Interview with Sam Crofts: Cycling – and Eating – Through Japan’s Iconic Cities

Health and fitness usually take a backseat when we’re traveling. Sure, you might need to walk from one tourist spot to another, but the amount of street snacks you end up sampling on the way? Well, it kind of erases any benefits you might’ve reaped from that short “exercise.” Of course, exploring a new city and trying to hit all the famous sites in your short visit can be plenty exhausting, which is why you might need that sugar rush more often than usual. But what if we told you that there is an efficient way to get to all those essential places, with enough exercise to burn those calories from the local meals you’d still get to enjoy? 

As you can guess from the name, Cycle Osaka, Kyoto, and Hiroshima use bikes to traverse some of Japan’s popular cities. From the wide sidewalks running alongside each city’s symbolic landmarks, through narrow alleyways leading into the hidden corners you would’ve missed on foot. Under the guidance of local experts, who’ll introduce you to hidden gems tucked in the nooks and crannies of these seemingly well-trodden cities, you’ll get a chance to see them from a new perspective. 

Speaking of new perspectives, ever wonder what it’ll be like to be on the other side of the counter at a food stall? To cook your very own street food and be stuffed with the secret knowledge of what makes a good dipping sauce? Well, Eat Osaka’s cooking classes have got that part covered. That’s right – you’ll be exercising and cooking for yourself and having lots of fun while you’re at it, but we’ll leave it to Sam Crofts to pull you in the rest of the way:

First of all, can you please introduce yourself?

I am originally from the UK but have been living in Japan for 15 years. At some point in 2013, I had an idea to start a business showing people around my adopted home (Osaka) by bike, and I loved it. As the years went on and popularity grew, I was able to open branches in Kyoto and Hiroshima and through the people I met, I also ended up starting a cooking class in Osaka.

Your tours feature a unique blend of exercise, sightseeing, and food tastings. How did you come up with the idea for these tours, and what’s the purpose behind this combination?

When I first moved to Japan (before marriage, kids and real life), I had a bunch of friends from the UK come to stay with me. None of us had much money, so I started borrowing bikes and taking people on city adventures, introducing them to the people, places, and food that defined my new life in Japan. I honestly didn’t consciously design it as a blend of exercise, food and sightseeing, it just seemed (to me anyway) that the best way to experience Japanese cities, people, and places was by bike. What did take a little longer was the idea that this could be a job. But once a friend told me it could be a real business, I began to think seriously about it, and here we are!

You offer uniquely themed tour packages tailored to each specific city. For example, there’s the “Urban Street Art Bike Tour” for Osaka and the “Craft Beer Tour” in Hiroshima. What made you offer these location-specific tours, and how did you decide the routes for each specific theme?

The routes really come from a blend of personal experiences and the lives and passions of the other guides I work with. I only really designed the very first route alone, and since then, they have all been co-designed. Usually, someone has an idea, and if we think it’s cool, we go and ride it and talk about it and play around with it until it is as fun, interesting and safe as possible. Then, if we believe in it, we put it out there and see what people think.

You recently started holding cooking classes in Osaka! Of course, you already have the “Food Tasting” and “Backstreet Night” tours for more food-centric travel, but now travelers can get hands-on by learning to make some of Osaka’s best street food. What made you expand into the realm of cooking classes, and how does it relate to the goal behind your usual cycling tours?

The cooking classes were actually my wife’s idea! When she was on maternity leave with our first child, she (along with some friends of ours) decided to set up a cooking school to introduce home-style cooking to travelers in Japan. Many of our bike tour guests over the years had said that even though they were in Japan, they didn’t really have a chance to talk to Japanese people in any real depth. So we set up Eat Osaka to provide a cool space for such interactions, and for real and meaningful experiences with local people that travelers could enjoy.

Of course, food is always the best way to discover a place and creating dishes together gives a beautiful, shared learning opportunity and space for fun and relaxed interaction. Eat Osaka was staffed entirely by Japanese chefs and aimed to help people make those connections. Unfortunately, we lost all of our cooking schools in the pandemic and only very recently have we restarted, but we now have a great team, a beautiful location in an old izakaya near the castle, and everything is going great. Eat Osaka is back!

Eat Osaka started off with the “Street Food Cooking Class.” Can you perhaps give us a sneak peek of the other classes in store?

At our height, we had home cooking classes, izakaya classes, wagyu classes, and even homemade ramen classes! This time we have started with Tempura and Udon, but it is still very new, so who knows what we will end up doing…

Continuing with this food talk, your “Osaka Food Tasting Bike Tour” is quite spontaneous. But even with no set route, can you name some essential local foods that you always try to stop by for?

Nah, sorry, it’s our secret, but it probably isn’t what you’d expect!

Let’s go with the opposite now. What are some unexpected food stops you made that you end up wanting to recommend to future clients?

My personal recommendations change all the time. Right now, I am quite in love with the Tsuruhashi neighborhood of Osaka. It’s actually home to the biggest Korean community in Japan and, therefore, perhaps not a classic stop on a food tour in Japan. But it’s not really 100% Korean, or 100% Japanese, but it is VERY Osakan, and the vibrancy and food and people are very special to me, so I think that is one of the best.

Lastly, can you name some places that are better experienced on a bike than simply on foot?

For me, pretty much everywhere is better by bike. My particular favourites on our tours are the grounds of Osaka Castle (huge and too much walking in my opinion!), the Peace Park in Hiroshima and the bike path by Kamo River in Kyoto.

Thank you very much for sharing all about Cycle and Eat Osaka! We hope more people will try out cycling and see the beauty of experiencing Japan on wheels. So, what are you waiting for? Cycle your way into the heart of local culture – or cook your way to it! The best way to the heart of a city is through its stomach, after all. Well… your stomach.

Check out Sam’s cycling tours and cooking classes at the following: 

Cycle Osaka website: https://www.cycleosaka.com/ 

Cycle Osaka Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cycleosaka/ 

Cycle Kyoto website: https://www.cyclekyoto.net/ 

Cycle Kyoto Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyclekyoto/ 

Cycle Hiroshima website: https://www.cyclehiroshima.com/ 

Cycle Hiroshima Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cycle_hiroshima/# 

Eat Osaka website: https://www.eatosaka.com/

Featured Photo Credit: Sam Crofts

Ready for a fabulous night in Osaka after all that discovering through cycling? Check out our Umeda Craft Beer Tour for a bar-hopping experience you won’t forget!