Canon's Diary

On the morning of April 25th, the moving company will arrive to collect my belongings. There isn’t much, so I expect it’ll take less than an hour to load everything into the truck. Once my things are sent off, I’ll depart for Osaka on my motorcycle. Riding all the way in one go would be too exhausting, so I’ve decided to split the trip into two days. On the first day, I’ll head for a hotel in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture—a ride of about four and a half hours. I’ll enter the Tomei Expressway from the Yokohama-Machida interchange and head toward Nagoya. At the Gotemba interchange, I’ll switch to the Shin-Tomei Expressway and get off at Toyota-Higashi. For safety, I should take breaks at service areas about once every hour. I imagine stopping at Ebina SA and Ashigara SA on the Tomei, and then Suruga-Namazu SA and Kakegawa on the Shin-Tomei. Still, rather than sticking too closely to that plan, it’s probably best to stop as soon as I feel tired. I should keep my speed around 70 to 80 km/h. As for refueling, I wonder how that’ll go—fuel efficiency should be better than usual, so maybe every 150 km or so. I’ll make sure not to forget my water bottle.

The weather forecast for the 25th says cloudy in Tokyo and sunny in Osaka, with highs of 23°C in both places. It feels more like early summer than spring. I think it’s time to switch to my summer riding suit. Since it can still get chilly in the mornings and evenings, I’ll bring a long-sleeve shirt to wear underneath just in case. I’ll skip the rain suit since it’s bulky. I’ll be staying one night, so I’ll pack a full change of clothes and bring my laptop and iPad for writing in the evening. I chose a spot roughly halfway between Tokyo and Osaka. It’s a small business hotel, but it has a dedicated motorcycle parking space and even an open-air bath. I also heard that the owner is a motorcycle enthusiast. I’ve mounted a smartphone holder on the top bridge of my bike, so I can check the map as I ride. I can ride through toll gates without stopping, thanks to the automatic toll collection system installed on the bike, which should make things less stressful.

On the second day, the 26th, the moving company will begin unloading my belongings into the new place in Osaka sometime after 3 p.m. Before that, I need to stop by the real estate office near Takatsuki Station to pick up the key and be at the new apartment in time. The ride from Toyota City to Takatsuki in Osaka should take about two and a half hours. With breaks, probably closer to three and a half. Since it’s the start of Golden Week, there might be some traffic. Still, if I leave the hotel around 8 a.m., I should have more than enough time.

I haven’t done such a long ride in a while—not even by car. It reminds me of a three-night touring trip around the Noto Peninsula I took with some friends from my part-time job back in college. We were so young then. I also remember touring Hokkaido during my fifth year of working, though I was completely wiped out by the time I reached Aomori. Maybe the last long-distance drive I did was in 2005, when my wife and I drove from Tokyo to the Aichi Expo. Even driving to Aichi felt exhausting. This time, I’ll be riding a 1993 model 400cc sportbike. I wonder if it’ll run smoothly. I can’t help but feel a little anxious. Still, it’s the perfect season for a motorcycle trip, so I’ll just take it slow and enjoy the scenery along the way.This time,