One Life Japan

Bicycle, Hiking, and Walking Trips in Japan

Whether you are in Japan for a one-month vacation, a business traveler with a free weekend, or a long-term resident too busy to get out on your own, our active adventures give you everything you would expect from a bike or walking tour in Japan - temples, traditional food, contact with the locals, and more. We are dying to share our knowledge of Japan - we will share and share and share some more until you tell us to shut-up.

Each tour is different, and tailored to different needs. Some are more adventurous, some are more luxurious, some are like boot camp, and some are like a lazy stroll in the park. Regardless, each tour contains varying degrees of:

• Adventure
• Exploration of "Place"
• Cultural History
• Natural History / Environment
• Natural and Built Beauty
• Physical Challenge

2008 Trips

Our current plans for 2008 can be found on our 2008 Calendar. If a trip looks interesting, but the dates don't fit your schedule, let us know. Most trips are also available on request.

Custom Trips

Flexibility and freedom are exactly why bike touring is the best only way to see Japan. We invite any requests to create tours that fit various needs, interests, and schedules.

Our tours are flexible and always open to on-the-spot changes if an unexpected, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presents itself. We also offer the ultimate in custom adventures - an open-ended tour where just about the only thing planned is the starting point.

Whether the dinner location is decided before hand or left up to exploration and discovery, you can be confident that you wont get exactly what you signed on for. You will get much, much more.

Locations and Themes

We are based in a small village in the North of Nagano famous for long harsh winters with heavy snow, beautiful lush spring foliage, amazing fall colors, rich traditional farming lifestyles and a large number of elderly villagers - many anxious to share their lifestyle and stories with you. Our location and connection with the village allows us to provide deeper, richer experiences for our clients, exploring the subtleties of a place, rather than simply covering as many tourist locations as possible.

We use that understanding of place, and ability to understand and interact with the locals in all of our custom trips as well - utilizing our connections across Nagano, Chiba, Izu, and the greater kantou area. We use our ability to sniff out adventure and interesting locations (along with our passion for research) to provide trips in other areas of Japan on demand.

Our Japan Wanderlust trip allows participants to start from anywhere they like, and we provide maps, bikes, tents, sleeping bags, and any other gear needed to make this the ultimate adventure.

Who Should Join

If you are reading this, chances are you're exactly the kind of person our trips are designed for:

Active, likes a challenge, and willing sweat a little

Our trips are designed with varying levels of physical activity. You need not a be a bicycle enthusiast to enjoy them - in fact, our trip is often the first time for our customers to experience a ride or walk of this distance and duration. Still, we do value challenge and some trips do cover more ground than others and are recommended for people whoexercise daily. Please see the specific details for the trips you are interested in, or if you are still a bit anxious, we can make a custom trip fit just to you.

Curious, independent, and willing to explore

At One Life Japan we see ourselves as "facilitators", rather than guides. We are anxious to share our knowledge and experience with you, but this is not a bus tour and there are no windows preventing you from touching, tasting, and interacting with the people and nature around you. We provide a framework and engaging topics for exploration, but it is up to you, as a participant, to define what you want to take away, and then to take the initiative to find ways to reach those goals. We want to be there to support you and help you all the way without holding your hand.

Positive, flexible, and open to the unexpected and unplanned

The most memorable experiences I have had while touring were unplanned. People who do well on our trips are not discouraged or annoyed by finding themselves someplace on the map other than where they expected to be, or arestaurant closed. You should be able to appreciate the positives in a torrential downpour, an unexpected snow, or even being forced to pitch tent at the top of a mountain after finding the road to the inn wiped out by a land-slide - the stars were amazing that night.

What's Included

At One Life Japan we try to offer a wide variety of tours to fit a wide variety of interests and travel styles. Because of this, some tours include more than others. For specifics of what is included in the tour you are interested in, check that tour's page, or contact us for more details.

As a general rule you can expect that most of our tours include the following:

Bike rental

We provide you with high quality mountain bikes ideal for comfortable rides up hills, and the occasional dirt road that tends to tempt riders off of the highway. All bikes are inspected and tuned before every trip.

Snacks and Drinks

One of the greatest things about touring in Japan is sampling the local foods. Our tours stop at every chance to try something new, and just in case you get hungry in between, we will have something to keep your strength up.

Meals

Depending on the tour and daily itinerary, we seek out the best of the local restaurants for everything from hand-made noodles to fresh-from-the-ocean fish, to fresh-from-the-field basashi (thinly sliced raw horse - a delicacy in the south - but you don't have to eat it if you don't want to)

Included meals vary between quick lunch stops, dinners at local restaurants, and picnic lunches prepared at the top of the mountain. Being environmentally strategic eaters ourselves, we are more than happy toaccommodate vegetarian, vegan, or other special dietary needs. Most tours have non-included meal-times ideal for self exploration.

For more details check out the specific tour itineraries or contact us for special requests.

Accommodations

We tend to stay at small, family-run minshuku inns where guests are served elaborate meals made from local delicacies and sleep in futons on tatami floors. Depending on the trip, however, we may also sleep anywhere from a tent at an ancient shrine, the home of a local farmer, or even a six-star ryokan.

Necessary Gear

We provide helmets, water bottles, lights and reflectors, saddle bags, tents, sleeping bags, gloves, band-aids, and even a tooth-brush (if you don't mind sharing that is)

Tour Guide / Translator

Probably the biggest reason people take tours with One Life Japan is our ability to make what you are seeing all the more interesting by sharing our knowledge of Japan history and culture, no matter how insignificant it may seem, giving you a completely new perspective on what you see around you.

Not only that, but we also have deep connections with locals in most of our planned tours, and being fluent in Japanese and English gives our riders an opportunity to communicate and experience life with the locals.

Bike and People Maintenance

As memorable of a story as it makes, getting a flat tire on the top of a deserted mountain at sunset can also be a bit stressful. That's why we are prepared to handle any bike emergency that happens. Our guides are also trained in first-aid and wilderness emergency medicine, so you can rest assured that people will be in good repair as well.

What to Bring

This will vary depending on the trip and the seasons. We will send you a list of gear that you should have for your specific tour. One thing we don't want, however, is to promote excess consumption. If you do not have a piece of gear, such as a head-lamp, and don't think that you will need one in the near future, we will share ours with you! Our goal is to have you buy and bring as little as possible. We will even lend you our shoes if they fit!

When to Come

We offer trips throughout the year, from Winter Snow Country experiences, to Fall Harvest and Autumn color tours. Sometimes it is rainy - we will help to make a trip that is fun in the rain. Sometimes it is hot. We will organize a trip in the cooler areas. Sometimes there is a typhoon....we're up for it if you are.

Our pre-made trips are scheduled to take advantage of seasonal features and local festivals. If you cannot make it for those dates, let us know what time is good for you and we will come up with a plan that fits.

• 2008 Trips
• Custom Trips
• Locations & Themes
• Who Should Join
• What's Included
• What To Bring
• When to Come
• Book an Adventure