Jitensha

About the Book

Jitensha: Down the Japanese Archipelago on a Bicycle is a travel narrative that recounts the author's 2500-mile zigzag bicycle odyssey from the northernmeost to the southernmost points of the four main islands of the Japanese archipelago.

The author departs from Sapporro, capital of Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido in the last week of August. Two months later he stares out to sea from Cape Sata in Kyushu, the southernmost point of Japan proper.

This book is about the happenings and human encounters the author experienced while bicycling the roads of Japan.

This book is neither a guidebook nor a how-to-bicycle-Japan book. Most definitely it is not a treatise on the culture, customs, geography, history or people of Japan. Pure and simple, it is a very personal account of my bicycle ride down the length of Japan's four main islands. Please accept it as such.

About the Author

Donald Schlief grew up in Michigan. After graduating from college in 1967 he taught Spanish in the Southfield Public Schools in southeastern Michigan. In 1987 Don and his wife Marilyn were chosen to represent Michigan as exchange teachers in the Michigan-Shiga Sister State Program. They spent the next year teaching English in Japan. After retirement from teaching in 1993, the author hit the adventure road, traveling all over the world. In 1998 he decided it was high time to follow his dream of bicycling the length of Japan.