October 15, 2010: Today was cloudy with light showers from time to time. I needed be in the city of Kumagaya in Saitama Prefecture by 10:30AM the next day for important business. My destination was Noda city in Chiba Prefecture, about 300 kilometers from home. Noda is close to Tokyo to the northeast. From there I would make it in two trains to Kumagaya in plenty of time if I left by 8AM.

The first ride, Mr. and Mrs. Yamaguchi who were heading to Nagaoka City by regular road, went out of their way for me to take me to Sakae Parking area on the Hokuriku expressway. After waiting slightly over an hour at Sakae and getting a bit impatient, a man from the Tohoku Power Co. offered to take me to Muika Machi, nearly a 1/3 of my journey. He took me to the Muika Machi interchange.

After a few minutes it started to rain. I spotted a Jusco department store only a couple hundred meters away and walked to it. By the time I got there, it began raining pretty hard. I was glad to have shelter and eat lunch at the Jusco.

Thirty minutes later the rain stopped and I walked back to the interchange. After about 15 minutes, a Noodle shop man took me to Echigo Yuzawa, about 22 kilometers further. He looked different from most Japanese because of his long sideburns, something uncommon in Japan. There is a Parking Area called Ishiuchi about 6 kilometers before Echigo Yuzawa, but I didn’t want to get off there because there were only a dozen cars parked in the area. That might have been a mistake because things did not go according to expectation at Echigo Yuzawa! Half a dozen drivers offered me rides, but they were all going back in the direction I just came from. This is just the opposite of what I experienced at the same place a couple years ago! I was heading home to Niigata, but all the drivers where going the opposite way toward Tokyo.

After waiting over an hour, it was getting dark just a little after 5PM. I checked the train time with my cell phone’s Internet connection and found a train leaving at 5:56PM. This train with its connections would get me to Noda before midnight. The station was about a 20 minute walk from the interchange and I started walking toward it going up route 17 with traffic heading to Saitama and still holding out a paper sign showing my destination in a last ditch effort to catch a ride. It paid off! A kind man who sells Japanese pastries took me as far as Shinmachi Station on the Takasaki line in Saitama Prefecture! This saved me over 2000 yen and at least an hour of time because he took the expressway which is much faster than local trains.

A Muslim meets Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in prison!

I was really touched by this young man’s message. I showed it to the folks who attend our Sunday evening fellowship meeting. Everybody was impressed. I hope you appreciate it too!

On October 8th, 2010, from Sendai, the largest city in the northeastern area of Japan, I hitchhiked in 8 vehicles to the city of Misawa in Aomori Prefecture. Misawa city is host to a US Air Force military base. Yours truly served the Air Force and the government of the United States of America from February 10, 1970, to February 9, 1974. I appreciated the discipline of military life, and seriously considered before my tour of duty expired to continue my server my government, the United States of America. However, after 3 years and 9 months left in my military duty, I felt called to a higher calling. I wanted to do more in life than follow my wife’s shopping cart when buying groceries to feed me and the rest of the family. I felt called to be an ambassador to the Kingdom of the Creator, Jesus, Yeshua.

Every person I encounter in life is a unique experience for me to understand why the Creator made us like Him but yet so different from each other. A few of the kind Japanese people who picked me up:

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Oct. 6, 2010: Today was one of those “as good as it gets” experiences when hitchhiking in Japan. I traveled on a rainy day in 6 cars some 250 kilometers from Niigata to Sendai, the largest city in the Tohoku area. It was ALL on normal highway! Usually I try to catch cars that are going on the expressway, but I learned from experience that it’s not easy to do so going from Niigata. There are too few cars going east on the Ban’etsu expressway that goes to Fukushima. Route 49 is slower but surer.

My purpose was to visit friends to fix their PC. The hard disk on their PC was registering an Ultra DMA CRC error count of 9478, and I believed that to be the cause of it failing from time to time.

