Travelogue Hitchhiking from Kanagawa to Nagoya

[TheSac]

So I found myself on the edge of the Old World. I've mostly spent my time exploring the immediate ToYoko metro area and nearby places like Kamakura and Atami. I still don't know Japanese national holidays so I was pleasantly surprised to learn a three day weekend was coming up. I had some time. Seemed like a good time to try some hitching.

A buddy of mine said he was going on a train trip for the weekend but didn't have a destination in mind. I mentioned my rapidly forming plans and he asked to tag along. He had never hitched before and wanted to give it a try. I figured Nagoya was far enough that hitching would take time, but would still be possible in a three day period.

Hitch hiking in Japan is pretty much the same as it is in the States with the caveat that you pretty much have to start at a rest stop. I've heard of some people waiting at on ramps but I haven't tried it. Fortunately it's possible to walk to a lot of the rest areas from normal city roads and that's what I did, meeting my friend at the Kohaku Parking Area near Nakayama in the Midori ward at around 8 in the morning.

We made our sign and hung out by the rest area entrance with winning smiles. I had no idea what to expect and was almost immediately surprised when a mom and her small kids gave me and my friend some drinks. With my broken Japanese I understood that they would have given us a ride but didn't have room in their car, but the daughter demanded mom help us in some way. Great kid! We thanked them profusely and waited for another 45 minutes or so before a nice old couple picked us up and took us down the road to Fujikawa. They were on their way to go hike the Mt. Fuji area and told us a lot of stories about how they met and misadventures they'd been on together. Had a big family and were just happy people. They went out of their way to bring us to Fujikawa but said they didn't mind because we were fun.

In Fujikawa we took our time, having lunch and then settling down to wait with the sign. After a half hour a gentleman picked us up and offered to take us to Hamamatsu. He was a business guy who had done a lot of jobs in a lot of industries and had lived all over the place. We had a cheerful conversation and stopped at an overlook on Suruga Bay to look at Mt. Fuji but it was hidden by clouds.

Our next stop was the Mikatahara parking area just outside of Hamamatsu. We had hoped to catch directly to Nagoya from there but we were getting no luck. A kind woman gave us some water and cookies though. People are apparently super nice to travelers here it seems. You bet your ass I made a visit to a shrine once we arrived in Nagoya to thank the road gods. Anyway after waiting for over an hour (still not bad compared to waiting for a lift in upstate New York) a local guy told us to aim for the next big rest area, as the larger volume of travelers might give us a better chance of pressing onward. We adjusted our sign accordingly and within 10 minutes had a ride to the giant Hamanako rest area. It was a short hop, maybe 20 minutes. The driver this time was a dude who used to work in construction building car factories for the big Japanese conglomerates.

Lake Hamana was beautiful but extremely sweaty. Wish I could have gone sailing there.

After a late lunch of some gyoza from the canteen we hustled over to the giant parking lot to look for a ride. Within 5 minutes we got one. A middle aged couple who had done hitching in their youth saw us and took us on immediately and said they'd take us to Nagoya. We talked about all kinds of stuff, American TV shows, their travel stories, stuff to see in Nagoya. It was a fun way to finish off the ride. They dropped us off at a rest area on the edge of Nagoya (the name eludes me at the moment) and my friend and I took a city bus to the closest train station and finally took the subway into down town.

The city was crowded and we ended up sleeping in a karaoke bar but that's a story for another time.

In total the trip took about 11 hours from Kanagawa rest stop to Nagoya down town. I went in with no expectations and found hitch hiking in Japan to be a very pleasant experience. Excellent first impression. I'm already scheming about a trip to Kyoto.

 

[Beegod Santana]

Awesome post, I feel like you buried one of the most interesting parts though. You slept in a Karaoke bar? Is that normal in Japan? Did the owners know you where there?

 

[TheSac]

Awesome post, I feel like you buried one of the most interesting parts though. You slept in a Karaoke bar? Is that normal in Japan? Did the owners know you where there?

Oh yeah, it was a chain place called Kaikatsu Club (written as 快活 Club on their signs). It's a place meant for buisness types and partiers to have late nights on Fridays or whatever. People often have their drunken night, miss the last train and sleep in the place. There are shower rooms in the building for when you wake up. I think it worked out to like 20 bucks a person.

I had wanted to just find some cardboard and post up in a quiet spot in a park but my friend was a bit weirded out by the idea. In fairness I did get great sleep in there. Sound proofed karaoke rooms with big couches make for excellent sleep.

 

[ali]

How much Japanese could you speak or understand on this journey? I've had some trepidation about even visiting Japan in the first place because I speak precisely zero and there is no relationship to any of the other languages I speak or am familiar with. Would you recommend learning to some level before going?

 

[TheSac]

How much Japanese could you speak or understand on this journey? I've had some trepidation about even visiting Japan in the first place because I speak precisely zero and there is no relationship to any of the other languages I speak or am familiar with. Would you recommend learning to some level before going?

