Home » Japan » The Destination is not Important. It’s the Journey that Counts

It all started as a telephone conversation on a cold and dreary Tuesday evening, when Lisa and I were realizing we didn’t want to stay in Hiroshima for the long winter weekend. Our disposable cash flow was running low, putting us in quite the predicament. Times like this we wished we didn’t live in one of the most expensive countries in the world. In addition while reviewing a map, our list of places to still-visit was short, and most locales were quite a distance away, involving lots of yen to get there. We made up our minds to go to Nagasaki, but how in the world would we get there without breaking the bank? Do as Jonathan would do- hitchhike! Indeed it was on my list of ‘Things to do Before Leaving Japan’ and would be a great adventure for the long weekend. By Friday I had lined up some contacts for accommodation and Lisa learned important hitchhiking kanji like ‘in the direction of ________.’ We packed some clothes, a pen, paper, and a guidebook with roadmaps. Apprehensively we set out on our journey. Read on and learn from our “Top Ten Tips to Hitchhiking in Japan.”

The Destination is not Important. It’s the Journey that Counts

Casey Lary
2007-04-27 21:35:25

Displayed times (last time: )

We did take some safety precautions. When we remembered, we wrote down the license plate number of the car and sent it to a friend so that we could be found if kidnapped by some sketchy Japanese person.

Taking the maps and directions to the best onramp, we were set out for another day of hitching. We again positioned ourselves next to a stoplight and bombarded the cars when the light turned red. A young guy pulled over and was happy to have two cute foreigners rolling with him in his car. He explained that the expressway was far out of the city and he was happy to drive us to a better location to flag down another car that would be getting on the expressway.
Since getting on the expressway from large cities is so hard, experienced hitchhikers in Japan have dedicated websites on how to accomplish this hurdle. We could not believe how nice this guy was to drive completely out of his way to help us get a free ride to Nagasaki. He tried to get as close as he could, putting us at the base of the tollbooth. We told him we could not stand there- getting our names written down twice in two days would not be good. In an attempt to turn around near the toll we got in a car accident! We thought that the toll police were bad, but this was indeed our worst nightmare. Lisa and I wanted to disappear in the backseat. We waited around for an hour with this guy for the police to come watching the silly variety show on his car television. We felt awful, immediately offering to help pay for the fender bender, but he refused. Of all people to get in a car accident with, we somewhat lucked out because he was a mechanic and said he could fix it quickly and cheaply. After an hour and half delay, we were dropped off on the road near the onramp. Something tells me that he was happy to have us out of the car, and even though we exchanged emails, I doubt we will ever here from him again!

4. Hitching is not for those in a hurry
We had a minor setback in our ...