The day started with heavy rain and strong winds which made me consider alternatives to travel to Nagasaki (about 95 km from Sasebo). I was lucky to find a boat that accepted small motorbikes which stopped in several islands before reaching Seto, a small port town 20 kilometers away from my destination.

The boat was very old and we had a hard time putting the scooter on board. As soon as they managed to tie it up between some unused seats at the back we were ready to sail off.

The boat was extremely fast and in 30 minutes we arrived at our first stop (Oshima island). Unfortunately the captain got bad news for me. Given the bad weather condition in the open sea, the boat could not continue with the motorcycle on board and I was asked to get off at this island and then continue to Nagasaki on the road. This island was fortunately connected to the mainland by a long bridge, nonetheless the distance to Nagasaki was almost the same as from Sasebo, so the boat ride turned out to be meaningless.

Once I reached the the bridge I was told that two-wheel vehicles were only allowed to cross on foot due to the extreme weather conditions. It took around 25 minutes to cross its 1,095 meters long.

The rain was falling at short, intense and sudden intervals which in Japanese they have a specific word for it: “通り雨” (tōriame).

The rain and wind would not cease and I had to drive at an average speed of 35-40km/h which took around 2 hours and a half to get to Nagasaki city. I rode through road 52 and 206 which were beautiful, but I could not appreciate much of it given the bad weather.