As the ferry docked in Kobe, the first thing our friend Masa asked, with a gleam in his eye, was “Mystery Tour?” 

We’d arrived in Tokyo, Japan 10 days earlier for a 14-day bike tour—one where nothing quite went the way we planned it. When an airline mishap delayed the arrival of our bikes for two days, Yuta, a friend of Fischer’s and the owner of the bike shop Wood Village Cycles, didn’t just loan us bikes. He and his friend Masa, who owns the coffee shop inside Wood Village Cycles with his wife Les, took our crew on what we came to call “Mystery Tours.” No known destinations, no known ending, just riding around Tokyo for hours until somehow we ended back up at Yuta’s shop.

Now, after nearly two weeks in Japan, we disembarked from the ferry for the final leg of our journey: two days of riding around Kobe and Osaka. We’d learned, through trial and error, that besides bikes, ferries are the way to travel in Japan: steaming bowls of udon, plenty of time to sleep and recharge electronics, and no need for rinkos—the lightweight bags used to transport bicycles on public transit that can be cumbersome with a fully loaded bicycle.

The ferry crew included myself and my friends Jake and Fischer, while our buddy Jackson—zipping around by train instead of bike due to a run-in with a car—met us on the dock with Les and Masa. Kobe and Osaka had been on the itinerary from the start, but as we got to know Les and Masa in Tokyo, they asked to join us for this part of our trip. Masa was born in Kobe and had met Les in Osaka while she was teaching English there.

When Masa offered us a Mystery Tour of his hometown, we all lit up with excitement. That night, we rode all over Kobe. Turned up random streets and alleyways and down stair sets before making our way back to the hostel.

That night I thought about how this trip, six months in the making, was almost over. It was entirely different than the one Jake and I had envisioned, and it already felt like a fever dream. How we even made it to Kobe—missing bikes, ferries and trains, and having a run-in with a car—I wasn’t sure.

The next day our Mystery Tour wound up into Kobe’s hills, where we encountered some of the steepest roads of the trip. We rounded a corner and Masa pointed up at a house perched way up high in the hills: his childhood home. We chatted about his childhood as we rode to a little cafe run by a local family. I say cafe loosely; we were literally in this family's home as they made us a traditional Japanese breakfast. Stuffed with good food and hospitality, next, we visited our first onsen of the trip. Kind of a shame to wait til the trip was almost over to visit an onsen, but I'm sure glad it was this one. The good soak in the volcanic mineral water gave us the reset we all needed.

Then it was on to the next adventure: a brewery tour owned by Ben, a friend of Les’ and another English teacher who had set down roots in Japan. After sharing some delicious tacos, we made our way to Spark Cyclery. Run by another of Les and Masa’s amazing friends, Ko and Yasuko, their bike and coffee shop serves incredible homemade scones. After a long chat, we finally got to the bikes; we oohed and ahhed at their bikes and they at ours. 

At last, was time to hit the road out of Kobe. We set our sights toward Osaka. Jake, Fischer and I would ride the 30 miles there while Jackson, Les and Masa would meet us that night at L’ottica Osaka, owned by Masa’s brother’s Tetsuya. Tetsuya, also the restaurant’s chef and sommelier, had generously booked it out for us.

I didn’t know what to expect, but somehow it was exactly what you’d want it to be. The restaurant was an unassuming gray wall with a brown wooden door. Five feet up the wall, a small window, 6 inches by 48 inches—just enough window to look in and see our friends, already there, laughing, inside the most incredible restaurant I’ve ever been in. A bar separated the kitchen from an intimate, softly lit space with just enough room for eight guests, so we could still talk with Tetsuya and watch him cook. The seven of us enjoyed classic Italian cuisines with a Japanese twist, perfectly paired with the most unexpected wines by Tetsuya. We laughed, we ate, and we drank the night away, enjoying an evening that spans multiverses, where you’re sure every version of you ends up in this moment at some point.

As I look back on those 36 hours in Kobe and Osaka, I can still bottle that magical night up. I remember a feeling of peace. The entire trip was full of unknowns. Our bikes were two days late, we missed trains, and a ferry that was key to our route around was no longer in business; Jackson even got hit by a car. But all of these things not going according to plan, led us to that restaurant on that night with those people. At the end of the day, the end of a trip, the end of a life, things don't always go the way we plan, and that’s ok—it’s all a Mystery Tour anyway.

Watch Mystery Tour: Bikepacking Through Japan Short Film