![[Title] Shimanami Kaido Cycling Info: 2023 Website Year in Review](https://touring-shimanami.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/rep2023e-ogp.png)
*This article is an English translation of a Japanese report published in 2024.
Hello. I’m Kawai Yuki, a cyclist living in the Shimanami Kaido area. In this post, I’d like to share a look back at how my website has been growing.
Deeper, More Accurate Information
Thank you for visiting Shimanami Cycling Tips throughout 2023.
To those of you who have used this website to plan your trip, those who pulled it up on your phone while riding the Shimanami Kaido, and the regulars who have come back again and again — I’d like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the year.
2023 was a milestone year for this website. The number of published articles finally reached 100.
By the end of 2022, I had managed to cover the basic information about cycling the Shimanami Kaido. In 2023, I focused on going deeper and broader — adding detailed write-ups on viewpoints and scenic spots, guidance on choosing a rental bike, coverage of nearby routes like the Yume-Shima Kaido and the Hamakaze Kaido, and articles aimed at those thinking about getting into cycling for the first time. I feel the content has grown quite substantially.
As the article count grew, I also began to feel more strongly the limits of writing from personal experience and knowledge alone. There are aspects — like the historical background of the Shimanami Kaido and the story of its opening — that even living in the area can’t fully cover through firsthand experience alone. So I made a point of doing more rigorous fact-checking work: visiting the tourism department at Imabari City Hall to collect official materials, and spending time at the Imabari City Central Library reading through the newspaper archives from when the Shimanami Kaido first opened.
I also realized that casually observing visitors and having brief conversations with them on the Shimanami Kaido wasn’t quite enough to accurately understand what cyclists really needed. So I started conducting informal surveys with actual visitors whenever I went out riding. (Once I actually tried it, I quickly realized it wasn’t as easy as I’d imagined…)
It was a year that reminded me: there are things you can only write about by going beyond personal opinion — by tracking down primary sources, consulting official materials, and continuing the steady, unglamorous work of on-the-ground research, including those surveys.
2023 in Numbers
The access data for 2023 showed a significant leap forward from 2022.
| Metric | 2023 Results | vs. 2022 | Notes & Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Users | 163,382 | +332.6% | Search traffic grew dramatically. Expanding the foundational content drove a strong increase in new visitors. |
| Annual Pageviews | 412,698 PV | +265.7% | Pages per visit improved. Readers were notably moving between practical, problem-solving articles. |
| Mobile (Smartphone) Share | 73.3% | — | Real-time on-site usage is the norm. More readers are checking ferry schedules and other details while actually riding. |
| PC (Desktop) Share | 25.2% | — | Used for in-depth pre-trip planning, such as reading detailed route explanations and bicycle selection guides. |
Annual users reached approximately 163,000 — more than four times the 2022 figure. The main driver was almost certainly the more than twofold increase in articles, which brought a significant boost in search engine traffic.
Looking at the monthly traffic trends, there are clear peaks during the spring (March–May) and autumn (September–November) holiday seasons — which makes perfect sense given the Shimanami Kaido’s cycling calendar. What was also noticeable was that access tended to dip during midsummer (July–August), likely due to the intense heat. Having lived here, I can say that even I think twice about riding in the midday summer sun, so I think this trend reflects reality quite accurately.
I also expanded the content aimed at people just getting into cycling in 2023, and it was notable to see a rise in longer, more careful visits from desktop users. It seems that many people are researching road bikes and cross bikes before they’ve even bought one yet. If a trip to the Shimanami Kaido is becoming someone’s entry point into a cycling life, I find that genuinely wonderful.
The Long Road to Breaking Even…
I finally managed to get approved for Google AdSense, and I’m now working toward covering the website’s running costs through a combination of Amazon Associates and Google AdSense. I also looked into Amazon Gift Card-based monetization, but that turned out to be quite difficult to make work. I do think of this as a passion project, so in that sense it’s fine — but when I factor in hosting costs and research expenses, I’m still running at a loss. Monetizing a website in such a local and niche space really is no easy thing.
That said, I’m not a fan of pages cluttered with too many ads myself, so I’ll be looking to reduce the deficit while keeping a careful balance with readability.
Riding Every Ferry and Bus Route
One of the areas I put the most effort into in 2023 was building out the public transport information — ferries and buses in particular.
Information about ferries and buses in the Shimanami Kaido area is fragmented — each company publishes its own timetables and route maps separately, making it very hard for visitors to get a clear overall picture. Trying to understand which company’s ferry connects which ports, or which bus stops where and goes where, often means bouncing between multiple websites, where the information may well be out of date.
I wanted to create a cross-referenced overview that would let visitors understand the whole picture at a glance. And I felt that as long as there were ferry routes or bus lines I hadn’t ridden myself, I couldn’t honestly call it a proper summary — so I went out and rode them.
Including routes that most tourists would never think to take, I managed to ride almost every ferry and bus line in the Shimanami Kaido area at least once — and that was one of my biggest achievements of 2023. You only discover certain things by actually getting on board: how tricky the boarding points can be to find, the quirks of reading the timetables, the real sense of how long each journey takes. I believe that kind of firsthand, experience-based information is what raises the quality of the articles.
