Japan Blog Part 2….The Ride, The Bikes, The Places

Happy New Year! 2013 is finally here, and that means in 10 short months the American International Motorcycle Expo will gather the industry together for the inaugural show that will change the way business is conducted in powersports. The landscape for marketers continues to evolve with new information on the show front, and I’ll devote our next blog to that topic. Before that though, I want to complete the story of our trip to Japan a few months ago. So enjoy the story!

Previously, I wrote of the very special recent vacation I enjoyed with my wife, Stephanie, our son, Shaun, and many friends of Kenny and Tomo Roberts in the southern part of Japan. Part 1 shone a light on the remarkable experiences we shared in Japanese life through our Japanese hosts. In this segment, I’ll relate the time spent together riding motorcycles in Japan.

Generally speaking, our days broke into riding and after-riding segments. As described in Part 1, we were based at a traditional Japanese hot springs hotel, so the day started with a dip in the hot springs, a great breakfast together in the little dining area at the hotel, then into riding gear for the day’s ride. The riding portions were generally exquisite – on near-perfect roads in very rural areas that had great elevation changes as we climbed up roads that ascended the vast flanks of Mt. Aso. As we soon learned, Mt. Aso is the largest caldera basin in the world – at one point, 25 kilometers across, and 120 km in circumference!  Such a place provides a vast geographical area to explore and appreciate. In a way, the topography had a Smoky Mountains meets Cascades vibe to it. Not particularly high mountain ridges, but a fairly wet clime. We also learned that this area of Japan had suffered from torrential rains in the previous month, and many roads were partially closed by water damage, although generally speaking no problem for us, especially on motorcycles.

The roads were great (Look its Shaun in front of us!)

Our motorcycle fleet consisted of a number of borrowed Yamaha’s, thanks to Bob Starr of Yamaha in the U.S. who helped coordinate bikes for KR and the group. Included was everything from a Super Tenere, VMAX, FZ-1, and an FJ- 6. Additional bikes were part of a local rental fleet, most of which were new, and included the Honda CB1300 Bol D’or Special Edition Steph and I rode for the week. Mixed in were a new BMW GS 1200, a couple of XR1200 Harley Davidson’s, and our hosts’ personal Ducati Diavel AMG limited edition, Harley FLR, and a full-dresser Harley. Yes, an eclectic mix, something for everyone!

Stephanie with our ride!

Our son, Shaun, had never really participated in an extensive street ride of this type, with most of his riding experience off-road, or on dual-purpose bikes on the street. Knowing this, we had spent a weekend, one month prior, riding with Kenny up in the Sierra foothills on a true “streetbike” to ensure he was confident about riding in Japan. I will admit that on the first day of riding over there, I felt those nervous pangs every parent feels (and Steph was in the same boat as me) when Shaun saddled up with the group. I’ll also admit that at 27, and living fully on his own with a job in San Francisco’s technology industry, it had been a while since we had the luxury of experiencing those parental pangs! With a choice of bikes, he was fortunate to have a brand new Honda NC700X to ride. Upright seating, nimble, and the perfect mount for the mission. It should really have been no surprise that he did very well on the ride – so much so that we never gave it a second thought after the first day. As KR opined, “if you’ve got the ability, you’ll figure it out and be fine.” Turns out he does, and he did. Maybe there is a motorcycle gene after all…and I suppose KR would know.

Shaun getting ready to ride the Honda NC700X

Riding with Shaun was one of a number of key experiences for us during our time there – feeling the camaraderie of riding with our son, and the greater fullness of life it provided (yes, we should be doing this more often!). Oh, and Shaun had a great time coming to understand the grand dynamics of riding with a group of characters bonded together by “the ride.”

Some of the memorable moments of ‘the ride’ included incredible miles and miles (or kilometres and kilometres) of twisty roads that climbed up one part of the vast volcanic area of Mt. Aso on roads that were in perfect or near-perfect conditions. Most of where we rode was very rural, with a lot of rice paddies. There were a lot of random observations of the ride. First, the vending machines. Not talking your basic Coke machine, but rather a greatly expanded, large machine vending coffee drinks (hot and cold) in a can, as well as various soft drinks, with generally a selection of more than 30 drinks in one machine.  You would see these machines practically anywhere – it was quite common to see them on the side of the road next to a rice paddy, with nothing else around. Amazing to the Americans, as we naturally expected they would have been vandalized in America if left in such remote locations. It really was quite a cultural comment on the respectfulness of the Japanese people.

