Summary of Scooter Trip

Wednesday 28th April
During the scooter part of our holiday we covered about 850km in 12 days. This allowed an easy-going pace with plenty of time to stop off for rests and sightseeing along the way.
John rode a Honda Spacy 100cc 4-stroke scooter and I rode a Suzuki Address 100cc 2-stroke. Both scooters performed well and didn't give us any trouble except for the time when we expected them to go up an almost vertical road on the first day. The Address needed a bit of a firm hand and got there in the end. Most of the time we were riding on fairly flat or more gently sloping terrain and the scooters handled that very well.
Most of the roads that we travelled on, even though they were highways, had a speed limit of 50kph, or 60kph at the most, so we didn't have the worry of speedy vehicles blasting us off the road. People who want to get somewhere in a hurry use the expressways where little scooties aren't permitted to travel. The Japanese are very considerate drivers and we've already noticed how rude and pushy Australian drivers are in comparison.
We were a bit slack about keeping records of the fuel costs as they were so minimal. Both scooters used regular fuel which cost about 130-140 yen per litre, which at the current exchange rate is about $1.50 - $1.60 (Australian dollars). The Address used one small can of 2-stroke oil for the journey.
The scooters were hired from a business in Osaka called "Asit". We asked Mr Tanaka, the proprietor, where the name came from and he said that it doesn't mean anything, he just chose a name that would be listed at the beginning in the telephone directory.
The hire costs were as follows:

2 scooters 33600 yen $392.00
2 locks 600 yen $ 7.00
2 helmets 3000 yen $ 35.00
2 top boxes 4000 yen $ 46.70
1 portable GPS 1800 yen $ 21.00
Insurance 2600 yen $ 30.35
2 x deposits 60000 yen $700.00 (refunded in full)

The hire company's details are:
ASIT, 1-7-1 Nakazaki, Kita-ku, 530-0015 Osaka
Phone +81 6 63771110
http://http//www.asit.co.jp/rent/English/English.htm

The website is a little tricky to follow as it has been machine translated. Online translators don't cope very well with Japanese to English, but the prices and contact details are all there.

Our route was as follows:

Day 1: Osaka to Nara (via Route 308, an old road which now has little use)
Day 2: Nara to Otsu
Day 3: Otsu to Kyoto
Day 4: Kyoto to Hikone
Day 5: Hikone to Ano (near Obama)
Day 6: Ano to Amanohashidate
Day 7: Amanohashidate to Toyouka
Day 8: Toyouka to Himeji
Day 9: Himeji
Day 10: Himeji to Kobe
Day 11: Kobe to Osaka
Day 12: Returned scooters

Overall, the scooter trip was great. The one day that was cold and rainy, when we nearly froze off our extremeties, was really unpleasant, but one day out of 12 was better than we might have expected. The scooters allowed us to go to places and experience things that the average tourist can't manage due to transport restraints.
If we do return to Japan in the future, we'd both be happy to use Mr Tanaka's service again.