With its fast-folding, compact, portable practicality, Brompton is a “magic carpet” for the city. For the Local & Café Ride in Shizuoka Prefecture, Papersky maps out a route from the Makinohara Plateau via the coast of the Suruga Bay to Sumpu Castle.
Our starting point is JR Kanaya Station, serving as the gateway to the Makinohara Plateau. Here we meet our navigators, Takuya and Rie Kobayashi. Takuya is a sculptor of art objects, and Rie makes fashion accessories that are a modern update on mizuhiki, the Japanese art of knot-tying used to decorate envelopes. Together they run the gallery and shop Motonaga in Shizuoka City. The couple lived in Tokyo for many years before establishing their base in Takuya’s native prefecture of Shizuoka, but they never got around to exploring their hometown. This bike trip promises to provide the perfect opportunity for making new discoveries through their local eyes.
Having met the couple at the station, we unfold our Brompton bikes and hit the road. It’s a gentle uphill ride from the station to the Makinohara Daichaen tea plantations. At the top is an endless expanse of tea fields. The amazing panorama draws sighs of wonder from us visitors from outside Shizuoka Prefecture as well as the locals. From mid-April to early May, when the season’s first tea leaves are ready for harvest, the area will be enveloped by the glistening tender green of the leaves and the fresh sweet smell of tea. Amid the fields, a café comes into view. It looks like a mountain hut, with smoke rising from the chimney.
The owner of a roastery and café in Shizuoka City since 1972 relocated here 20 years ago and opened Alm Coffee. The building is renovated from a 150-year-old traditional Japanese house, and it’s the perfect pair for the aroma of roasting coffee beans. Alm offers about 10 varieties of specialty coffee and original blends at all times, and serves the drinks in Nordic style dishware with rustic charm.
From Alm Coffee, we ride past the Tokaido Kikugawazaka cobblestone pavement toward the Oi River, and a modern building with beautiful fukiyose wooden barred walls comes into view. The Tea Museum, Shizuoka, introduces the history, folk tradition, and culture of tea, and offers experiences of the Japanese tea ceremony, the preparation of Shizuoka tea, and tea customs from around the world. As long as we are riding in the “tea capital” of Shizuoka Prefecture, by all means let’s enjoy the tea too! We walk in, receive our cups of the complimentary “welcome tea,” and take a tour of the museum.
After the museum tour, we continue cruising through the Makinohara Plateau. Following the sign that reads Horai Bridge, we speed downhill toward the 897.4-meter-long bridge over the Oi River. It’s listed in the Guinness World Records as the world’s longest wooden footbridge, and its wonderful view of Mt. Fuji make it a popular tourist destination. The pedestrian bridge allows cyclists to walk their bikes across.
The Makinohara Daichaen tea plantations boast an area of 50 million square meters. The land was cultivated by some 250 former samurai who had lost their jobs in the hanseki hokan reforms of the early Meiji period (1868–1912). Horai Bridge was built at the request of these ex-samurai class farmers. Since the bridge was completed, a toll has been collected from people other than the farmers, and that system continues today with the toll set at 100 yen for adults.
Having crossed the wildly windy Horai Bridge, we pedal leisurely along the course of the Shimada Oigawa Marathon in Liberty, running parallel to the Oi River, and make our way toward Oigawa Port. On the way from Oigawa Port to Yaizu Fishing Port, we stop for a break at Esora Coffee, a specialty-coffee shop rare in this area. The owner, Kyohei Torii, became fascinated with the fruity flavor of light roast coffee during his stint as a coffee roaster. In the hope of sharing his discovery with people who have only tasted dark roast coffee, he opened shop five years ago. The menu may list about four coffees, but Kyohei will recommend others according to your preferences. Enjoy a nice chat and discover your favorite beans.
From Esora Coffee, we continue pedaling on the breakwater and through the pine grove along Suruga Bay. It’s an exciting ride with views of the Pacific Ocean and the Izu Islands on the right, and Mt. Fuji towering straight ahead. At Ishizu Coastal Park, we get off the breakwater and make for central Yaizu City. Past Kogawa Port, we enter the quaint and idyllic port town known as Hama-dori.
