Day 8
Niigata, Niigata

Distance: ~45 km
Average: n/a
Max: n/a
Total Distance: ~615 km

The above figure of 45 km of cycling for the day actually ended up being quite a surprise for me when I checked my odometer at the end of the day. If this had been a regular day, that would have been quite short, but the entirety of the day was spent simply riding around and exploring Niigata City.

I had fallen asleep the night before in the internet cafe, but before I nodded off I downloaded Winamp and an alarm for it, set it, and went to sleep with headphones on. Come 15 minutes before my time on the computer expired, Winamp turned on and woke me up. It’s a nice way to have a wake-up alarm in an internet cafe without worrying about bothering other people at 5 am. I really didn’t have much to worry about, as I only noticed one other person there. After a quick cup of orange juice from the extensive free drink bar, I headed out for the day.

From the internet cafe I was able to see one of Niigata’s landmarks–the Big Swan Stadium. It looked pretty cool, so I headed on over.

View of Swan Stadium from the cafe

At the stadium there were preparations underway for a big sports festival/competition for schools across Japan, so there were junior high school kids and their parents and coaches all over the place. The grounds of the stadium have some nice parks and recreational areas, so it was a good a spot as any for me to sit down and eat some breakfast. And by breakfast I mean a few spoons of peanut butter. Yummy yummy peanut butter breakfasts.

A peanut butter breakfast at Tohoku Denryoku Big Swan Stadium, Niigata

Following breakfast it was simply riding around the city, eventually stopping to park my bike in a cool underground bike parking lot, walking around the city, then picking my bike back up a few hours later. I rode off in the direction of the shore with the full intent of swimming in the Sea of Japan. I changed my mind when I arrived at the water.

If you remember the Pacific’s Tetris graveyard from Day 2 you’d get a good idea as to why, except that Niigata’s concrete blockade was even worse.

As far as I could see in both directions, there was a continuous double line of concrete blockades. One was right on what used to be a beach, then there was a second line the followed parallel to the first but about 50 feet further out into the sea.

Every once in awhile the blockades that went across the beach would turn perpendicular and go and jut up into the second line, leaving a 75 foot or so swath of beach for swimming. Unfortunately that really sucks only a little bit left, as it makes it so you’re swimming in this tiny 50 foot by 75 foot area of water enclosed by giant concrete tetris pieces. That’s not exactly what swimming in the sea is supposed to be like.

Making a face into the wind, the Sea of Japan and its concrete blockade behind me

After sitting and dipping my feet in the water for a bit, I headed back inland and came across what has to be one of the most useful stop signs I’ve ever seen.

Useful stop sign near the Sea of Japan in Niigata-shi

The only car I could see using that street would be the people who own that one garage on the right. Other than that, it’s just a tiny tiny little dead-end street that they felt needed a stop sign.

As darkness began to fall, I went back to the internet cafe I had spen the prior night at. The overnight pack I had used the night before and was planning on using again this night didn’t begin until 11. Instead I paid to spend four hours on one of their high-spec PCs, spent 20 minutes downloading and installing Team Fortress 2, played until 11 pm, switched plans and computers over to my overnight booth, then went to sleep.

Overall it was a nice day of rest.

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