The rain was light and intermittent. I didn’t think it would be too much of a problem. Normally I try to avoid hitchhiking in the rain, but I had a certain schedule to follow that made traveling today unavoidable.

A truck driver, Mr. Miura, took me in a single ride from Niigata to Route 4 near Koriyama city in Fukushima. He was driving a rather large truck. It’s pretty rare these days for truck drivers to stop for me. I couldn’t be in a better situation than to go directly to Route 4, for it was well over half way to my destination and a straight shot to Sendai.

On Route 4, the first driver was 22 year old Takeshi. He took me to the Nihonmatsu interchange on the Tohoku Expressway. Takeshi told me that the people of Fukushima are very kind, and I certainly found that to be true considering the ones I met later! He would have taken me as far as Fukushima, but I had hoped to catch a car going on the Tohoku expressway and save a bit of time. After waiting some minutes at the expressway entrance, I realized I made a mistake. There were too few cars going on the expressway and it was likely I would have to wait a few long time to catch a ride. I walked back to Route 4 which was a good kilometer away from the interchange.

The next driver, Mr. Motoyuki, (27) said he used to be a professional boxer but quit after too many losses. Now he sells supplies to beauty salons. Mr. Motoyuki took me to Fukushima city.

The next driver was a man who sells motorbikes. He took me to Mikuni.

After about 15 minutes standing at a traffic light with an umbrella over my head during a light rain, a man pulled up and offered me a ride. He saw my sign, turned around and came back from me. His name is Mr. Aizawa. Though he had just come from Sendai, some 70 kilometers further, he offered to take me there, all the way to my destination! This meant he was willing to go 140 kilometers out of his way just to help me! I protested saying that I didn’t want to trouble him, but he insisted saying he wanted to help a person in need. Mr. Aizawa is a caretaker for elderly people. I often get rides from people whose job it is to care for others. I had a great time sharing with Mr. Aizawa basic truths from the Bible, especially from the first 3 chapters of the book of Genesis, and he seemed to enjoy and appreciate it.

A friend in America sent me an excellent article exposing the New Age Movement. Dangerous false teachings abound in the world today, and I think many of God’s children have been influenced by them unwittingly. The article talks about Reiki, something a Japanese Christian friend tried to get me sold on. I never quite bought it.

First paragraph of article:

Witches, Masons, Rosicrucians, Cabalists and other leading practitioners of the occult decided in the late 18th century that, if they were to increase their influence in society, they would have to present their beliefs in a disguised form. So they formulated a plan known as the Great Work. By implementing the Great Work they hoped to lure Christians into accepting beliefs which, had they been presented in their true form, would have been rejected out of hand as the work of Satan.

Read more…

Oct. 3, 2010:　Today I hitchhiked from Sayama City just north of Tokyo back home to Niigata in 6 cars. At first, I had to walk about 45 minutes to get to the highway that goes to the Kan’etsu expressway. After that, a driver in a sports car took me to Kawagoe Interchange. He said his dream was to become an F-10 jet fighter pilot but couldn’t because he would have had to become an American as well. 🙂 I told him that once I met a fighter pilot in the Japanese self-defense force. He said it’s no fun having your body daily subjected to tremendous g-forces in sharp turns during training exercises.

The next car took me to the Miyoshi Service area. Though Miyoshi is actually in the opposite direction, the direction going to Tokyo instead of Niigata, because it is only a few minutes up the road I usually accept rides there because I know how to walk around to the other side of the service area. There is an access road that goes under the expressway. It’s about a 10-minute walk.

From Miyoshi two cars took me to Kamisato just before Gunma. After a relatively short wait, 4 men picked me up and took me the majority of the way back home, about 200 kilometers further. But I still had about 15 kilometers left. Though I could have taken a train the rest of the way, because it was still early and good weather, and the men left me off on a road that is relatively a straight shot back home, I hitchhiked and caught a ride with the Saito family. There were 3 small children in the car, the oldest being 11. Mrs. Saito was so amazed to hear of my hitchhiking adventures over the years, and how far I have traveled and met so many people.

