Life proceeds normally. No mad scrambles before the trip, no urgent things to take care of. I've got plenty of time to resolve all things peacefully and am mostly focused on work, but even work has been taken care of and has largely been transferred away to other people with brain capacity to spare. This weekend I will go on a 2-day hike plus wild camping with my girlfriend. It'll be great training for the cycling trip. I'm expecting to be in civilization a lot while on the main island of Japan, but Hokkaido will be different. Distances will be larger, population and conbini density will decrease, and it will be a lot colder. Dartmoor in April might be a good preparation for Hokkaido in late May.