Suggestions needed for a 4 week route across western Japan, from Shimonoseki/Fukuoka to Osaka, April-May 2025. Focus on nature, history, countryside and wild camping!

I’m currently planning some possible routes for cycling across Japan next year. The goal is to see and experience as much as possible of Japan in 4 weeks of active cycling, with a focus on nature, mountains, villages and historical sites/shrines, while mostly avoiding larger cities and the coast.

4 weeks is not all that much time to work with, so Tokyo for instance is out of the picture, and I want to have a route that can easily be modified along the way (for instance by lopping off sections if time/weather demands it). To make it open-ended I’m planning to cycle as far as I manage, and then take the train to Kyoto to spend my last 3 nights before flying home.

Quick bio: I’ve done a couple of 7 day tours and one 2 week tour. I know that I can do 75km and 1000-2000m of elevation per day, on a mix of asphalt and rough roads, with 10 hours of daylight. I’m hoping longer daylight hours and better roads will make it easier to cover distance in Japan.

Right now I’ve planned a 930km route of Kyushu starting in Shimonoseki, a 560km route of Shikoku, and a 1030km route from Wakayama to Lake Biwa, Matsumoto and Kanazawa. That’s 2500km or 93km per day on average across 27 days of non-stop cycling, leaving 3 days for Kyoto.

Is this doable or am I biting off too much to chew here? I’d like to spend a couple of nights in towns/cities along the way, arriving at the hotel around midday and spending the afternoon off the bike, though I want to tent at least 75% of the time. Perhaps in a couple of exceptional cases to spend two nights so can eat, walk and rest. Of course, with the route above there’s not much time for rest days.

I start my tour in Taiwan, and then fly to Seoul. I’ll either take a circuitous route to Busan and ferry to Shimonoseki on the 20th of april, or do the direct 4-river path so I reach the last ferry going to Fukuoka on the 17th before maintenance-closure. The last option would give me 3 extra days in Japan and cut about 100km off the route. On the other hand I’d then see less of Korea.. but I’m thinking the time might be better spent in Japan.

-Does the route look decent?

-Any nice roads I’ve missed?

-Are there sections along the route I can safely dismiss, perhaps Hirado and Sasebo in Kyushu, or Kochi in Shikoku?

-Would you rather spend 6 days cycling across Korea and 30 in Japan, or 9 in Korea and 27 in Japan? (not counting 4 nights in Seoul and 3 in Kyoto).

-I could skip Shikoku entirely and ferry straight to Osaka/Wakayama, but I would then end up in Koya and Nara in the middle of golden week. Otherwise golden week will happen while I’m in Shikoku – is this a good place to be, and is the holiday traffic really as bad as described online?

-Is cycling all the way to Matsumoto and Kanazawa worthwhile?

-Can you suggest the best cities/towns along the way to spend a night (or two)? Good food and historical sites/museums would be the biggest considerations. At the moment I’m considering Nagasaki, Nara, Matsumoto, Takayama and Kanazawa.