Japan is a great country for sightseeing and travel — if you can afford it. Transportation costs are at least double that of the USA. It costs around US $85 just to travel 300 KM (about 190 miles) by the “bullet train” (Shinkansen in Japanese). Want to save some doe and meet people? Try hitchhiking! I do and I love it!
I first came to Japan in 1972 while in the US military stationed near Tokyo. A couple years later I decided to become a missionary to the Japanese people and tell them about Jesus Christ. Missionaries need to “live by faith”. This also means to live within one’s income. I needed to travel the country to “preach the Gospel” but could not always afford public transportation. My partner and I often opted to hitchhike. We usually got to our destination that day, and if we didn’t, often the person that picked us up took us to their home where we spent the night and sometimes several days.
I wish I had kept a record of all my adventures hitchhiking in Japan. If I had, I would have a book by now which might have even been a best seller. LOL! At the very least, it would have made interesting reading for me in my old age. I will be 67 in June this year of 2017.
I define hitchhiking as getting rides from total strangers. Therefore it does not include rides from associates, friends or family.
What kind of people pick me up?
Kind people, unselfish people, people who care about others. Some are fond of Westerners, some study English and want to practice using it, some lived in the USA and want to repay the kindness they received from Americans, some have hitchhiked in their university days and understand people who do, some have broken hearts (often marital problems or broken love relationships) and wish to pour out their hearts to somebody, some are lonely, and some know they are prone to be sleepy driving on the expressway and wish to have someone to talk with in order to help them stay awake! Some drivers have correctly identified me as a Christian missionary even before I tell them so! They are usually the most open to hearing the Message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Bible than most Japanese. To meet such people and have an opportunity to share the Truth with them makes it worth all the discomfort of the hot sun, rain, wind and snow I sometimes face while hitchhiking.
How do I hitchhike? Read a page of tips I compiled!
Since August of 2003 I have been keeping statistics of my travels.
My First Hitchhiking Adventure of 2016
Reading Time: 4 minutes On January 31, 2016 I hitchhiked from the Hanawa service area in Akita Prefecture on the Tohoku Expressway back home … Continue reading →
Chart of 10 years of Hitchhiking
Reading Time: < 1 minute The chart shows how many kilometers I hitchhiked every year for the last 10 years. Only the first year of … Continue reading →
November 2015 Adventure Hitchhiking to Aomori Prefecture
Reading Time: 3 minutes On November 21, 2015, I hitchhiked in 9 cars from Gatsugi in Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture, to Hirosaki in Aomori, … Continue reading →
James Japan on another Journey
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dear friends and followers of this website, On April 6th I left my home in Niigata City and traveled to … Continue reading →
The Hitchhiker’s Woe: leaving Valuables in the Vehicle
Reading Time: 4 minutes My hitchhiking adventure to Aomori on March 6, 2015 was both wonderful and traumatic! Wonderful in that it was on … Continue reading →
First Hitchhike Adventure of 2015: Niigata to Osaka
Reading Time: 5 minutes January 16, 2015: I had been intending for months to visit my good American friend from the State of Arkansas, … Continue reading →
Year 2014 – A record year for hitchhiking
Reading Time: < 1 minute The graph shows distances hitchhiked from 2005 to the present. In 2014 I hitchhiked 28,352 kilometers (17,720 miles). That’s 4304 … Continue reading →
December 12, 2014 Adventure to Hirosaki
Reading Time: 3 minutes Today for the first time instead of hitchhiking on lonely Route 345 along the Sea of Japan, I took the … Continue reading →
December 5, 2014 Hitchhike Adventure to Aomori
Reading Time: 3 minutes I wore my warmest coat, hat and gloves for another adventure to Aomori on a cold rainy day. I stood … Continue reading →
October 10, 2014 Hitchhike Adventure to Aomori
Reading Time: 5 minutes October 13, 2014: Today is the first day of a major change in my life. I returned home from my … Continue reading →
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