Ame ni mo makezu: Yakushima

On the second day we took the bus back from our inn near Anbo to the tourist center in Miya-no-ura to collect our bikes and ride back to our inn with a detour to yakisugi-land. I had two questions for the rental people:

Do they not supply a puncture kit and pump, and possibly a spare tube?
My brakes are worn down quite a bit, could we put in new ones before starting?

The answer to # 1 was: no kit, tube, or pump, and also customer is responsible for fixing flats. In case of a flat, go to the nearest gas station to have it fixed out of own pocket. I was pretty skeptical that any gas station could fix a flat tire but those were the instructions.

The answer to #2 was: the bike was less than two years old so it was impossible that the brakes could be about to wear out.

#1 was soon put to the test as 10 kilometers out of town Junes tire went flat. With the help of a friendly local farmers cooperative, the nearest gas station was located and phoned to confirm they fixed flat tires. After a 40 minute bike walk we reached the gas station. The attendant was very helpful and determined that the rubber grommet on the valve had decayed, and that there was no puncture in the tube. The valve is a british type "Woods valve" listed by Sheldon as "formerly popular in the British Isles and Asia".

Fortunately, and to my amazement, the gas station attendant happened to have a spare Woods valve rubber grommet, even though he didn't have a spare tube. Total cost parts and labor $4.50 (four dollars and fifty cents) at the current exchange rate. (Japanese cost 540 yen).

Wow - only $4.50 - this reminds of when the neck of my radiator cracked in rural Nevada and a local mechanic in a town of population 32 transplanted another radiator neck, by cutting and welding, from an old junk car to mine - for a total cost of $10 dollars (1981 dollars).

By now short on time we took some back roads and an abbreviated trip halfway up the road to Yakisugi land before heading back to the inn.