Another oddity was the agricultural burns. It was like growing up in the countryside back in the 70’s before EPA. The sights of smoke and smell of burning leaves reminded me of being a kid back in upstate New York. It was a great reminder that the sense of smell is always heightened while riding. Totally unrelated was the conundrum of the scooters in the cities. It seemed the scooters had assumed the persona of a Harley in Japan, especially the feet-forward maxi-scooters. A large number of them were running considerably louder than stock aftermarket pipes. The riders had jackets with nonsensical sayings/wording on them. The most mysterious of all that we saw was a scooter rider in Tokyo with a jacket proclaiming ‘Vegamite Lupus’ on the back. Shaun googled it, and it might possibly have had a connection to a soccer team. Strange to us Americans, nonetheless.

One of the many interesting jackets we saw while riding.

Day one’s ride was the longest, primarily because our lunch stop was planned at a very special place in the mountains. Just like anywhere else, much of the ride is about where we would be eating lunch! A relative of Michio San’s has a very unique restaurant on a river where he raises pheasants, and we were treated to pheasant sashimi and sushi, as well as cooking some on small table barbeques. Some of it was very good, and some of it was, well, better cooked, but it was very, very fresh!

All the lunch stops we were taken to were very unique…and tested our threshold for new delicacies.

Because it took longer than expected to ride to lunch, we were a bit behind in our schedule, and on the way back elected to take the toll road/expressway back to shorten the time. About half-way to lunch, Steph and I discovered that while the CB1300 was a fine mount for the two of us from a power and handling perspective, the seat was a 90 minute seat, at best. It was not as noticeable on the twisties, when you could move around, but not a good scenario on the tollway.  The tollway was quite a feat of engineering as it covered the region of rolling hills and smaller mountain ranges with great bridges and tunnels. There was one tunnel that I began to wonder if we were ever going to come out of, as it probably was a good 5 miles long. With a numb butt and no light at the end of the tunnel, I’m sure it felt much longer than it actually was! We couldn’t get to the beer and hot springs quick enough at the end of that day’s ride.

Riding two-up with Steph was fun because we shared our observations of the characters in the group as we rode along. You would have thought that one world champion on the ride would suffice, but no, we had two. Tetsuya Harada, multi-time 250 champion was also along, and  we couldn’t have asked for a better guy to have on the ride. Totally unassuming on and off the bike, no agenda, and ever helpful. What cracked us up was he would happily swap bikes in the group, and when he ended up on the Diavel or an XR1200 it gave us a smile to see this 5′ 5″ guy in his open face Arai smiling and looking like he couldn’t be having any more fun! On one weekend day when there were a lot of bikes on the road, we stopped at a popular roadside destination for bikes, and while we were hanging out looking at bikes, a guy rides up on a 250 Aprilia Harada world championship replica! The owner could hardly believe it when Tetsuya walked over to check it out!! Lots of photos ensued, and the lucky owner got his tank signed, not just by Harada-san, but also by Kenny.

Tetsuya Harada makes one fan very happy.

On the day that we rode to the active area of the volcano, we were disappointed that we couldn’t go all the way to the top because it was releasing noxious gases. We decided to wait a bit to see if they would subside and the road to the top would open. While hanging out, Kenny, who does better at going than waiting, sat down next to the path to the souvenir store with his helmet out, upturned as if looking for donations saying ‘Will wheelie for food!’ Pretty quickly Harada-san joined in, and in short order a nice Japanese man recognizing their antics dropped a couple snacks in each helmet!! A small but representative moment of the kind of fun and entertainment we enjoyed all trip long.

