From A to B

After countless hours poring over maps and guidebooks, we have finally finished planning the route for our trip. The total length is almost exactly 2,500 miles (we're conveniently ignoring extra distance for getting lost).

You can see the routes here (they're in separate maps since the Google maps tool starts having issues once the route goes over a certain length).

1. Fukuoka to Iwakuni
2. Iwakuni to Onomichi
3. Onomichi to Himeji
4. Himeji to Kyoto
5. Kyoto to Nagano
6. Nagano to Tokyo
7. Tokyo to Yamagata
8. Yamagata to Morioka
9. Hakodate to Wakkanai

Except for the journey through Tohoku (northern Honshu, roughly from Tokyo to Morioka), this route is based almost completely on the wonderfully detailed descriptions on japancycling.org. If you have some time, take a few minutes to read through a few pages in the "Length of Japan" section--V and I couldn't help feeling even more excited about our trip after reading about the summer festival in Gujo ("While dancing, forget everyday life and also forget yourself. Forget everything and express your deep feelings!") and the beaches near Unomichi ("If you are feeling lucky, you can try to dig some oysters. Residents might even lend you a digging tool.
How about some spaghetti with olive oil and oysters for your evening camping meal?").

Some of the things I'm really looking forward to after planning this route:

• Biking across the Seto Sea via the Shimanami Kaido Bridges
• Visiting World Heritage sites like Himeji castle and Shirakawa-go
• Riding over the highest point in Japan's road system via Hirayu Pass
• Seeing the small villages of Tohoku
• Showing V around the areas I remember from when I lived in Hakodate
• Seeing the northernmost point of Japan near Wakkanai

Now that we have a basic route set out, V and I feel much more confident in estimating the time (and money) we'll need to complete the trip. If anyone else finds the maps useful, please let us know!