Hama-dori refers to the street stretching from north to south along Suruga Bay and the long, narrow community that developed around it. Considered the birthplace of the Yaizu fishing industry, the area is dotted with shops that process and sell seafood products like katsuobushi bonito flakes. No wonder we noticed the appetizing smoky aroma of bonito wafting through the air! The houses with low-pitched roofs and weirs for protection against flood tide, and the narrow alleys for directing the seawater to the river—the details like these lure us to the nostalgic port town. The writer Yakumo Koizumi (Lafcadio Hearn) fell in love with the rough waters of Yaizu and spent many summers here between 1897 and his death in 1904. For his friendship with the locals and for his works inspired by Yaizu, Hama-dori is also known as Yakumo-dori to this day.
From Hama-dori, we follow Showa-dori to Yaizu Porters, situated on the inner harbor. Renovated from an old fishing equipment warehouse, The community center has a food court for dining and tea, sauna, community space, hotel, and shared kitchen. The complex caters to both the locals and visitors from outside Shizuoka Prefecture, with unique features themed around circularity and support for people taking on challenges. Owing to the Pacific Cycling Road running nearby, Yaizu Porters is a favorite stopover for cyclists. The manager, Masamichi Takatani, has plans to add cycle station functions such as bicycle pit and rental services.
*Cycling is prohibited on the lawn
Our final stop in Yaizu City is the hot spring spa Nakamurakan. In business since 1959, it is considered the founder of Yaizu Onsen. There are several spas in Yaizu that draw hot spring water from 1,500 meters underground, but only Nakamurakan boasts 100% fresh, free-flowing, natural water without reheating, recycling, or disinfecting. The thick water with a high salt content helps to retain heat in the body so well that many people prefer to wear short sleeve shirts after bathing, even in the winter. The facility comes complete with a café serving drinks and a variety of foods.
After soaking in the hot spring bath, we fold our Brompton bikes, put them in the bike bags, and take the JR Tokaido Line from Yaizu Station to the next stop, Mochimune Station. The Mochimune area is undergoing redevelopment and creating a buzz with the opening of privately owned cafés, small restaurants, and housewares shops. Our goal on Day 1 is The Villa & Barrel Lounge near Mochimune Station. The hotel is run directly by a craft beer brewery based in Shizuoka.
Beer lovers’ dream come true—Lodging in a brewery!
West Coast Brewing runs The Villa & Barrel Lounge under the concept of lodging in a brewery. Each of the five guestrooms is fitted with a beer tap and up to 10 liters of an exclusive brew. If you can’t drink it all, you can bring a growler and take the beer with you. Rie and Takuya check into the loft room Mosaic, pour their beer from the tap, clink glasses, and unwind while admiring the view from the windows of Mochimune Fishing Port, famous for producing quality whitebait, and Mt. Fuji. The guestrooms are designed in two color schemes—blue for Suruga Bay, and yellow for beer—and the murals in the five rooms connect and tell a story. Across the street from the hotel is the Mochimune Port Spa, where you can take another bath before going to bed.
The next morning, we head to the community store Itto near the hotel for souvenirs and cups of coffee from Hug Coffee, a roastery and café offering specialty coffee in Shizuoka City and Yaizu City. Itto selects producers and products with a link to Shizuoka and carries “life’s necessities” that make thoughtful gifts.
After coffee, we set off on our ride for Day 2. We pedal to the other side of Mochimune Fishing Port and along the breakwater of Hirono Seaside Park, enter the Pacific Cycling Road, cross the Abe River, and continue along the cycling road. The Pacific Cycling Road is a 1,487-kilometer-long route from Choshi City, Chiba Prefecture, to Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture. The section in Shizuoka offers a comfortable ride with views of Suruga Bay on the right and Mt. Fuji straight ahead. At Ohama Park we exit the Pacific Cycling Road and follow the ordinary road to Shizuoka Station. We make our way to the station’s north exit, and from there head to Sumpu Castle Park.