“Will wheelie for food”

One of the many scenic stops on the way to Mt. Aso. (Photo courtesy of Syuichi Sakamoto)

One of our days was spent riding to the southeastern seaboard city of Oita. Yamaha had organized an autograph session for Kenny that benefitted a charity there. Autograph donations were collected for tsunami victims, who we learned were, in many areas, still suffering quite a bit. Entire towns were wiped out, and the greatest emotional fear of the victims is that the world has forgotten them. We actually learned this from an American woman, Anya Miller, who has spent over a year volunteering up north in the area of the city of Rikuzentakata, in the Iwate prefecture and provided first hand accounts of what it’s like. When we got home to America, Steph made up a sign that said ‘Rikuzentakata You Are Not Forgotten’. She brought it to a variety of social gatherings, got a group around the sign for a photo, and pasted it on Facebook, also sending to Amya. We’ve heard back from Amya that it meant a lot to the victims in Rikuzentakata. Anyone can do it, so why not start something in your neighborhood!

Kenny Roberts signs autographs for fans that made donations to a charity benefiting the tsunami

Other riders who joined us included Jerry and Lynn Bartlett, long time (and now retired) industry folk who spend many days a year in the saddle of their respective motorcycles; Tyson and Melissa Silva, Kenny’s stepson and wife; Tom Seymour of Saddlemen, purveyors of some mighty fine seats and perennial dirt-track sponsor; Gary Nakashima of the Nakashima Golf company, a Stockton-based manufacture of high end custom clubs; Stuart Morita, college buddy of Gary’s, and of course the previously mentioned music men, John Corbett and Mike McGill.

Mike (left) and John (right) helped to ensure we were always having a good time.

We were also fortunate to have a couple of very solid Japanese host riders shepherd us around for our time on the bikes. Syuichi Sakamoto and Tomomi Nakamura on their Multi Strada and GSX-750R respectively paced the group perfectly, and when a few of us wanted to occasionally be a bit more entertained, they picked up the pace, enjoying it all as much as we did. Also inspiring was Nobuko Kunii, young wife of Masami Kunii. She had recently earned her 250cc motorcycle license, and was still getting acclimated to a street environment from the riding school environment. She rode her CBR250R with us most days, including our more than 300 km day. If she wasn’t riding with us she was at riding school working on her big bike license! Also along as a key organizer of the trip was Hatsumi Tsukamoto, close friend of Tomo, and PR pro to MotoGP, WSBK, and Japanese Superbike teams. That gal really can make stuff happen!! She rode backseat everyday, and got to be inspired by Jerry’s manhandling of the Harley dresser as he kept pace with the rest of the group on their much more corner-friendly machines.

Nobuko Kunii and her Honda CBR250R!

The generosity of Michio Kanamaru who organized much of our activities, donated use of his bikes, and opened up his Aso Riders Base for us, cannot be overstated. He spent every day but one riding with us, and we’re looking forward to returning his generosity when he and a number of his crew come to visit in Sturgis next year. Most touching was on our last day of riding, a Sunday, when he held a fundraiser at the Aso Riders Base, with Kenny and Tetsuya providing autographs for donations to the tsunami victims. Michio also very warmly and graciously recognized the recent passing of John Corbett’s mother. Everyone was given a wrap of black duct tape around their arm as a sign of mourning, and Michio spoke to the large crowd in Japanese prayer that ended with a minute of silence, that was, well, not totally silent. The moment of silence was marked by the continual beeeeeeeeppppp…. of a solitary motorcycle horn- for the whole minute. John was touched by the genuine outpouring of the fellow motorcyclists assembled, and we learned another Japanese custom. This last day of riding meant our time in Japan was coming to a close. We departed the next day with Michio-san assembling all of his crew for one last gathering in a lounge at the Kumamoto airport. After final laughs and stories, we bid farewell and headed out to the gate, looking forward to seeing each other soon again next year in Sturgis.

Michio (center) recognized the passing of John’s mother with a Japanese prayer and a moment of silence

As I said at the start of Part 1, this was a time spent growing together as people bound together by the experience of riding motorcycles, but becoming so much more. The memories I took away will be forever with me. The area of Kumamoto/Mt. Aso is incredibly beautiful. Riding as a family with Shaun was very special- as was the enjoyment of his headfirst dive into Japanese culture/lifestyle, and the omnipresent thread of music with John and Mike. The night of the Kimonos, the great food, and all those fantastic roads….and a whole lot more. While it’s always good to head home, we miss the good people and shared experiences in Kumamoto with Kenny and Tomo and the gang. As we were leaving to board our flights, Tom Seymour and I marvelled at the time spent together. We both agreed that we had truly ‘lived life’ in the past week, with a fullness not often enjoyed. Since KR will hold next year’s ride in such close proximity of the launch of the AIMExpo, I’m going to have to start working on him to change the dates, otherwise Steph might be visiting Japan again without me!!

