All Roads Lead to Tokyo

Richard's place is always packed with people. Traveler's club, cyclist support circle — call it whatever you want. In the kitchen over tea, beer, coffee, everyone shares their story. — I rode through Kazakhstan, and at the border with China they refused my visa. Can you imagine? I was already ready, already thinking about where I'd go, where I'd stop, and then they refused me... — Did you indicate on the form that you're a cyclist? They don't want cyclists in their country. — Why? — I don't know, they refused me at first too, but then I said I sold my bike and wanted to fill out a new form. — Yeah, that's smart. So I got stuck at the border, didn't know what to do. Friends advised me to fly to South Korea. By the way, I recommend it: Korea is an interesting country. — How long have you been cycling? — A little over two years. — this is Peter from a village near Frankfurt. He's ridden through Albania, Syria, Pakistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, China, Korea.

Alex from Canada speaks with a French accent, been traveling since January. — I was in Russia, you know, there's this drink... what's it called, made from bread, sugar... — Kvass. — Yes, exactly, kvass and manti, have you eaten manti? — on the back of his bike instead of an iron rack he's nailed plywood, on it sits a cooler for food. Coffee cans are wired to the frame. One for nuts, another for tools and who knows what else. Just in case, spare spokes are in the tube under the seat.

We went to a bike shop. Alex needs a box, in two days he flies to Los Angeles, and from there by bike to Alabama, New York, Nebraska, Washington state — a square on the map. Peter needs nuts for the rear wheel, and I still can't find a decent gas burner.

— I'm staying with this girl from Germany. From our correspondence she seemed so cool, you know, said she might even join me. I'll show you her photo. But now she's in some weird mood. Sometimes she's depressed. Doesn't want to talk. — Oh, I had that in Sapporo... — I hate this. You know, I try to joke, get her talking, nothing works. It's unpleasant, you know? You're in her house, dependent on her. Like Richard, can I stay with him? — Yeah, he doesn't give a shit, you can stay as long as you want. — Internet, laundry? — Yeah, everything's there. — I'll need to talk to him. I don't know what to do with her, tell her I'm leaving... — Alex, are we definitely going the right way?

We'd already ridden several blocks, crossed several bridges, but hadn't found the shop. — Maybe let's rest? — we stopped for a snack at Lawson's. We all eat at this store. — Yesterday we went to some gay club with her. I didn't know it was a gay club, but I liked it. Good music, funny people. One guy comes up to me, says:

— Oh, you're a tourist, can I take your photo? — No problem, I say. — Buy me a drink and shoot as much as you want. — Did he buy you a drink? — Well yeah. He's some photographer, probably sells them later. Actually I do this often. Have you ever had someone buy you food in stores? — Yeah, people even gave me money twice. There's also this thing, I call it noodles with a bonus. — Yeah? — You take, buy noodles and somewhere in a village you go up to a house and ask for boiling water. — Boiling water? — Yeah, usually this leads to more. You know? Either they'll feed you properly, maybe let you take a shower or invite you to spend the night. Both are good. — Oh, I'll try that. Did you come up with it yourself? — I just needed boiling water once, and they brought out a bunch of different Japanese treats too. — Oh, that's cool. Someone once told me, let's go to the store I'll buy you whatever you want. What would you do? — What do you mean? — Well I could grab everything, then he'd say "mmm, no, I can't" — that's stupid.

We never made it to the bike shop. There's Rainbow Bridge nearby, it leads to an artificial island built on the site of a huge garbage dump that existed until the 90s. You can't ride bikes on the bridge. Two workers in caps put little boards with small wheels on our rear wheels, like skateboards, so we could push our bikes alongside us.

— Don't know what to do with this girl. It's a problem, you know? I was riding fast, had such lucky places to crash, but I wasn't staying anywhere long. Thought, who knows, maybe something will work out. Generally, with CS and women it's a headache. With a guy you can go out somewhere to a party, meet someone, look at other women, but here no — you have to be only with her, can't look anywhere else. — Yeah, and you've known her for a couple hours, and there's nothing between you. You're just spending the night at her place. — Yeah-yeah-yeah. They have this thing. They can get offended if you look at others. I don't know... I prefer looking for a place to crash with guys. — Sometimes, when a woman accepts your request (on CouchSurfing) you think, why did she do it? Maybe she liked you. — Yeah-yeah-yeah. And in CS this is a problem, you know? You can't do anything, because it might seem to you that something's brewing, but actually it's not. And everything can go sideways, one bad review in your profile and that's it, you understand. — Yeah.. In Sapporo they accused me of breaking the gas stove. And in the morning they asked with a hint: "Where are you sleeping tonight?". That was my worst CS experience.

Meanwhile, from the bridge opens a view of the bay of the island, Fuji TV office and boats cutting through the blue surface in all directions.