My Japanese is atrocious. I'm studying and slowly getting better but even then people are friendly enough and some speak at least a little anglo. If you wanted to come out here and hitch around I'd say get a phrase book and familiarize yourself with that, but even with basically no command of the language you can get around and make friends. The friend I went on this trip with I met in a bar in Roppongi for example.

 

[japanarchist]

Thanks for sharing this! I’d love to hear and see more about your experiences there! I’ve been wanting to backpack around Japan for years and I want to just do it soon while im still young and able. Do you have recommendations on places to go to and where to stay (hostels, etc)?

I have multiple places i want to go to but i dont know where to begin and how much it would cost to be there for about 3 months.

 

[TheSac]

Thanks for sharing this! I’d love to hear and see more about your experiences there! I’ve been wanting to backpack around Japan for years and I want to just do it soon while im still young and able. Do you have recommendations on places to go to and where to stay (hostels, etc)?

I have multiple places i want to go to but i dont know where to begin and how much it would cost to be there for about 3 months.

Unfortunately I'm not much of an expert as I've only really been around the Tokyo-Yokohama area aside from the above and a few other places. I'll be heading into the mountains near Tokyo next weekend and I'll do a write up about that. The thing about Japan is that you can get away with a lot if you're polite and not rowdy. For example it's legal to open carry drinks here but if someone gets hammered and starts making a scene or tries to start a fight or something the cops are getting called and his or her ass is getting beat before going down to the station. Japan is not a place to get aggro with cops. With that said if you ask them for advice on local bars or whatever they'll point you in a good direction.

When I was in Nagoya my friend and I wandered through the park early Sunday morning, sometime around 6:30 and I saw a lot of hungover college kids and salarymen who had missed the last train passed out on the green. That's sort of a normal thing here, it's not technically legal but if you're polite about it you can slide in a pinch.

If you want to come to Japan I'd say avoid the summer months unless you want to be in the mountains the whole time, the weather here is like Florida or NOLA in the summer, hot and humid. The fall and spring while short are much more comfortable, though late spring/early summer has almost constant rain. I haven't been here in winter yet.

As for cost Japan is somewhat cheap (compared to New York anyway) when it comes to lodging, food is another matter but for a guest house (that's what they call hostels over here) you are looking at anything from 3000-5000 yen per night in the big cities which works out to something like 20-40 bucks USD. Rural areas can be cheaper or more expensive depending on where you're going. As for camping, Japan suffers from the Car/RV camping syndrome and most campgrounds cater to that crowd. There are some that allow backpack only camping, particularly around some of the long distance hiking trails that cross the country.

I hope that's helpful, I don't know too much yet as I'm still trying to get the ley of the land.

 

[japanarchist]

Thanks, yes this is helpful. Fall sounds like the best time to go then because I dont want to be walking around in Florida like humidity or rain. How much you think think it would cost to be there for a month if im staying at cheap hostels and budgeting my money? And what are the best ways to traverse if i wanted to explore northern Japan all the way down to the south? Is it better to start north and go down or vice versa?

I would prefer train or hitching but i dont know how much their domestic flights cost and that could be cheaper (like ryanair in europe). Many thanks and looking forward to hearing more of your stories there!

 

[TheSac]

Thanks, yes this is helpful. Fall sounds like the best time to go then because I dont want to be walking around in Florida like humidity or rain. How much you think think it would cost to be there for a month if im staying at cheap hostels and budgeting my money? And what are the best ways to traverse if i wanted to explore northern Japan all the way down to the south? Is it better to start north and go down or vice versa?

I would prefer train or hitching but i dont know how much their domestic flights cost and that could be cheaper (like ryanair in europe). Many thanks and looking forward to hearing more of your stories there!

Honestly Japan is pretty cheap all things considered, particularly if you're coming from the US. The USD/JPY exchange rate is pretty good at the moment. Food can be a bit steep though. If you were really budget conscious, like sleeping outside and hitching around and taking night buses you could do a month on maybe 1500 bucks. If you want to take trains your costs go up considerably though there are the tourist rail passes though I hear those are getting harder to score these days. Hostels add costs too.

I think if you wanted to take trains and stay in hostels I'd budget maybe 3000-3500 at the low end, maybe 4000-4500 if you wanted to do some more expensive touristy things/buy stuff in Akihabara/whatever. I'm including flights to/from Japan in these prices by the way.

As for flying domestic I have no idea. I loathe flying commerical (I love flight, just hate the no shoes shuffle and the endless lines and bad food on jetliners) and avoid it at all costs. The Shinkansen is the main train to get around from city to city but it costs anywhere from 90-150 bucks depending on your route. Night buses are a lot cheaper but a lot slower and not nearly as convenient in terms of schedule.