Group shot!

The Japan Adventure – Part 1- Appreciating Japanese Culture…

It was in the works for some time – a recent vacation I made to Japan with my wife, Stephanie, and our son, Shaun, to join friends, both old and new, for an immersion in Japanese culture. And, oh yes, to ride motorcycles! While on the calendar for many months, it was still not easy to pull away from the many activities involved with the steps that are building toward the AIMExpo launch in just under a year, but ultimately, it proved to be a trip of a lifetime.  In part one of a two-part blog, I’ll relate more about the discoveries surrounding Japanese life, with part two sharing the wonderful roads and experiences of riding over there.

Statue of Hachi at Shibuya train station. Hachiko was his full name, an Akita who’s story is legend from the 1920’s and inspired both Japanese and American film versions of his story.

(See the video about Hachi here)

Organized by long-time friend Kenny Roberts and his wife Tomo, the trip assembled friends of KR’s who have ridden with him in Sturgis over the years, as well as some of his friends from Central California. For the past three years, they’ve traveled to the Kumamoto prefecture, a very beautiful part of Japan in the south where Tomo is from, and ride the countryside in the area of the volcano Mount Aso. Each year the ride assembles in early October, and given the timing, I figured that if I was ever going to go, this had to be the year. Next year during this time I’m going to be pretty busy, knee-deep in launching the inaugural AIMExpo!

The train station scene in Tokyo

We made a stop at the famous Tokyo Hands dept store where I had first visited back in the 90’s with the late great Dirk Vandenberg. They have EVERYTHING from silly costumes to titanium tools.

A look out our hotel room in the Yebisu area of Tokyo, next to Shibuya. On one clear morning we saw Mt. Fuji in the distance!

After spending a couple days in Tokyo with Kenny and Tomo, we headed south to meet up with the rest of the group in Kumamoto. About a dozen Americans in total made the trip over, and we were joined by some wonderful Japanese friends, some of whom we had previously met in Sturgis. I should note that this was Shaun’s first time to Japan, and we would come to particularly enjoy his great enthusiasm to understand and participate in the Japanese customs and culture.

The food in Japan is quite yummy – as our son Shaun indicates at a great little BBQ place. What’s not to like about Kobe beef!! Kenny and Tomo concur.

Tomo and our Japanese hosts had organized a myriad of activities, with an eye towards great riding and appreciating various aspects of Japanese life. We were in the Kumamoto area for eight days, and it was a very special time spent growing together as a group, both American and Japanese. In retrospect, the trip was a certain dichotomy of familiar and unfamiliar. It was the familiarity of riding, but riding in a vastly different place with greatly differing norms – starting with riding on the “wrong” side of the road!  It also had the familiarity of spending time together, like at Sturgis, but in a far different environment, not to mention the amazing difference in the food!

An appetizer one night. Quite comical, unless you’re the fish!! Salt cured, it was yummy…

As part of our appreciation of Japanese culture, we stayed at a traditional Japanese hot springs hotel out in the country. While it meant sleeping on traditional mats on the floor (very comfortable, by the way), more than anything it meant having the hot springs spa to relax in after a good day’s ride. The natural hot springs presented not only soothing minerals for the  body, they also provided a great social gathering spot. The springs facilities were segregated, not co-ed, and many great conversations were had about riding, bikes, and all manner of manly topics, at least in the men’s spa. Oh, and what took perhaps a day to get used to was that the spa area was also the shower area, as our room had only a sink and toilet. The showers and spa were communal, and, shall I say, au natural… That in and of itself provided entertaining conversation amongst the whole group in the bar!!

The sushi-fest at the Karaoke club. Great food, great singing, and a great start to our time together.

