like "really?" and "will you be okay?", to the point where I started to doubt myself a little. Even so, I knew something back then that they didn't. I hate losing more than anyone, and I have a lot of drive. I'm so confident in my mindset that, in my head, the chance of not being able to do it was zero. Life isn't perfect either, and it's only natural for difficulties to come up, so if you have a goal that matters and a good mindset, it'll work out.

In the mornings the tent is too hot and I can't sleep at all. Normally by the time I wake up at six or seven I'm already covered in sweat. But if I open the tent, I can sleep a bit longer, until 8. Even so, there's one problem: if I open the tent, insects can come in freely. What I've realised recently is that sleep is the top priority. This morning, when I woke up for the second time, I noticed I was sleeping alongside several spiders.

Lately I've been gradually getting used to insects. Before coming to Japan, I knew the insects were worse than in the UK, so I was able to prepare mentally, but I'm still not good with them. But as I wrote before, it'll work out.

Even so, there's just one thing I seriously can't stand, and I may never get used to it. Sometimes when I'm riding, spiders, for some reason I don't understand, build their webs across the pavement, and when I pass through, my whole body gets covered in silk, and it's truly disgusting. Because I'm on a bike, within 0.1 seconds everything around the bike turns into spider web, and sometimes the spider comes along for the ride too and carries on building its web. As a kid I used to say "I got webbed", but in Japan it's many times scarier.

Everyone is probably thinking, "why is he cycling the length of Japan and yet always coming up with thoughts that have nothing to do with it?", but it's because this environment and these experiences make me think about these things.

By the way, sixteen Buddhas have been carved into the coastline. Amazing, right?

Notes on Haruki Murakami:

Every protagonist:

Has some kind of darkness lurking inside Is ridiculously perceptive Thinks they're plain, but has a different way of thinking from other people Tends to get anxious

Convenience stores in the countryside have lots of manga lined up. Maybe it's because there's nothing else to do.