Oct. 1, 2010: Today I hitchhiked from Niigata city to Sayama city, a distance of about 280 kilometers, in only 3 cars. There was very little waiting time for the first two cars, but I had to wait 2 hours for the third and final ride. The driver was only 19 years old and has been driving for only one year. It was very interesting to talk to such a young man.

September 20, 2010: Today I was in Noshiro City, a town in northern Akita Prefecture, northern Honshu, the main island of Japan. My goal was to hitchhike as much a possible the 330 kilometers back home to Niigata. I ended up hitchhiking nearly a 1/3 of the distance, and this brought me just over the 100,000 kilometer mark since keeping statistics from August 2, 2003! I had hoped to hitchhike a million kilometers before I leave this world, but at the rate I’m doing it, I need 60 more years. 🙁

After some business in Noshiro city, a town in the northern part of Akita Prefecture, I walked toward what I thought was route 7 to head home to Niigata. I used to visit Noshiro often from 1976-77 but now it was an unfamiliar place. It turned out that my directions were totally mixed up and I was standing on the side of the street with traffic heading north, not the southern direction I needed to go. A kind man saw my Niigata sign and informed me of my mistake. He then circled around, picked me up, and took me to a good spot to hitchhike on route 7 which was a considerable distance from where I had been standing!

It’s always amazing to me how God engineers the timing just right for me to meet special people. After waiting just a few minutes where the man dropped me off on Route 7, Akiko, a 32 year old dental clinic receptionist picked me up and took me as far as Iwakawa Sakura station, a distance about 30 kilometers.

Akiko is still single and likes to study and speak English. I told her that she might be happier to marry a Westerner some day, rather than a Japanese man. Because Christianity and principles of New Testament love has influenced Western culture a great deal, most Westerners are used to showing affection toward their spouses. This is something sadly lacking to a great degree in Japanese culture. Husbands and wives hardly hug each other in private, and never in public. I explained to her that when in Russia, I frequently saw public displays of affection, and not only among lovers, but between older married couples.

Because Akiko had been to Hawaii before, I thought she might be interested to know my theory of the Hawaiian word “aloha” which is said in both greeting and parting. Most people don’t know that aloha in the Hawaiian language means “a way of living and treating each other with love and respect.” Before the Hawaiians became Christians after their Queen Kapi’olani, shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ to her people in the 19th century, I do not think they used this word in greetings. The Hawaiians used to be a barbaric savage and cannibalistic people. I believe that it was only after coming to know the love of God in Jesus Christ they started using the word aloha for greetings and partings.

An external website that I believe confirms my theory: Queen Kapi’olani, the First Christian Convert in Hawaii.

After waiting nearly an hour in intermittent rain, a mother and daughter picked me up and took me as far as Akita City. The mother looks so young that at first I thought they were sisters! The daughter went to a Christian high school which is not common among the Japanese. The education is good but the tuition is 3 times more than a regular school.

From experience I knew the spot were the mother and daughter dropped me off in Akita city was not a very good one. I walk down the road to get to a better traffic light. At the third traffic light further down, a young man picked me up and took me to a truck parking stop on the other side of the city. The area was deserted with no trucks waiting, not a very desirable situation for me, but I was glad to be past Akita city because that greatly increased my chances of catching a ride.

Just a couple minutes after getting dropped off, a police car pulled up and two policemen walked up to me questioning me what I was doing and why I was there. I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong and it was OK for me to be standing where I was. The policeman said they just thought it was unusual to see somebody standing in the truck parking area without a car nearby. I smiled and answered their questions. They thanked me for my cooperation and left.

I also immediately left the parking area to walk to an intersection, but I knew there may not be one for a considerable distance in that country area. After walking some 30 minutes, a lady named Nanae picked me up. I asked her if she often picked up hitchhikers and she said it was her third time experience. Nanae operates a machine to demolish houses.

