July 17 It was another day after rainy season. I walked a little over a kilometer to route 7 in Hirosaki hoping to hitchhike to my friend’s home in Aomori city, a distance of only about 44 kilometers. But most of vehicles consisted of city traffic and I waited what I considered to be longer than usual, about 30 minutes. A young man, Taiki Kudo with his one year old son … Continue reading →
Monday, July 18: From Aomori city in northern Tohoku I needed to go in one day to Noda city, Chiba Prefecture, a distance of around 700 kilometers. It took me one hour to walk from my friend’s house in Aomori to Aomori Chuo Interchange, the beginning of the Tohoku expressway, and it took yet another hour of waiting to catch the first ride. It was worth all the effort considering … Continue reading →
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2July 15: Today I hitchhiked in 11 vehicles from Niigata city to Hirosaki city in Aomori Prefecture, a distance of about 430 kilometers. The highlight of this trip was car #9 with two lawmakers of the Akita Prefecture Parliament, driver Obara Masateru and front seat passenger Numaya Jun who took me from Akita City to Odate City, a good distance of around 100 kilometers. They told me to call them … Continue reading →
I haven’t felt it appropriate to write about my adventures meeting people hitchhiking in Japan since the catastrophe of March 11th. People are still suffering and I want to do what I can to help those who are going directly to the disaster areas to treat people with Post Tramatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This is just to say I’m still hitchhiking, people still pick me up, and I still need … Continue reading →
March 16, 2011: While in Kobe I joined a NPO project and worked nearly all my waking hours for two days to setup a new web site, Help Japan 2011, to help raise aid for the earthquake victims. The next day I traveled back to my home in Niigata partly by train but mainly by hitchhiking. I started off at Kanda parking area on the Hokuriku expressway in Shiga prefecture. … Continue reading →
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1Saturday, March 11, 2011: The morning after the major earthquake in the Pacific not far from Sendai, the largest city in the Tohoku area, I accessed the Internet news and saw more horrific photos of destruction by the tsunami. A friend with whom I stayed with said, “Over 10,000 people were killed!” I began to weep but learned later he got it wrong. So far the number of reported deaths … Continue reading →
Walls of snow along road in Japan February 1, 2011: I started out very well with the first ride on my trip to Noda city in Chiba prefecture, just east of Tokyo. The purpose of this trip was to attend a fellowship meeting at 7 PM. It was good weather and I left home at a very good time, just after 10 AM. Tokyo is 300 kilometers away but it … Continue reading →
January 25: Today in 4 cars I hitchhiked back to Niigata. The third driver would have taken me to Nagaoka train station, but because it was not too late, still 4PM with a hour of sunlight left, and because I would have had to wait 50 minutes at the train station for the next train, I decided to try to try to hitchhike a bit further. It was now the beginning … Continue reading →
January 24:Today I traveled in 3 vehicles to a train station in Kawasaki which is close to Tokyo. Two of these were trucks which is pretty rare seeing that only 6% of the vehicles are trucks and hardly any of them on the expressway. It was a fine day and I had a great view of Mt. Fuji.
Continue reading →January 22: This morning it snowed constantly, not too hard but enough to make me want to take a train the first part of this 500 kilometer plus journey. My destination was a port town in beautiful warm and usually sunny Shizuoka Prefecture. I knew the enough though it continued to snow in Niigata, on the other side of the mountains separating Niigata and the Kanto Plain, it would be … Continue reading →
On January 9th I hoped to hitchhike from Misawa City in Aomori Prefecture back home to Niigata but I ended the day 130 kilometers short of my goal! The main reason was accepting a ride from Mr. Suzuki,(24) from Kushiro in Hokkaido, who I met at Iwatesan Service area. He asked me if I would mind a stopover in Morioka city so he could do some shopping. Because Mr. Suzuki … Continue reading →
Happy new year to all! Yesterday, December 30th, I returned home after a very fruitful 12 day trip to the Kanto and Kansai areas of Japan. Kanto includes Tokyo and Kansai is all of the area of Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and surrounding towns and cities. The total distance hitchhiked in Japan this year was 15800 kilometers. The graph below shows a comparison of the distance I hitchhiked this year compared … Continue reading →
Today in only two cars and a short 260 yen train ride, I made it from Tokyo to Osaka, right to the location of my destination, in only 5 hours and 45 minutes! This is very good time considering the distance of 500 some kilometers. Normally when going to Osaka I”ll arrive after 8PM, but today 4:15PM. If traveling from Niigata it would take me normally from 10 to 12 … Continue reading →
Today is the first day of another extended road trip. I hope to use this Christmas season to tell the Japanese people about Christ, and the best way I know how to do that is by hitchhiking when traveling and talking to the drivers individually. I hitchhiked nearly 300 kilometers in three cars to the Kanto area which includes Tokyo and vicinity. My destination was Noda city in Chiba prefecture. … Continue reading →
Nov. 14, 2010: Today I hitchhiked back home from Misawa city in Aomori, a distance of 570 kilometers, in only 8.5 hours and 3 cars! This was probably one of the quickest and easiest days ever hitchhiking such a distance. Misawa is home to a large US Air Force base. Many of the people of the city can speak English. I’m sure they benefit economically from the base. The first … Continue reading →
I needed to travel from Niigata to Aomori city for important business the following day. If I hitchhike, I like to give myself two days to be on the safe side to be on time for such matters. Aomori city is 470 kilometers from home and mostly by regular highway. I often can only get as far as Akita city – a little over half way – where I spend … Continue reading →
Nov. 6, 2010: Today my destination was Konosu city in Saitama Prefecture, some 250 kilometers from home. I got to Okabe station on the Takasaki line in 4 cars. The third vehicle was Mr. Mrs. Noda, dentists who live in Kamo City in Niigata Prefecture. Every time I meet a dentist, I always show them my teeth and they exclaim how nice they are. I inherited exceptionally strong teeth from my … Continue reading →
October 24 to Nov. 3, 2010: I hitchhiked 1390 kilometers in 18 vehicles to cities in the Kanto plain (Tokyo and vicinity), Osaka, and then returned home by a different route along the Sea of Japan. As you can see from the map, I didn’t hitchhike the entire distance. On two occasions friends happened to be going toward my destination and gave me a lift, and several times I had … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
