c199b88e_Hitchhiking_in_Japan_Log__Highlights_of_trip
[Date] 10/19/08 [Destination] Tokyo and vicinity [Distance] 595KM [# Vehicles] 7 [Highlights of trip] 
I left home at 10:30AM and my destination was a town in Chiba, just on the other side of Tokyo, about 330 kilometers from Niigata. The first driver took me only a few kilometers down the road and let me off at a rather undesirable place with no good traffic light to catch rides. I decided to hoof it to the Shinnanogawa River road (about 30 minutes walk) from where I knew the traffic would be heading more in the direction I needed to go. Just a few meters before reaching the river road, a driver named Mr. Sasagawa stopped and offered me a ride to the main highway, Route 8, from where it would be even easier to get to the Hokuriku Expressway. I told him I fix computers for my friends. Mr. Sasagawa then offered to take me all the to the Expressway (about 20 kilometers) if I would come to his home and look at his computer. It was slow to start. I accepted his offer. I really wasn't so much in a hurry. I knew from experience I could reach Tokyo in only 3 hours and the time was still around noon. As long as I could catch my last ride before dark, I knew I would be OK. Now with winter approaching it starts to get dark just after 5PM. I'm usually in a race with the sun when I travel long distances. Working on Mr. Sasagawa's notebook computer took much longer than I expected. It was infected with a Trojan that was robbing resources and CPU cycles. It was already after 1PM by the time I finished and just a bit after 2PM when I arrived at the expressway. Mr. Sasagawa bought me lunch at the local convenience store before we parted. I didn't get my next ride till 2:30PM but it was worth the wait because the driver, Mr. Miyashita, is a man I had met before. It was June 2007 when he took me home from Joetsu! Now because I was going in a different direction, Mr. Miyashita could take me only as far as Sakae PA, about 7 kilometers further up the road. I often stand at Sakae PA. Sometimes I get immediate rides, sometimes I wait for an hour or more. This was one of those times. After an waiting an hour it was 4:00 PM and one hour before getting dark. Several drivers offered me rides but all were going just a short distance. I told God my deadline today is 4:30PM. If I didn't get a ride at least as far as Saitama Prefecture just before Tokyo by 4:30, I would abort going to my destination and start hitchhiking the 30 kilometers back home. Any drivers even even offering me half the 300 kilometer distance to Tokyo would drop me off at a place after dark - something I consider to be undesirable. I was even tempted to leave Sakai parking area before 4:30 and go back home, but the Lord told me to stick it out till the deadline I set. At 4:25PM a man with Chiba license plates stopped and offered me a ride to Kawagoe in Saitama just before Tokyo! This was just fine with me because I knew I could stay with my friend in Sayama city in Saitama, a place I usually stay on the way back home to Niigata. I would be able to continue on to Chiba the following day.
Hitchhiking in Japan Log
Highlights of trip