It was already 5PM and raining. Rather than hitchhike further I opted to take a train the rest of the way spending 4300 yen. I did save some 2000 yen by hitchhiking. But much more than saving a bit of money, I value the experience of meeting the kind people I met.

Akita Prefecture for some reason has the highest suicide rate among all the prefectures in Japan. My prayer is they will come to know that God’s love is the ultimate answer to their problems.

On the train today I noticed a foreigner across the aisle and sat next to him. His darker skin and features told me that he is probably from Pakistan, which he confirmed. I told him that I am a Christian and he replied that his wife is Christian and from Peru. He asked me what I thought about the preacher guy, Terry Jones, who threatened to burn the Koran on September 11. I said I don’t like people who go out of their way to make trouble between two cultures, nations, or religions.

The most interesting part of the brief 10-minute conversation was the man’s explanation of “Al Qaeda”. He said this is a name given by the West to anybody in Pakistan they don’t like. It’s comparable to calling a person in Japan “Yakuza” or somebody in America, “Mafia” even if they are not actually a member of any organized crime syndicate. This confirms what I already felt about the term “Al Qaeda.” It exists only in the mind, a tool of mind control to cause fear, and is part of the Hegelian Dialectic method to conquer the world. Thesis (the status quo the elite wants to change) versus antithesis (artificially created problems) which results in synthesis — solves the conflict between the thesis and antithesis — the New World Order.

I get numerous emails about articles on my websites, especially the Deep Truths site, the one I worked the hardest on since year 2004. Rather than type up the same reply each time for this particular subject of Evolution verses Creation, I thought to document a typical email and my reply to it on this site. Hopefully it’ll save me time in the future.:-)

Hello

I read you website article ‘The Big Lie! – Exposed’ with some interest.

I just thought that I could offer some advice.

When making comments regarding evolution and passing them off as fact, please make sure you get your facts right.

We have not evolved (Or de-evolved as you say) from Neanderthals. They are a different species which because they were not as capable of surviving on this planet at the same time as us became extinct.

There is much evidence of ‘Missing links’. There is fossil evidence (you might want to look this word up) showing how reptiles evolved into mammals. This shows the multiple bones in the jaw (common in lizards) slowly drawing back to the ear and leaving just one bone in the mammals jaws.

These things are not open to debate. They are physical evidence.

I would defend your right to have different opinions to me that is your right. But don’t make up information and then call this fact. You are either not educated enough to understand or you are deliberately being untruthful.

Please open your eyes and see what is going on in this world.

It is wonderful and beautiful and majestic and savage and mindblowing.

And please don’t attack Evolution as you think it goes against God.

Wouldnt God create a world so amazing not leave some tricks for us to find?

Peace.

My reply:

Hi,

Thank you for your email. I’m sure we could go on endlessly about this subject, but I think it all boils down to one’s worldview. My worldview is based on the Holy Bible. Your worldview is based on the writings of Darwin. You are giving me information that you consider to be fact, but there is other information I could give you that would refute that, and you would give me yet more information you think contradicts my information. And on it goes, ad infinitum.

How we see the world depends a great deal on our mindset, our paradigms of life, our worldview, our perceptions. Two people can look at exactly the same thing and come up with two totally opposite and opposing points of view. And I’m talking about two people who are not necessary at odds with each other, for example a husband and wife who love each other. Why is this? It’s because what we see does not necessarily equate with reality. Ask a magician and the honest one will tell you a lot of their tricks have to do with manipulating perceptions. What you tell me you see is merely with you *think* you see. The same with me. Why do I therefore think I am correct? I have the Bible as a basis of my thinking, and the Bible tells me that God created man and all life, and that He did it all in 6 days. He created the sun the day *after* He created plant-life! This is plain in the Bible, and diametrically opposite of what Darwinian Evolution teaches. One can mock the Biblical account, and call it unscientific if they want to, but I would consider them people who do not know the Author of the Bible – God – and have not done much research or study about it.

