I’ve actually been waiting a while to share this news for a while, but there were a lot of things I needed to finalize before publicizing this information (visa change, drivers license application, etc..).

Everything is finally in order and good to go, so here is my official announcement. I’ll be working for a Japanese bicycle parts distributor which is also the sole distributor for BMC Switzerland bikes in Japan. My main job will be working as the BMC Japan brand manager, but I will also be working with various other brands.

For more details, be sure to check out the video on my YouTube channel. I’m really excited for this new chapter in my life and also excited to share my experiences with you through the channel and this blog.

The post My New Job in Japan, Why I Quit Teaching English appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

This video will go into detail about my experience getting my Japanese driver’s license.

Gaimen Kirikae (外免切替)

It is oriented towards people who are transferring their licence from their home country to a Japanese one. This is known as Gaimen Kirikae (外免切替)

It was a long process that took me about 2 months in total, between all of the paperwork preparation, translation, various applications, driving school practice, and the driving test practical exam (which I failed on my first time..)

This tutorial is very long and detailed, so here are some timestamp links to the main talking points.

Also, here is a link to the Supermelf PDF Guide for Driving in Japan and Passing the Driver’s Test, which was a huge help! http://www.supermelf.com/japan/ajetdrivingbook/DrivinginJapanandPassingtheDriversTest.pdf

00:55 Why am I getting a license?
02:15 International license?
02:45 Switching to a Japanese license (外面切替)

Part 1
04:13 1.1 – Required documents
07:30 1.2 – Submitting documents + application
09:45 1.3 – Vision test & knowledge test
12:10 Blessed & cursed countries

Part 2
13:25 2.1 Practical exam scheduling + info
17:00 2.2 Driving school practice
20:14 2.3 Practical exam test day
Why I failed / How I passed
28:06 Total costs and time

My driving license application was done in Aichi prefecture (Nagoya), which is famous for having a low passing rate for the practical exam driving test (only 20%). One of the guys I met on the driving test day was on his 5th attempt (which he failed).. I was pretty happy to pass on my 2nd attempt, and even though I had to spend almost $400 + use some paid leave, I’m excited for the new opportunities having a driving license in Japan will bring.

The post How to Get a Japanese Driver’s License | Tips, Advice & Total Costs appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

We’re in the last day of our Kansai road bike bikepacking trip and we’re taking the shinkansen high speed bullet train back to Nagoya. In order to bring your bike on a train in Japan 99% of the time you will need a rinko bag (輪行袋).

They are usually about 3,000~5,000 yen and come in various sizes/colors.

TIOGA Rinko Bag (the one that I own) (タイオガ)

DOPPLEGANGER 輪行バッグ

Both of these are large enough to carry a road bike, but you need to take off your front wheel.

Some extra tips
– take off your pedals (though not necessary)
– strap your front wheel to the frame to prevent movement
– if you’re on the shinkansen, there’s plenty of space at the back of each train car.
– For regular trains, aim for the front or back of the train. Peak hour times on crowded lines are not allowed, so be careful to avoid this situation.

Any other questions about bringing bikes on trains in Japan, leave them in the comments.

Kansai Japan Bikepacking Trip Playlist

The post How to Bring Bicycles on Trains in Japan | Rinko Bag (輪行) Tutorial appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

We both had very different experiences during our time studying abroad in Japan, so we thought it would be interesting to discuss those together and share them with you guys in case any of you are considering studying abroad in Japan.

Our main talking points in include:

• Intro Cruise
• Intro Jess
• Why Japan
• Why study abroad in Japan / How did we choose our school
• Japanese language level before studying abroad
• Did our Japanese language ability improve?
• Good and bad points about study abroad / living in Japan

The post Tips and Advice For Studying Abroad in Japan appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

It’s a bit of a long story, and I didn’t want to just do it sitting in my room since it was such a nice day outside, so I went out for a nice ride on the mountain bike to the nearby mountains. Deciding to learn Japanese has possibly been the biggest life changing event in my life so far, and I’m so happy I committed to it despite all of the ups and downs throughout the process.. Join along on today’s ride where I share my story of how I started studying Japanese and how I ended up coming to Japan (now is my 3rd time)

This video is fairly long and is mostly me talking the entire time. I tried to keep it as short as I could, but there’s so much I could talk about with this topic and so much more I want to go into detail about, like strategies and tips I recommend, but I figured I’d save that for another video.

If you want to see more videos about learning Japanese, please let me know in the comments!

The post My Story of How I Learned Japanese & Moved to Japan どうやって日本語を学んだの？ appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

The post VISA UPDATE – Some Good & Bad News appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

Since getting married and moving into our new apartment here in Japan, our bike count increased to 7 between the two of us.. Things were getting a bit out of hand and it was clear we needed to build some sort of custom bike stand to fit all of our bikes in our apartment.

Fortunately, our new apartment has an extra room. We decided to dedicate this room to be half bike room and half a work/study space. Here is a picture of the room when we first moved in.

As you can see, this didn’t leave much room for other things on the room. Also, getting the bikes out was a bit of a hassle.. Thus begins project DIY Bike Stand!

We didn’t have a super solid plan in mind before building the rack, but we had a pretty rough idea of what materials we needed.

