jamesjpn.net Adventures in Japan

Jan. 10: I had to make an emergency trip to Oyama city in Tochigi prefecture to fix a PC. Oyama city is a good 270 kilometers from home. It was snowing this morning, not a particularly good day to hitchhike! In order to save time and avoid hitchhiking during the snowfall, I took a train to a station about 30 kilometers away from where I hoped to walk to the Sakae parking area on the Hokuriku Expressway. Later I found it was way too far to walk to Sakae parking, but a kind man who was going to Kashiwazaki took me to Ozumi Parking which was even better for me. Continue reading »

The year is almost over and I probably won’t be going on the road again this month. Last night I added up the distances hitchhiked this year and they totaled to 19,530 kilometers. This is nearly 1000 more kilometers traveled compared to my previous record of 18,537 kilometers hitchhiked in 2005!

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My destination: Aomori city, northern Honshu
My mission: To bring back home to Niigata a Shizu dog from friends who are unable to give her the care she needs any longer.
My problem: Rainy weather in Fukushima prefecture
Reason for problem: I probably should have taken the slow but sure route to Aomori along the Sea of Japan where the weather was better that day instead of gambling on catching a ride on the Tohoku Expressway.
Result of problem: To escape the rain and possible health problems as a result, I accept a ride going the opposite way to Tokyo!

Details: It was cloudy in Niigata when I started off at 8:15 AM. I walked about 20 minutes to a main highway that headed toward Fukushima. The first vehicle was a truck that took me to route 49 and Agano City. The wind was so strong in Agano it was difficult to walk toward eastward, the direction I wanted to go. I had to lean my body in the wind to keep falling over!
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From November 30th to December 5th, I circled central Japan and reached my year end goal of 90,000 kilometers distance hitchhiked from August 2003. In 16 vehicles I covered 1420 kilometers passing through Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. This trip also broke my previous record of 2005 of kilometers traveled in one year.

An interesting person I met on the way to Tokyo was a man who lived in Iraq for 5 years during Saddam Hussein’s administration and 6 months in Iran during the the Shah’s reign. He is a soil specialist. He was driving a dirty truck and didn’t look like the scientist and specialist he turned out to be. He also surprised me with his good English. I asked him if he enjoyed his time in Iraq and he replied that he thought he would die several times! He often had to work in the desert suffering both heat and cold. He said that the mental attitude in that part of the world holds those who are robbed more evil than the robber!

The first car was a lady with her 12 year old daughter. I asked why they were wearing face masks and the mother replied that her daughter just caught the swine flu! At that point I wanted to get out of the car, and especially so when she said she would take me to a train station which was a bit out of my way. But when I asked the lady to take me only up to the next major intersection, she replied that she would take me to route 8, a major highway going to the Sanjo interchange. I decided to accept her offer.

A truck driver leaning way back in the driver seat picked me up and took me to the interchange.

In Kawasaki city I pioneered a new way to get to the Tomei Expressway: Take the Denentoshi line to Fujigaoka and walk to the Kouhoku Parking area which is only about 1.5 kilometers distance from that station.

On the way to Kouhoku, it started to rain. At first it was only a fine drizzle and I hoped it wouldn’t get worse because I had no umbrella. I walked into a shop to ask directions and the shop lady, seeing I had no umbrella, offered me one. I was so thankful to have that umbrella later because it really started to pour when hitchhiking at Kouhoku.

Dr. Sato, a professor of medicine in Niigata University took me back home. It’s always interesting for me to meet highly educated men. We always have deep conversations about life, health, relationships, politics, science, the economy, etc., etc. No matter how erudite they are, or think they are, I keep up my side of any conversation with them despite the fact I barely graduated from high school. God gave me a marvelous education as a missionary with the Family International.

Again I went to Aomori city and back, 1060 kilometers, this time in 12 vehicles which includes two trucks. The highlight of the trip was to meet A. Kusumi, a professor who teaches environmental research at a university in Nagoya. I met him at the entrance of the Tohoku Expressway near Hirosaki. His car was packed with his belongings and at first he told me there was no room for me to sit. But after rearranging his gear I was able to squeeze my feet into a small space on the floor and sit in the front passenger seat. Dr. Kusumi was on his way home to Nagoya and said he would take the expressway all the way. I rejoiced knowing this would take me all the way home because the route passes through Niigata!

Dr. Kusumi became very tired after passing Sendai and stopped frequently at parking areas to rest. My home is about half way to his destination and I suggested that he spend the night as my guest. He accepted, took me home and met the rest of my family. I was so glad to return a favor to this kind man for taking me 550 kilometers back home for free and even buying me dinner along the way. Dr. Kusumi lived in Israel and studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for 3 years. (Click on his photo to have a closer look at his sweatshirt.) You can bet we had quite a few interesting discussions.

This trip took me over the 89,000 kilometer mark since I’ve been keeping stats from August 2003. I think I can surpass the 90,000 kilometer mark before the end of the year by making another trip. I’m planning one that will take me to Tokyo, Shizuoka and the Kyoto / Osaka / Kobe area, and this will bring me well over 90,000 kilometers.

