Riding a Bike Park in Japan

Never ridden outside the Philippines yet? This is a breakdown of how you can get to Fujimi Panorama MTB Park, which is a legit, lift-access (gondola-type) downhill bike park located in Fujimi, a ski resort town located just 2.5 hours from Tokyo by train.

GETTING TO TOKYO

However which way you want to fly, whatever airline, you’ll need a passport and a visa. The visa usually takes about a week or two, depending on your agency, and if you have all the requirements. Briefly, the basics for a Japan visa are:

1. Birth Certificate (for first-timers)
2. Certificate of Employment
3. BIR
4. Bank Certificate
5. 2 photos
6. Completed application and itinerary

Technically that’s it, but best to check with your travel agent. Oh and if you haven’t yet, watch this video so that you not only get an idea of what it is, why it’s worth it, but also so you’d really, really feel the urge to do it.

GETTING TO THE BIKE PARK

Congratulations, you’re in Tokyo now (let’s pretend). Make sure to fly into Narita from where you are, it’s easier and cheaper (so far).

To get to the bike park is a different story, I’ll list it out and the possible expenses along the way. It might not always be like this, it could go up or down, but this is how it was for me.

The entire journey starts in Shinjuku station.

1. Purchase a round-trip ticket to and from Fujimi Station, Limited Express, 11,300 YEN (round trip)
2. Get to the station at least 30 minutes before your train leaves, head to platform 10
3. Buy/bring water and a light snack, you can eat on the train, 300 YEN
4. Get off at Fujimi station
*You have to get to Fujimi before 10AM, that’s the only time a FREE shuttle operates to Panorama
5. Ride the shuttle to Panorama

GET A BIKE AND RIDE

Now you’re at the Bike Park, time to rent a bike, get your gear on, and ride. The park operates a lift-access system, so you’ll be placing the bikes inside a gondola, it’s pretty massive so it’s about a 10-15 minute ride up. The park uses a color trails system: green for easy, blue for intermediate, and black for advanced. IMPORTANT: You HAVE to reserve your bike beforehand on their website so CLICK HERE. Again, RENT BIKES HERE. There are A LOT of tracks and the longest one is 8 kilometers, almost no pedaling (just in green trails), the blacks are bunny hops required, and the blues are the jump lines.

1. Once you get to the park, head on over to Backyard Garage House
2. Look for Takeru in BGH
3. Pay for the bike (16,000 YEN with unlimited lift access)
4. Get personal insurance (200 YEN) and bike insurance (1,000 YEN)
5. Bring your own helmet and pads — full face is recommended
6. Have the bike setup your way, no extra charge

There’s an awesome cafeteria with great food, free water, and WIFI– I highly recommend the CURRY dishes. That’s about it, have about 30,000 YEN ready for the full on experience, comes out to about 12,000 PHP for the whole thing. If you have any questions, message our Facebook Page. And yes, bring an action camera, you’ll regret not bringing one, and as always try not to ride it alone.

Lastly, the last shuttle leaves the bike park at 3PM, by then you’d have had 5-6 runs down already. Make sure to get there before it leaves because a taxi from the park to the station is expensive. When you get to Fujimi Station, head to platform 2, wait for the train and that’s it.