Hello, this is Ontama Negitoro. I was reminded of a conversation I had with a Spanish hiker when I cycled the Camino de Santiago in Spain before the pandemic. He asked me, ‘Have you been to the Kumano Kodo? You really should go!’ The ‘Camino de Santiago’ in Spain, the ‘Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage,’ and the ‘Kumano Kodo’ are all incredibly popular among hikers from abroad. While I had cycled the first two, I had never ridden through the Kumano Kodo or the Kii Peninsula. Despite its proximity to my hometown of Osaka, the rugged nature of the Kii Mountain Range has always made it feel far away. This time, I rode a route following the ancient pilg […]

Connecting people who enjoy rides. This time, the “Ring-Tomo” introduced by model Miho Ishigaki features sports journalist Kazuyuki Yamaguchi, whom she met through an event job. His relationship with road biking began after his first job post-graduation. He joined a publishing company with the desire to write articles and was assigned to the magazine “CYCLING SPORTS,” which marked the start of his professional involvement with biking. He quickly became responsible for covering the Tour de France, and this has become a routine for him over 30 years of reporting.We spoke with Mr. Yamaguchi about his rides, including his private experiences. *In Global Ride, a new column […]

Tracing the footsteps of Katsushika Hokusai by bicycle – Part 2 of the short series. This time, we will start with Hokusai in his twenties, when he entered the Katsukawa school and plunged into the world of ukiyo-e. Table of Contents 　1. In the Sumo Town (Ages 20~)　2. Man of the North Star (Ages 30~)　3. Becoming Hokusai, Katsushika Hokusai (Ages 40~) 1. In the Sumo Town (Ages 20~) Hokusai was allowed to use the name Katsukawa Shunro within just one year of entering the Katsukawa school, where he produced ukiyo-e prints (note that he changed his art name over 30 times in his lifetime, but this column will consistently use “Hokusai”).At that time, the motifs of ukiyo-e prints […]