October 30, 2009: I needed to be in Odate City in Akita Prefecture on November 1st for an appointment at 9:00 AM. Odate is the birthplace of Hachiko, the faithful dog that would come to meet his master at Shibuya Station in Tokyo when he arrived returning from work. Hachiko continued to do this every evening — even after his master died — for a period of 10 years!

Rather than stay in a hotel in Odate, I opted to stay in Aomori city with friends. Taking the 7:10 train from Aomori would get me in time for my appointment.

The first ride was a truck driver carrying a power shovel. I think this is the very first time I rode in a truck with such a heavy load. In the photo just in front of the truck you can see the two pieces of language I was carrying.

I made it as far as Akita City that day in 4 vehicles.

The next morning Hosaka Takayuki took me to just outside of Akita City from where I caught a ride with Sachiyo, (22) whose car was loaded with lugguge. She said that she was moving from Akita back to her home town in Aomori. She saw the Akita sign that I was holding, past me once, and then turned around and offered me a ride. This kind lady even went 60 kilometers out of her way to take me to my specific destination in Akita!

Sachiyo was my audience for the next three hours while I shared stories from the Bible with her. Most Japanese know about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and they know about the great worldwide flood and Noah’s ark, but they don’t understand the significance of these historical events. It’s always a joy for me to share God’s good Word with the dear Japanese people. In Sachiyo’s case she was already inclined to believe in the existence of the Great Creator and so she readily prayed with me to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior after we reached our destination.

October 25: I’m in Aomori city and on the way back home to Niigata. Rather than go back the way I came along National Route #7, I decided to try the Tohoku expressway that runs through Sendai.

The first driver was on his way back home to Akita City after attending a Rugby match in Aomori. He offered to take me to Route 7 in Akita city. Because he would be taking the expressway a major part of the way, I knew I would make good time, but I also knew getting to Akita even as early as 1PM would still leave me hitchhiking in the dark by the time I got to Tsuruoka in Yamagata with 150 kilometers left to go. I hoped rather that I would be able to continue on the Tohoku expressway, but I knew that the Hanawa Service Area where I needed to get off at was past the driver’s exit. Amazingly the driver missed his exit and ended up taking me to the Hanawa Service area anyway!

It was a 3 hour wait at Hanawa before I caught the second ride. It’s not easy on me physically to stand for three hours waiting for rides, but I knew if I could catch a good one, it would be worth the wait. A 30 year old man, Toru, took me all the way to Miyagi Prefecture just before Sendai. He drove at a good clip which gained me some time. Toru listened intently while I shared with him the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I told him if he even only knows, understands and believes in the first 6 chapters of the book of Genesis, he’ll be smarter than most of the professors of Tokyo University, the top school in Japan! And I’m not kidding when I say that.

After that a sweet older couple from Morioka who were on the way to Yokohama took me to Adatara which is just before the Ban’estsu expressway junction that leads home. Morioka is a conservative town deep in the country, but because their daughter married a man from the U.K. and is living there now, they both felt an affinity toward foreigners.

Though I still ended up hitchhiking in the dark at the Adatara Service area, going the remaining 150 kilometers home meant just one good ride rather than several on Route 7. A chiropractor from Fukushima picked me up after a 40 minute wait and took me all the way home.

October 22, 2009: Because of the rather difficult time I had in my previous trip to Sendai in getting to the Tohoku expressway, I decided to travel to Aomori today via National Highway Route 7 that runs along the Sea of Japan. Aomori city is 470 kilometers from home, and normally I can make it only as far as Akita city in one day when taking Route 7. I thought if I start earlier and take a short train train to get to a good location on the highway just out of town, I might have a fighting chance.

Five cars took me to Akita city arriving a little after 3PM. Akita city is 270 kilometers from home and only 57% of the distance to my destination. It took 6 hours to cover this distance, and I knew unless I could catch a single good ride the rest of the way, I would wind up hitchhiking after dark possibly in the middle of a mountain road! In this season in Japan it starts to get dark by 5PM and the sun has completely set by 5:30PM. Unless I could catch a ride going at least as far as Odate which is about half way to Aomori City, I decided to refuse any offers short of that. Normally I don’t hold out a sign showing my destination if it is too far away, but this time I decided to do so. That way only drivers going all the way to Aomori city would stop for me. If nobody stopped by 4PM, I had the option to spend the night with friends in Akita city.

The good Lord blessed my efforts and a man driving a truck, Mr. Kawamoto, picked me up after only a few minutes and took me all the way to the door of my destination! At first Mr. Kawamoto said he would take me to Hirosaki, about 3/4 of the way to Aomori City, but then he said if I wasn’t in a hurry, he would take me to Aomori city after a brief stop over for some business in Hirosaki. I agreed to that.

Mr. Kawamoto is a very talkative man. He asked me many questions about America, where I traveled in Japan, and how I learned to speak Japanese. I gave him an Activated Magazine.