c199b88e_Hitchhiking_in_Japan_Log__Highlights_of_trip
[Date] 01/01/08 to 01/06/08 [Destination] Tokyo and vicinity [Distance] 566KM [# Vehicles] 14 [Highlights of trip] 
Hiroaki, Naoshi, Mai and Yoko They took me from Akagikogen to Sayama Boy whose mother took me a few kilometers on my way On New Years day I set off for Sayama City which is close to Tokyo. It snowed in the morning but had stopped by 10AM when I set out. Though Japan basically comes to a halt during during the first two days of New Years holiday with few people travelling during this time, I had no trouble at all hitchhiking to the very city of my destination! At one point in the mountains of Niigata I had to stand in for a while waiting for a car while it was snowing, but the wait was relatively short of only 15 minutes or so. Among the 14 drivers who picked me up, one car had 4 young people (all 27 years old) who knew each other from junior high school, three were married couples -- two of them with small children riding in the back seat -- three were married ladies travelling without their husbands and one had two small children riding in the back seat, two men went a considerable distance out of their way to take me where I needed to go, and one was a foreigner from Bangladesh who took me back home to Niigata. He's a successful businessman in the car business with his own showroom. Bangladesh is a dirt poor country and so there are very few Bangladeshi people living in Japan. The challenging part of the return trip was hitchhiking across the Kanto Plain north of Tokyo from Oyama City to the Kamisato SA on the Kan'etsu Expressway. Though it's only about 60 kilometers, because there is no major highway that would take me directly to Kamisato, it took 8 vehicles and 4 hours to get to my destination. I got stuck in Tatebayashi city where I went the wrong direction because of a sign that said, "Fujioka" which I knew is close to Kamisato. It turned out to be the wrong Fujioka! As in America, there are towns in Japan with the same same but in different areas.
Hitchhiking in Japan Log
Highlights of trip