Trips like these always seem to find some sort of common theme that is a thread running through the entire experience, and for this trip it was music, particularly live music. It all started out on the first night with dinner at a karaoke bar that was a private party for our group.  As part of the group’s “hazing” ritual for first timers, Steph, the rookie American woman, was called up to have the song “Only You” performed personally for her by a local Japanese guy with a superb voice! His rendition of the song was simply amazing.  As part of the local host group, he was around every night, and we managed to get him to sing it live, without Karaoke, every night! Not surprisingly, he became known as the ‘Only You Guy’. Shaun was heckled until he got up and sang a somewhat passable Karaoke version of “Hotel California.” Not sure the singing gene got passed on to the boy…but you had to admire his effort!

Shaun the warrior at Kumamoto Castle. You forget your son’s an adult and enjoy his childish nature- reminds you of the time spent together growing up..

Shaun notwithstanding, it turned out that the American contingent was stacked with some outstanding talent! Long time rider and actor John Corbett, the DJ in the TV series Northern Exposure and maybe more notably a regular on Sex in the City, is a fantastic musician just about to release his second album, and his brother-in-law, Mike McGill, is a very talented guitar player as well as a superb riding talent. They inspired us nightly with acoustic guitars loaned to us by a local luthier (guitar craftsman). To add icing on the cake, we spent one night at a Japanese country-western biker bar with a live country band, accompanied by line dancing from the locals. Don’t be fooled, these line dancers were amazing. John and Mike managed to join in with the band for some songs that everybody knew, and it turned out that one of the songs sung that night had a pretty special meaning.

The Okie From Muskogee return engagement on our last nite at Charlie’s Bar in Kumamoto with Corbett, Roberts and a hidden McGill. Who knew KR could play guitar? He can’t, but he makes it look good.

When Kenny was tearing up the tracks in Europe on the way to three world championships, there was a ritual that developed within the team, especially between Yamaha team engineer Mike-san and KR. Roberts, self-described “hick from Modesto,” always enjoyed country music, and one of his favorite songs was Okie From Muscogee. So back in the racing days, as a salute to Kenny, Mike-san would play the song when he won a race, in what I’m sure was great irreverence to the old guard in GP at the time.

There was a bit of a golf tournament one day with KR, Michio, Tyson, myself and a number of the local crew. Turns out The Victory wasn’t his Thing that day when yours truly brought home the win.

These days, Mike-san is the importer of MV Agusta in Japan, and he joined us for this one evening at the Strong Boss Saloon, as it is known. A bit older with some health challenges, it was a special, heart-tugging moment when he joined Kenny on stage as John and Mike sang Okie From Muscogee, commemorating the bond that has tied them together over many years from the GP paddock. It should be noted that it was a rather stellar debut of KR’s singing career, met with lots of tears and laughter at the same time throughout the Saloon.

Steph with Taminori Iwao, the Governor of the Oita prefecture. He’s a big country music fan and joined us at the Strong Boss for country music night.

Early on, I mentioned our Japanese hosts. Leading the local group is a successful businessman, Michio-san, who coordinated bikes, ride leaders, dinners, and most significantly, a sharing of Japanese culture. A native of the Kumamoto area, he hopes that by hosting American riders on Kenny’s ride, we might shine a light on the Kumamoto area as a desirable place to visit and go riding. A short 1 1/2 hour flight from Tokyo, he is working to create interest among Japanese riders as well. He’s built a combination garage space and sleeping space known as “ASO Rider’s Base”. It’s basically a club that can be joined to store riding gear and motorcycles at for out-of-towners. Fly down from Tokyo, go riding!

Me, Shaun and Steph at Aso Riders Base.

As part of the cultural sharing, one night at dinner there was a bit of intrigue. We went to a traditional Japanese restaurant, with seating on the floor, and soon after we got there, the American women on the trip, Steph, Lynn Bartlett, and Melissa Silva, disappeared from the room. After an hour of them missing, we knew something special was likely afoot. (Although, it should be pointed out that it didn’t slow any of us down in enjoying the local food and grog…) After yet another hour, the ladies finally reappeared, resplendent in Japanese Kimono’s and traditional lantern head dresses. Stunning was the word for how beautiful the ladies were.  They had even been coached to do a bit of traditional dance for us!

The girls on Kimono night after 2 hours of dressing and a short dance. The traditional lantern headdresses are made out of paper.

