The Sun in My Eyes : Two-Wheeling East by Josie Dew (Time Warner Books)

Josie Dew is first and foremost a touring cyclist from the U.K. She is also a professional cook and the author of a number of travel essays writing about her experiences cycling around the world. She says it was her elementary school teacher who inspired her to travel. “She told such wonderful stories about distant lands. I dreamed of visiting them one day”. It was after being involved in an auto accident in her childhood which put her off from being driven in anything with four wheels.

Dew rode around the country of Japan for the first time and wrote about it in her book A Ride in the Neon Sun : A Gaijin in Japan which was published in 1999. On her initial visit, she rode from Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture all the way down to Kagoshima and Okinawa Prefectures in the south. 

The Sun in My Eyes is the story of Dew’s second cycling trip around Japan. She first finds herself in Hong Kong where even she admits, “For someone who has a strong affinity for wild empty places and a keen aversion to cars, I’m not quite sure just what I was doing immersing myself in a territory of only 1000 square kilometers with a population of 6.8 million people, most of whom were crammed into a feverishly paced forest of concrete, steel and glass.”

Dew first cycles around Hong Kong and its neighboring islands before finding a ship to take her to Japan. Once she reaches Okinawa, Dew’s Japan adventure begins and she spends time traveling to some of the smaller islands located nearby such as the World Heritage designated Yakushima and Tanegashima, the island known for introducing modern firearms to Japan in 1543. It is also the site of the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan’s largest space development center. 

Dew travels northward, first by riding around the island of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. Her travels take her to Hiroshima and Miyajima, considered one of Japan’s three scenic spots. She marvels at the sand dunes in Tottori Prefecture; she checks out the through-leg viewing of Amanohashidate, another one of the three scenic spots of Japan.  

She makes a slight change of plans due to excessive rain along the coast and takes a ferry from the port town of Maizuru to Hokkaido. She travels along the coastal roads which takes her to Reibun Island, Japan’s northernmost island. She finds the time to do a bit of hiking in Shiretoko and mountain climbing in Rausu before cycling to Hakodate and catching a ferry to Oma in Aomori Prefecture. 

From Oma, Dew cycles down the Shimokita Peninsula and continues her way southward by going through the towns of Rokkasho, home to Japan’s largest nuclear waste dump; the town of Kessenuma, which was devastated by the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Her worries about, “What if the Big One hits” seems almost prophetic, although the earthquake happened more than ten years after her journey.

Dew doesn’t just cycle around the country, she also delves into the history of the cities and sites she visits. Being a woman on her own in a foreign country, she shares some of her humorous stories communicating with the locals. One of her most common language exchanges follows below.

“You are one person?”

“Yes, I am one person?”

“Really? One person?”

“Yes, really one person.”

“Ahh, that is great. You are one person from America?”

“No, England.”

“Ahh so, desu-ka. You are indeed two person?”

“No, I am one person. I am alone. One person from England.”

If you have never been to Japan or are planning to do so in the near future, with or without a bicycle, you will find Dew’s book very informative and entertaining. Her biting wit will make you laugh, her positive mental attitude will make you want to challenge yourself as well...maybe! ~Ernie Hoyt