How far can a Honda LEAD125 go with a full tank of gas? Part 10 of the Tokaido Gas Challenge, from Nihonbashi, Tokyo to Kyoto! [Day 2]

To the sunny Hakone

It was a brilliantly clear morning. A typical Japanese clear day. The white Mt. Fuji stood out perfectly against the clear blue sky, a sight that would delight anyone who is a fan of Japan. However, as a non-political AFO rider, I couldn’t find any lofty cultural or political sentiments in it.

I gazed at the huge, white, beautiful mountains with a deep sense of purpose before returning to the Tokaido. I headed west and took the route from Odawara to Hakone.

There are roughly three routes to Hakone from Odawara: Hakone Shindo, National Route 1, and Prefectural Route 732 (old highway). However, the Hakone Shindo is a road for motor vehicles only, and 125cc class bikes cannot be ridden on it, so if you’re riding a LEAD125, you have two options: National Route 1 or the old highway. This time, I chose to approach from the old highway, Hakone Nanamagari.

Hakone Nanakuri has a certain charm, but it also has its own traffic restrictions. One strange rule is that motorcycles with a certain engine displacement are not allowed to ride on the roads for a certain period of time. Motorcycles under 550cc are not allowed to ride on weekends and holidays from April 1st to November 30th, from 8am to 3pm. This mysterious regulation, which was enacted in 1984, is still in place in 2025, more than 40 years later. The engine displacement restriction of 550cc is now nothing but a mystery.

The LEAD125 easily climbed up a curved road without any difficulty. Before reaching Lake Ashi, I took a slight detour and entered a narrow mountain path. Up ahead, I came across an intersection with the old Tokaido road, which is still only for pedestrians.

An exhilarating downhill ride west from Hakone!

We descended the mountain pass and headed for Moto-Hakone. The bright, clear Lake Ashi looked so fun that it made me want to just laze around, but for Takahashi, who was running at full speed and on a mission to run out of gas, that was an impossible dream. We hurried on, glancing at the sightseeing boats.

From Lake Ashi to Mishima City, the winding road offers some of the most spectacular scenery on the Tokaido road. After descending the hill and stopping briefly in front of Mishima Taisha Shrine, I opened the throttle and headed further west.

From Mishima Taisha Shrine, head towards the coastline via Shizuoka Prefectural Route 145. This is also the old Tokaido road, and the pine trees lining the road still retain the atmosphere of the past. From there, switch to Prefectural Route 380 and you will soon reach Senbon Matsubara.

If you head west along the coastline after passing through Senbonmatsubara, you’ll come across Tagonoura. It even appears in the poems of Yamabe no Akahito, a poet from the Nara period, as a scenic spot for viewing Mt. Fuji. So, even among the travelers along the Tokaido in the Edo period, some cultured people with a penchant for waka poetry would have come to view Mt. Fuji from Tagonoura. Of course, the “Tagonoura” of old didn’t necessarily refer to the modern-day “Tagonoura Port.”

Takahashi’s detour to Tagonoura wasn’t due to some vulgar biological urge, like being hungry and wanting to devour the curry mate he had on hand, or wanting to use a public toilet to simultaneously eat and defecate. It was because, as an educated person of the Reiwa era, he was trying to carry out fieldwork, known as a detour, in order to study the tourism culture of the Tokaido in the Edo period. So, so true, so true!

Within Fujinokuni Tagonoura Minato Park, there is an observation deck called the Mount Fuji Dragon Tower, a 1/3 scale model of the Russian warship Diana, and a monument bearing the poem, “When I step out of Tagonoura, I see snow falling on the high peaks of Fuji, all white.”

The background of this famous work is also properly explained on the monument. However, it is written in very heavy Chinese and Man’yōgana: “Yamabe no Sukune Akahito no Moji Fujin Yamauta Ishu, and Tanka, Tenchi no Bunjiju Kamizabite…” and is practically a code to most modern Japanese people. However, perhaps out of kindness on the part of the government officials who are considerate of the uneducated public, a Japanese translation is also included, which is nice because even serious AFO riders can understand it to a certain extent.

Leaving Tagonoura, a difficult section of the old Tokaido awaits to the west: the narrow passage between Yui-juku and Okitsu-juku. During the Edo period, the Tokaido avoided the dangerous cliffs closer to the sea by taking a mountain path and passing through Sattata Pass. However, with advances in civil engineering, Japan’s major transportation arteries — National Route 1 Bypass, the Tomei Expressway, and the Tokaido Main Line — have been crammed into this narrow passage, only about 120 meters wide.

Normally I would just cross over National Route 1 Bypass, but this time I decided to take the old road over Sadatoge Pass and head to Okitsu.

The paved road going up Sadatoge Pass is extremely narrow, with a maximum gradient of roughly 20%. It looks quite steep, but the LEAD125 is no match for it. No, he’s not surprised that it can climb this hill. Most modern Japanese scooters can probably climb it. What surprised Takahashi was the feeling of the climb. He was prepared for a steep slope, but it climbed so hard he wondered if it was even flat. He was amazed at its strong heart, as it could accelerate smoothly even halfway up a steep slope if he opened the throttle a little.

Once I crossed the Sadatoge Pass, Shizuoka city was just around the corner. After navigating the streets, which were beginning to be consumed by darkness and traffic jams, I parked my bike at a hotel in Shimizu Ward and unpacked. The trip was 217.8km, today’s mileage was 128.8km, and the fuel meter was flashing nonstop.

How far can a Honda LEAD125 go with a full tank of gas? Part 10 of the Tokaido Gas Challenge: From Nihonbashi, Tokyo to Kyoto! [Day 1] | Motor-Fan, a media platform focused on automotive-related articles

My partner in this Tokaido Gas Challenge is Honda’s long-selling LEAD125 scooter, a classic and fast-paced scooter. Many middle-aged and older riders will likely recognize it as a familiar bike they’ve ridden frequently since they were kids. However, […]

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