'Junkan': Biking from Tokyo to Osaka

SNOW points us to a new mini-documentary featured on GOOD Magazine about 13 American fixed-gear bicycle riders pedaling from Tokyo to Osaka during the summer of 2009. The short video "Junkan" follows the riders at the beginning and very end of their 350-mile, week-long ride.

Most modern day travelers take the two-and-a-half hour shinkansen bullet train between the two cities, turning the scenery outside into one long fuzzy blur. The bicycling route, despite being very, very long, offers a much more picturesque and intimate view of the countryside and farms along the famed Tokaido route. Although the film may ultimately be about the riders' personal voyage, it's a great way to get glimpses of an often hidden side of central Japan.

The full documentary -- to be called "Tokyo to Osaka" -- will screen in the summer of 2010. To learn more about the project or about biking from Tokyo to Osaka, check out the film's homepage: www.tokyo2osaka.com.