What we believe largely has to do with our will. I choose to believe the Biblical account because the Bible works for me and has made me what I am today. I’m 60 years old have have no regrets for choosing the path of faith in the Bible. My life has been an adventure traveling the world and meeting all sorts of people and cultures, learning new languages. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Peace,
James

(end of reply)

I find replies like this are very effective. They cannot argue against it, for the very argument only proves further the person is merely holding on to his or her own particular paradigm and unwilling to see the other person’s viewpoint. Of course, you could very well say the same thing of me as well. But if you do, please remember this: I didn’t go out of my way to find you and invade your privacy. You invited me to come into your PC and read what I had to say of your own volition. 🙂

On September 5th when visiting the city of Noda in Chiba prefecture, my old friends Joe and Maria came to visit. I was so glad to see them again, especially Maria, for she used to take care of my children when they where young. I haven’t seen her in nearly 10 years.

Today I traveled back home from Toride city in Ibaragi prefecture. At first I took three trains to get to Fujimino station on the Tobu line, the station that is closest to Miyoshi parking area on the Kan’etsu expressway. Normally I would take a bus from the station to get to an even closer point, but I got tired of waiting for the bus and decided to hoof it. It was only a 30 minute walk.

After another 30 minute wait, two ladies, a mother and her daughter holding her 8 month old baby girl picked me up and took me as far as Akagikogen service area. This is excellent for it is past Takasaki and the junction that runs toward Nagano.

Yesterday I had a very smooth trip hitchhiking to Tokyo from Niigata in only two cars. This was an encouragement to me because the previous 3 trips were difficult and caused me considerable discomfort.

The first driver was a lady with a 7 week old baby in the car seat in the back. She took me to the Sanjo-Tsubame interchange of the Hokuriku expressway. From there I took a 180 yen 5 kilometer bus ride to Sakae parking area.

At the parking area I saw two bikers, one of whom appeared to be a foreigner. The Japanese biker told me, “Japanese people don’t like to pick up hitchhikers.” I replied, “Some do!”

And after a relatively short wait at Sakae, I was picked up by two men. The driver’s name is Eddy, a real estate agent, who spoke some English. He told me he is a Christian and proved it by sharing some of his favorite Bible scriptures with me! Usually the Japanese Christians I meet are merely church goers whose religion appears to be more of tradition than real faith, but I could tell that Eddy is different. He recently married a lady from Harbin China and said he will visit me in October after picking up his wife at Niigata airport. He wants me to do a little ceremony to give him and his wife a blessing for their marriage. I am honored to have Eddy for a new friend.

I told Eddy I have a lot of Chinese Bibles at home and I would be happy to send him one. He promptly gave me 1000 yen to do so. Upon returning home to Niigata, that was one of the first things I did. Eddy called me the next day thanking me for the Bible. It is an entire Bible in new Chinese for the People’s Republic of China, and I would be happy to send one to anybody in exchange for a donation to cover postage.

A petition was posted on Care2 urging people to push fake food safety Bill s510 into action! And people are signing away, not knowing the facts on this FAKE food safety Bill. Please research s.510, and the ongoing push back from Dr. Rima, our best hopes against allowing Codex Alimentarius to take over our food supply.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010: Today I had another relatively hard experience hitchhiking. The root of the word “hitchhike” comes from “hitch” (to ride) and “hike” (to walk) and today I did a whole lot of walking, more than yesterday.

In the beginning it went very well. A lady going to Nagano said she will take me to the Kamisato service area, but as we approached Hanazono, we faced a big traffic jam that was caused by a car accident. The electronic sign said it would take 70 minutes to travel the next 20 kilometers! So she decided to get off at the Hanazono interchange and take the low road. This meant that I had to get off at Hanazono.

As soon as I started to hitchhike at the Hanazono IC, a policeman saw me and ordered me to leave the area! I was too close to the toll booth which is part of the expressway.