Our first stop was to our local home center, where we bought a bunch of 2×4 wood planks that were about the same length as our ceiling height. The length of these does not matter so much, but it is important that they are a bit longer than the length of your bike (for obvious reasons).

We carried the wood back on our “mama-chari” bicycle, which has proven to be a very useful tool throughout this moving process. The rest of the tools we were mostly able to buy off of amazon.

The wood actually ended up being just a few inches too long for our room, so we had to cut them down a tad bit. Luckily we had bought a fun little handsaw and some clamps to get that job done.

Start Building The Bike Rack

Once we cut the wood down to size, we were able to start assembling the base that would stand against the wall. We did this on the ground first to get everything lined up nicely and the screws drilled in easily. Each vertical plank (front side) is intended to be a single support for each bicycle. The horizontal planks (back side) are just extra support to keep everything locked together.

The spacing between each vertical plank is up to you and your bike sizes. We went with a wider spacing, so it’s easier for us to get the bikes out, but you can go with a more narrow spacing to save more space. Just measure your handlebar width and add a few inches to figure out the spacing you need.

The next step is to attach the hooks to the top of each vertical blank. Make sure to measure the distance from the hook to the ground and check that it is longer than the length of your bicycle from front tire to back tire.

We also added some electric tape to cover the screws that were drilled into the bike rack hooks for extra protection from loose metal punctures.

Things are looking good so far, but we still need some extra support on the sides..

Building Extra Support

The easiest solution for support is triangle style, but I wanted to leave space for a small table on the right side. That way, I could still tuck one more bicycle under the table, and store things on top. Here you can see the first steps for building this.

And the final result for the right table support.

And we went with the simple triangle style on the left side to balance out the rest of the support.

Now that the support is added, all that’s left is to push it into position against the wall and load the bikes up..

Bike Stand Frontal view

Side angle view

Final Thoughts

Overall, I am very happy with the finished product, and I got my wife’s seal of approval, which is a big plus.

We’ve now got a lot of space to spare, and managed to fit a desk for study/work into the room as well. In fact, I’m writing this blog post in this very room, so it’s already being put to good use 🙂

Tools Used

• Handsaw
• Power drill / screwdriver
• Clamp
• Sandpaper
• Measuring tape
• Marker pen

Materials Used

• 2×4 Wood (5 long vertical, 3 support horizontal, 1 support diagonal, extra shorter pieces for building table)
• Screws (65mm)
• Bike Hooks / alternative hooks
• Electric Tape
• Imagination

Check out our video for this project for more in depth detail on our process.

DIY Bike Stand VLOG

The post Custom Bike Stand (Self-Supported & No Wall Drilling) appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

Fortunately, it was moving season in Japan and there were a ton of available options and Thuong (my wife) and I were able to find an apartment nearby our old apartment and complete all of the paperwork to move in within the month! 🙂

Before beginning our search, I was a bit worried because I had heard stories of discrimination against foreigners, but I fortunately did not experience any of that. One annoying thing was having to pay extra money for a “guarantor”, but that was about it. It probably helps that I have a semi-long term visa (5 years), and also was able to speak Japanese to everyone throughout the whole process.

In any case, minus the stress that comes with moving all of your possessions, it felt amazing to move into our giant new apartment (about 55 square meters) after living in a tiny single apartment for the last 3 years.

Here’s a few videos I took documenting the experience.

Saying Goodbye to My Tiny Japanese Apartment of 3 years

Our New Japanese Apartment Tour!

The post We Moved! New Japanese Apartment Tour appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

Mama chari’s are the standard bike in Japan. They’re big, sturdy, comfortable to ride, and can carry lots of luggage with big baskets up front and racks in the back.

I bought one myself when I first came to Japan years ago..

Sadly, I only had the bike for about a month before selling it to my coworker since it was a bit too small for my liking. But we finally have a new mama chari bike back in our family, and are already putting it to a lot of good use..

Enjoy today’s VLOG where Thuong and I go hunting at a few different bike shops for the perfect mama chari!

The post Buying a Mama Chari Bicycle in Japan 新ママチャリ appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

We actually have been engaged for quite a few months now, but wanted to keep things within our close friend circle until we were able to sort out various things like her Japanese visa and the paperwork we needed to get legally married here in Japan.

Since you are now reading this, you can safely assume that things have gone smoothly and we were able to successfully immigrate Thuong back into Japan from Vietnam and we were able to get married at our local city center here in Japan.

As to be expected of us, we rode our bikes to the city center on our way to get married.

If you’re interested in how to get married in Japan as a foreigner, I also made a video about that here.

We had a big (small by Vietnamese standards apparently) party at Thuong’s hometown in Vietnam. Here’s one of the photos from that evening. We originally were thinking to also do a wedding ceremony in Japan, but have since decided against it to try and save some money. We will also be doing a ceremony in America one day when we are able to secure her visa to go there.

Many good things to look forward to in our looong life together! 🙂

The post We Got Married! In Japan appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

Rest assured that this is not the last time you will see Thuong on this channel. I will be heading to Vietnam at the end of December and Thuong and I will be travelling around together and filming new videos while she shows me around her country.

The post Thuong’s Visa Expired and Is Leaving Japan appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.

I was able to take a few clips from the night, and thought I would make a video about it.

The post Surrounded by 3 Beautiful Ladies, Happy Birthday to Me! appeared first on Two Wheel Cruise.