These are like no canal or river cruise you've ever experienced. For one thing, the bridges are very low: the person poling your boat along the canal will warn you to duck sometimes so you don't hit your head on the concrete underside of the bridge. For another, it's like taking a river tour of a normal Japanese country city: so you'll hear cars passing over the bridges, or lawn mowers on the canal banks... All in all, a very unusual experience.

The roads are reasonably level and untrafficked until the city of Kurume, famous mainly as the birthplace of a certain Mr. Ishibashi who founded the Bridgestone Tire Company (named after himself: "ishi" = stone and "hashi" = bridge). From there, it's less pleasant cycling, but not very far, to Yanagawa, one of Japan's least-known tourist destinations - at least to non-Japanese visitors. Among Japanese tourists, it's immensely popular for its medieval canals (built for defense) on which people take tour boat cruises.