Our Story

It started with an 18-year-old airman in snowbound Aomori, on the front lines of the Cold War. Japan never let go of Phillip Alan Epps.

He came back again and again: as a Department of Defense civilian on bases across Japan and South Korea, then on two wheels, riding alone through the country’s quiet places. Decades of solo cycling across East Asia followed, along with two battles with cancer. Back on the road, he found something no resort had ever given him: attention, resilience, and a kind of moving zen.

zencycle.co shares that Japan. Small groups, set at a human pace, through villages and coastlines most visitors never see. Trip costs are passed through at cost, and Phillip leads every ride himself, with humility, gratitude and deep respect for Japan’s people, landscapes and culture.

His memoir, The Hidden Middle: Field Notes from Japan, is the record. The rides are the practice.

Japan changes you.