Information about ferries and boats isn’t just about getting from A to B — for beginners, knowing about these routes as an escape option when energy runs out or the weather suddenly turns can make a huge difference in confidence. Just knowing that you can get on a ferry if things go wrong gives you the courage to set out in the first place. Providing that kind of reassurance is really at the heart of what this site is trying to do.
Top 5 Most-Read Articles of 2023
Out of 100 articles, here are the top 5 most-read pieces of 2023.
| Rank | Article Title | Pageviews | Why It Was Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | [Complete Guide] How to Choose a Rental Bike on the Shimanami Kaido! | 31,452 PV | High interest in the difference between public and private rentals, and the rules around one-way drop-off. This has become the go-to first read for most visitors. |
| 2nd | [Complete Bus Route Guide] Expressway and Local Buses on the Shimanami Kaido! | 26,449 PV | Valued for its practical use as a guide to getting around when things don’t go to plan — a kind of safety-net reference that gives readers the peace of mind to set out. |
| 3rd | [Getting Started with Cycling] Road Bike Basics and Beyond! | 17,477 PV | Hit home with readers who don’t yet own a bike and are in the early planning stages. It suggests that the Shimanami Kaido is becoming an entry point into cycling life for many. |
| 4th | [Yume-Shima Kaido] Island-Hopping by Ferry in Kamijima, Ehime | 15,317 PV | A new pattern is emerging: repeat visitors who have already ridden the main route, now seeking out quieter and more off-the-beaten-path island experiences. |
| 5th | [Itoyama Viewpoint] A Hidden Gem for Views of the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge | 12,854 PV | Beyond the classic Kirosan viewpoint, demand is growing for scenic spots that are easy to reach by bike. |
While the top article in 2022 was about lunch spots, in 2023 the rental bike guide took the top spot. With visitor numbers growing to more than four times the previous year, it seems more people are arriving with that very basic question: what kind of bike should I even rent?
Seeing the ‘Getting Started with Cycling’ article land at third place was a welcome change. People who want to visit the Shimanami Kaido but don’t yet own a bike, or have never ridden a sports bicycle — the fact that content aimed at those readers is getting read feels like a sign that this site’s audience is gradually widening.
The Yume-Shima Kaido article at fourth place was also striking. I imagine these are mostly returning visitors who’ve already ridden the main route and are now curious about venturing a little further off the beaten path. The quiet beauty of those islands is something I really want more people to discover, so seeing more interest from readers makes me genuinely happy.
Interaction and Feedback on Social Media
More than a year after launching on X and Instagram, 2023 felt like the year the interaction with followers gradually started becoming more of a two-way conversation.
Sharing photos from weekend research rides and real-time local updates — the state of the cherry blossoms, how early the sun sets in winter, the sight of citrus lining the roads at harvest time — feels like something social media is well suited for, since this kind of timely information is hard to convey through website articles alone. I’ve been posting on a wide range of topics, from recommended spots to Shimanami Kaido-related books, with an eye to drawing people through to the website.
What made me happiest were the messages and photos that came in through the contact form and from followers — things like “Thanks to your article, I made it to the finish!” or “I’m riding here right now!” Being able to feel, from behind a screen, the presence of people actually out there cycling — for someone who quietly writes articles on their own, there really is no greater encouragement than that.
Questions from followers, and comments along the lines of “I’d really find it helpful if there was information on this,” have often given me the idea for my next article. Things I take for granted as someone who lives here can be a source of genuine uncertainty or anxiety for first-time visitors. Interaction through social media has become a valuable reminder of that beginner’s perspective.
Looking Ahead Beyond 100 Articles
Reaching 100 articles in 2023 felt like one of the goals I’d had since launching this site — to comprehensively cover the essential information for cycling the Shimanami Kaido — finally taking shape.
That said, reaching 100 articles doesn’t mean the site is finished. The cycling environment on the Shimanami Kaido changes a little every day — rental bike pricing is revised, new ferry routes open, cafes and restaurants come and go. Rather than letting published articles go stale, one of my most important tasks for 2024 will be carefully maintaining the site as a living guide, continually updated with the latest information.
At the same time, there are still many topics I haven’t explored in enough depth — more detailed information on the sights of each island, how to make the most of cycling with an e-bike, and information suited to visitors coming from overseas. I’d like to gradually add more of these deeper, more specialized articles.
Building on these 100 articles, I’ll keep publishing with honesty and care in 2024, aiming to be the guide that covers all those little things you didn’t know you needed to know. The survey work that nearly defeated me is something I want to keep going with too, even if I need to rethink how I approach it. I hope to continue cheering on everyone who takes on the challenge of the Shimanami Kaido.
Thank you for your continued support of Shimanami Cycling Tips in 2024.
On this page, I’ve looked back at 2023 for Shimanami Cycling Tips, drawing on Google Analytics data to reflect on how the site has grown. I hope the content I share here helps with planning your Shimanami Kaido cycling trip — or perhaps even inspires you to give cycling a try for the first time.