The woman who coached them, and helped them dress in the Kimonos, was a 91 year-old woman with a vast traditional wardrobe. Her story is very heart-warming. As a young woman she endured World War II, and because of that experience, she holds a great desire to show and create friendship with Americans through the sharing of this part of Japanese culture. As a special part of that friendship, she asked each of the women if they would keep their Kimono as a sign of friendship. Of the many special experiences on the trip, this was especially touching, a true hand of friendship being extended, and quite emotional for the ladies, as well as everyone in the room that night.

Turns out that the Only You Guy owns one of only two traditional artisan fan making shops in Japan. The long-established construction techniques allow the fans to last 75 years or more, and are ornately decorated.

All in all, we were privileged in so many ways to live and touch a large variety of Japanese life and culture through our fabulous hosts.  In so many ways, one’s faith in humanity is recharged, and all because of a common bond established though the goodness of riding motorcycles together.  Stay tuned for Part 2 where we go riding…

The scene on ride mornings with our eclectic selection of steeds, from V-Max to Super Tenere to CBR 250R and lots more.

The Camaraderie of the Ride

One of the many joys of the motorcycle industry is getting the opportunity to ride with others in the business, spending time together in the activity that brought the majority of us here in the first place. I got to take advantage of this just last weekend.

Many of you know I spent nearly 30 great years with Cycle World Magazine. When you work at CW, there is one event every year that you look forward to – the Cycle World Trek. Even though I have transitioned from host to guest, I was still really looking forward to the opportunity to ride and mingle with an array of industry folks.

My last Trek was in 2009, which made me even more eager to make it out to the annual event. A two-Trek absence might not sound like much, but I had been on every Trek since 1982 (and I have a collection of Trek shirts to prove it!). While there’s a lot of Trek history (as a lot of folks have gone on this ride over the years to create that history), the brief chronology is this:

In 1975, founding publisher Joe Parkhurst, having reported on a number of the early Ensenada to La Paz endurance runs and PR stunts, became enamored of Baja and wanted to share the riding with magazine advertisers. He did just that. The Baja Trek was created, and a who’s-who of industry attendees launched the first event, which to this day remains unique in that is it the longest-running invitational riding event of its type in the business. In the years since, the Trek moved north of the border to Arizona in 1991, followed by a move to the current location in California over a dozen years ago.

As it has in recent years, the Trek held its base camp at China Peak Ski Resort near Huntington Lake, Calif. At about a 7,000 foot elevation, just south of majestic Yosemite National Park, the location provides plenty of breathtaking scenery. It also provides plenty of opportunity for well-meaning pranks and tomfoolery.

Here I am taking in the open road

Myself with two longtime friends from Cycle World

Now that’s one big tree

As you can tell, the scenery is gorgeous

Its always nice after a long day of riding to come back and relax by the fire

Tomfoolery at its finest

First time attendees to the event are lovingly branded ‘Virgins’, and this year had the largest class of virgins in recent memory. A shout out to newly appointed President and CEO of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, Robin Boettcher, for attending and meeting industry supporters of the foundation. We also had a few second generation Trekkers at this year’s event, and I’d love to see that trend continue.

While the Trek has seen changes over the years, one thing remains – the people that attend have a passion for motorcycling. Since the last Trek just one year ago, Cycle World has seen changes too, with a new owner in Bonnier that is injecting fresh perspective and energy into their leading media brand.

In many respects, what our team at Marketplace Events Motorcycle Group is doing to change the market with AIMExpo is quite similar. We’re a change agent that’s creating a market-driven show that will also inject fresh perspective and energy into a market segment that’s been asking for change for some time. As I’ve said previously, we’re bringing every market constituent together in the right place, at the right time, at the right venue, to make our business more effective, efficient, and energetic, creating excitement for both trade and consumer attendees.

In chatting to many of my riding peers over the weekend, we acknowledged the beauty of the Trek is in the participants – you get to know new industry compatriots, face challenges on the trail together, and it all adds up to great camaraderie thanks to a motorcycle ride. The point is, there is no Trek without energetic participation, which CW creates the environment for.

Quite honestly, the same story is true for AIMExpo – we’re creating a bold new environment for you to conduct business in, and it will take energetic participation from everyone in motorcycling to ensure we get to the potential of what we’re creating.

Come join us, its going to be a great ride!

(Photos courtesy of Cycle World Trek Facebook Page)