I'm off to Japan late in the summer and, if I don't die from the heat and humidity, I'd like to get some mountain biking in.

We'll be staying in and around Okayama for a bit and then heading east to Tokyo to finish off.

Has anyone got any experience of riding there? Can anyone recommend any riding spots and bike hire places? (I won't be taking my bike) We've not got definite plans yet, so any suggestions would be great!

Thanks in advance!

Pete

A recent episode of Ride guide mountain bike magazine on the Extreme sports channel had the whole show devoted to riding in Japan – might be worth seeing if they've got anything on the website.

I used to live in Okayama. I only ride road but there's two decent bike shops in the city (one in the mall opposite the station, one a bit further out) so i'd recommend going to those and i'm sure they'll hook you up – if you can get over the language barrier!

p.s. On a non-cycling note, make sure you go to Naoshima. It's a wonderful bohemian island filled with art and galleries and amazing places to eat. Also add Yubara Onsen to the itinerary. And Matsuyama onsen on Shikoku – if you've seen "Spirited Away" it's the inspiration for the bath house in that.

Thanks for the advise guys. Finbar you weren't an JET were you? I'm going there with my wife who worked in Ibara. I've only spent time in Tokyo before, so looking forward to the country life and hopefully some cycling!!

There are very few places where you can hire decent bikes here in Japan.
A couple of downhill orientated places within reach of Tokyo, which do offer bike hire are Fujimi Panorama

http://www.fujimipanorama.com/summer/index.php

and Mt. Takamineyama
http://www.takamineyama.com/english%20page.htm

Fujimi is a ski area in Winter with MTB access in Summer only. Uplift by cablecar with 3 courses coming back down. A course is a big, fast, old-school type DH race course. B course is steep and technical. C course is listed as a "beginner" course but is actually pretty serious and you can hit very high speed on it.
Takamineyama is a dedicated MTB place. It's off the beaten track; if you do go then get the owners to pick you up from the station. Uplift is by van with bikes in the back. There are 3 main courses and 2 that head down the back side of the mountain and involve some pedalling to get back to base. The trails are woody, singletrack descents off the top of the mountain. They have some jumps and wooden skinnies too. I really like the riding there.

Plan on spending about 8000 Yen per day including the bike hire at either location and bring cash since they don't take credit cards.

I was a JET ALT a while back (1998–2001) based in Niigata. Back then I pretty much only found decent places to ride through race events. I went along to an lbs, where I eneded buying a bike and getting friendly with owner, who was really generous and keen for me to come along on rides and enter events with his team–really cool stuff ;-). Luckily there were plenty on, although we travelled fair distances to satisfy the mtb needs! There's probably good info online–start with the Japan Cycling Federation (the have English version on website).. and have a great time: ganbatte kudasai!!

I was a JET, yes. Happy times! I wish i'd stayed another year now.