Route 176 is not a major artery by any means but it passes just south of my home in northern Osaka near the domestic airport and is easily bikeable, apart from a few flyovers. It crosses three wide rivers and their expansive flats, the levees adorned with numerous ornamental cherry trees, set to explode into spectacular drifts of ice-pink in the weeks ahead, at this time of writing. But much of the rest is urban blight. I often use this route to visit a dear old friend in eastern Kobe, a stone's toss from Ashiya harbor. Its a 40 km round trip, and regenerates my steadily deteriorating aerobic system, three broken bones in five years notwithstanding.

The 50s original was written and cut by Bobby Troup with a cool jazz feel. Chuck Berry rocknrolled it, and the Rolling Stones covered the cover. That superb vocal quartet, the Manhattan Transfer, brought it back to its jazz origins with a hit version in the early 80s. More recently, Diana Krall has revived it. I've used the Transfers' recording, which may be heard here.

NOTES
* minami - south; higashi - east; kita - north; nishi - west
* Mukogawa - Muko river. Sometimes English speakers say 'Mukogawa river' ('Muko river river') but it's accepted in English, like Mt Fujiyama ('Mt Fuji-mountain'). Japanese simply call it 'Fuji-san'
* cho or chou - super, bulk, mega, very etc. In old 90s Tokyo high-school slang, it's cho-beriGU' (cool, sick) or cho-beriBA' (gross, gagging), now virtually obsolete. Another favorite of mine from that era is 'Essu-Ei' (SA = 'Super-Alien' = 'extremely ugly', 'total dog'