Sumpu Castle Park, surrounded by two moats and beautiful stone walls, preserves the grounds of the castle built by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the 17th century. The Higashi Gomon gate and the Tatsumi Yagura and Hitsujisaru Yagura turrets have been reconstructed. We walk our bikes through the Higashi Gomon gate and enter the Ninomaru complex. On weekends, Aoi Bune services are available to circle the Ninomaru moat in a small boat, providing a good chance to park your bike and admire the castle’s stone walls and Mt. Fuji from the water. The vast park inside the moat serves as a place of recreation and relaxation for the local residents. Momijiyama Garden serves matcha tea for visitors exploring the garden and admiring the seasonal flora.
After Sumpu Castle Park, we explore the Sumpu townscape. Ieyasu designed the castle town of Sumpu in a grid plan. The town also served as Fuchu-juku, one of the largest post stations on the Tokaido, and thrived as a political and economic center. Traces of Sumpu’s golden age remain in the stone monuments marking the sites of the former honjin and waki-honjin inns for government officials, in the grid-plan townscape, and in the names of the districts. The town was divided into districts by the occupation of the craftsmen and merchants living there, and named accordingly—Gofuku-cho (dry goods district), Koya-machi (dyers’ district), Ryogae-cho (money exchange district), and so on.
As we listened and learned about the local history, we arrived at one of Rie and Takuya’s favorite cafés. Hibari Books & Coffee is a bookstore of new publications and a café rolled into one and serves coffee and tea. Its excellent selection focusing on foreign literature, poetry anthologies, light humanities works, and hobbies books attracts regulars from outside Shizuoka Prefecture. Also with a Friday Book Club organized irregularly, inviting participants to discuss a particular title, Hibari serves as a third place for book lovers.
The coffee at Hibari Books & Coffee is from the specialty coffee roaster Coffea Exlibris, in the Shimokitazawa neighborhood of Tokyo, run by the Hibari proprietor’s older brother. Coffea Exlibris offers only traceable single origin coffee beans sourced directly from the overseas producers once a year. Enjoy the fine coffee and a good read.
Across the street is Kissa Bar Ebony, run by Mitchy, a key person of the Shizuoka café scene. Ebony is a favorite hangout where the locals drop by and indulge in chitchat.
By the time we finish visiting all these cafés, it is twilight. We say goodbye to Rie and Takuya, and fold our Brompton bikes and put them in the bike bags at Shizuoka Station. This brings to a close our two-day ride through the Makinohara Plateau, Yaizu, Mochimune, and Shizuoka under the watchful Mt. Fuji. Which local wonders of Japan will we explore on the next ride. Stay tuned for more of PAPERSKY’s journeys with the folding bicycle Brompton.
Shizuoka Travel Guide
【Shimada】
Alm Coffee
1182 Kikugawa, Shimada
TEL：0547-45-3280
Tea Museum, Shizuoka
3053-2 Kanaya Fujimi-cho, Shimada
TEL：0547-46-5588
Kohaku
1190 Kikugawa, Shimada
Mato ,,tools
2-8-8 Inari, Shimada
TEL：090-2182-1408
【Yaizu】
Yoshizuya Shoten
1057-2 Aikawa, Yaizu
TEL：054-622-3035
ESORA COFFEE
2089 Yoshinaga, Yaizu
doma
6-11-5 Higashikogawa, Yaizu
Yaizu PORTERS
3-1-16 Nakaminato, Yaizu
TEL:054-631-6016
【Shizuoka】
The Villa & Barrel Lounge
2-26-1 Mochimune, Suruga-ku, Shiuzoka
TEL：054-270-3083
ebony
静岡県静岡市葵区鷹匠#201, 3-1-13, Takasho, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka
ittō
HUTPARK East bld. 1F, 4-19-12 Mochimune, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka
TEL：050-8893-6310
HiBARI BOOKS & COFFEE
3-5-15 Takasho, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka
TEL：054-295-7330
Cycling Route Map
Brompton
Brompton was invented in the British capital of London in 1975. Founder Andrew Ritchie decided there must be a better way of moving around London and engineered the bike in the bedroom of his flat. The vehicle folds into a light, compact package in under 20 seconds.
https://jp.brompton.com