I walked to the normal road and tried to catch cars going on the expressway, but they were going too fast to stop. Then looking at the map, I saw that Yorii Parking area may be close enough to walk to. It appeared to be about 5 kilometers and I thought maybe I could walk there in an hour. But after walking 45 minutes I saw a sign that Yorii was yet 3 kilometers further up the road! In all it took me an hour and 20 minutes to walk it. The total distance is 8.4 kilometers or 5.25 miles. I walked at a rate of 6.3 kilometers an hour or about 4 miles an hour. My shirt and undershirt was drenched with perspiration when I arrived in Yorii and so I changed to another shirt at the parking area restroom.

But the effort to get to Yorii paid off. After a relatively short wait, a man, Dr. Suzuki, picked me up and took me to Kamisato. He is a medical doctor. And it turned out we have a mutual friend, James Rudow of Sayama city!

After another relatively short wait in Kamisato, a man from Yokohama took me to Sanjo city which is the next town to Niigata. From there a lady took me to a train station only 3 stations away from mine and I caught a train the rest of the way. Total transportation cost from Sayama: 190 yen.

Monday, August 9, 2010: After an unsuccessful attempt to hitchhike from Suita service area in central Osaka yesterday, today I thought to make it easier on myself by taking a train to Ostsu city in Shiga Prefecture, just on the other side of Kyoto. The Hankyu line is the cheapest train in Japan and it only cost 390 yen to get as far as Kyoto.

After searching more than an hour for a ride at Otsu service area, I felt the situation wasn’t any better than the one yesterday. This is now Obon season during which time the Japanese like to visit their home towns. Normally I find Obon an easy time to hitchhike, but this year seemed to be different. Is it because I’m getting older?

I realized that since the completion of the Shin (new) Meishin highway that connects to the Meishin just 10 kilometers down the road, the preponderance of traffic would be taking the ShinMeshin to go to Nagoya. But I needed to continue down the older route, the one that goes to the Hokuriku junction at Maibara. I therefore thought that by leaving the expressway parking, and hitchhiking down the low road just 10 more kilometers further, I would be on the other side of the Shinmeshin entrance and more likely to catch a ride. It took me over 2 hours to hitchhike only 10 kilometers in two rides! The first ride I caught immediately from a young couple, but the second ride took me well over an hour. Now finally at the Kussatsu interchange I had to wait yet another 1.5 hours for the next ride! I wondered if I made a mistake leaving Otsu. Now was stuck where I was at and couldn’t go anywhere else. The Kussatsu interchange where I was waiting was my only hope. Just a couple days ago I told a driver that when it sometimes takes a long time to catch a ride, it always ends up in a wonderful experience meeting somebody special. Now God was really testing me to see if I really believed that statement and have patience to wait further! I started to think about retiring from hitchhiking.

Finally the most unlikely looking vehicle picked me up. It was a deliver truck with two men in the front, and the back was so full of packages I had no room to sit down anywhere. I had to squeeze between a box and the side of the truck. The men were going the direction from whence I came, toward Kyoto. The Kussatsu Service Area was just a couple minutes down the road, and I got off there.

Now my problem is figuring out how to get to the parking area on the opposite side of the expressway with traffic going the way I needed to go. I found an overpass and walked to a gate that appeared to be used for the parking area, and I saw a lady passing through the gate. I realized she must have come from the parking area, but on the other side of the gate was a sound barrier with no apparent entrance or way to get either over it or around it. I walked toward the left, found a siding door on the wall, and tried to open it. It was locked. I walked toward the right, found another sliding door, and it opened!

The parking area going toward Niigata and Tokyo is much smaller, with fewer cars, but it was my only hope. After only a few minutes, I met a man who was traveling all the way from Miyazaki in Kyushu and asked him for a ride. His name is Mr. Mochihara, he speaks English, and was friendly. This is the man who made it worth it all that suffering! Our conversation was not only pleasant, it was deep about the basic things of life. And went out of his way to take me directly to my friend’s house in Sayama city, and saved me from having to hitchhike further in the heat of this hot summer.