A vibrant countryside scene with lush green fields in the foreground, partially submerged with planted crops. Behind the fields stands a red house with a gray roof. Towering white cumulus clouds dominate the bright blue sky in the background.
Gail Schulz

Day 17 - Akita to Noshiro

Our very last day on the Sea of Japan Coasts was a very pleasant day riding under clear skies, warmer temperatures and favourable winds.

Route

Today was planned to be a longer, flatter day, detouring off the most direct (and busiest route) to take in the giant namahage statues at the entrance to the Oga peninsula and take in the quieter side of the Hachirogata Chosei pond system.  A false start to our navigation this morning had us on an old route, far too inland and heading for the expressway. We course corrected before too long, but the mistake turned a 66km day into a 74km day. Fortunately, the stronger than expected wind was mostly in our favour, blowing on our back for most of the ride.

Hachirogata used to be the second largest lake in Japan until a massive land reclamation project to create Ogata village (1957-1964).  It remains the 18th largest lake in Japan and the lowest natural point in Japan at 4m below sea level.

Map of the route from Akita to Noshiro
Elevation profile of the route

Stay and Eat

We had picked, two bakeries and a teishoku restaurant just over the river from the namahage statues in Funakoshi as possible lunch options.  The bakeries were both frustratingly closed.  We struck that a lot today, things that would normally be open but are closed.  Might be something to do with the first day of summer on a Saturday?  Ended up at a very busy chain family restaurant Cafe Gasuto for a filling lunch that erred towards a festival of meats.  It was a cultural experience and a robot delivered the meals.

We are at the Route Inn, outside of Noshiro proper. It's a solid business hotel. Everything is clean and pretty new looking. It's your standard compact business hotel room. There is an onsen available, but the main selling point for me is enough power points to plug in all the chargers at the same time!

See and Do

Our only planned stop today was for a quick photo op with the big namahage statues.  Namahage are demon like beings portrayed by men wearing hefty oni (ogre) masks and traditional straw capes (mino) during a New Year's ritual unique to this part of Akita prefecture.

We bypassed the Ogatamura Land Reclamation Museum due to lack of time and energy. I'm not sure we missed a great deal...

A large, traditional Japanese demon statue stands imposingly outdoors. The statue features a red face, ornate horns, and wears straw garments. Two bicycles with travel bags are parked at its base. The sky is clear and the scenery includes greenery and a few parked cars.

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