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Friday, February 18, 2011

Kyoto to Nara Bicycle Path Sign

Kyoto Nara Bike Path Marker八幡木津自転車道線

It doesn't take much imagination to hate Japan's Ministry of Construction.

In several post-War decades, the Ministry managed to concrete over and dam up the landscape and rivers of what was a beautiful country.

The solution to every problem seemed to be: throw a lot of money at it, let the major construction firms run wild in the countryside and earn enormous sums (of which the yazuka took a sweet cut), and buildbuildbuild. The result was a Soviet style landscape. Bleak. Hard. Ugly. Concrete.

However, as cyclists, we must also take our hats off to the Ministry. The Men of Concrete have built a series of wonderful bike paths around the country. One of the best runs from Arashiyama, in western Kyoto, to Kizu, which is just outside of Nara.

The path is three meters wide and is for use for cyclists and pedestrians. In other words, there are no cars, trucks, or motorcycles for the 45 km of the route.

The path follows the Katsura River out of Kyoto, and then joins the Kizu River.

We will be making the ride in late March and will blog it.

Information in Japanese.

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1 comment:

  1. Hello. Yes,the road lasts between Arashiyama and Kizu River. Over 40km. I tried a Kizu River marathon two weeks ago. The road is comfortable for jogging or cycling.

    Hehe,my marathon blog: http://mamabicycle.blogspot.com/2011/02/special-entry-kizu-river-marathon.html

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