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Published: March 5th 2007
With every passing experience in Japan I seem to learn something new about the culture. Last week as my friend Casey and I hitch hiked our way down to Nagasaki and Kumamoto we learned just how generous and kind Japanese people can be. With a 3-day weekend to entertain us, but limited spending funds, we decided our best bet for an adventure would be to hitch hike to our destination.
DAY 1: This all began on a Friday afternoon just north of Hiroshima city. I think it is important to note here that Casey and I have not hitch hiked many times before, and neither one of us had ever covered any significant distance. So, standing at a traffic light before the on ramp for the highway, with an "Iwakuni (or in the direction of)" sign in hand, we smiled and jumped around enthusiastically for about 30 minutes before a guy and his father/boss picked stopped to let us know that although they were heading the opposite direction on the freeway, they would drive us up to the toll booths where it would be easier for us to catch our ride. So, 2 minutes later we were
in perfect position, where every car that drove past us would be driving towards our destination. Another 10 minutes passed before a van carrying a man and lady motioned to us that they were pulling over, and for us to follow them. Well, as we enthusiastically went towards their van we were bombarded with a running crew of highway guards who were waving their little wands as hard as they could (just in case we couldn't see their flashy little uniforms!). Broken law #1: You are not allowed to walk anywhere on the ramp for the expressways. So, as we pulled out our Alien Registration Cards and answered all of their questions we crossed our fingers that this would not result in a phone call to our employers (as it so often does for foreigners in Japan). Minutes later we were officially on our way.
After our van-driving,
yakiniku restaurant owning friends from Iwakuni dropped us off, we continued on our way to Fukuoka, our Friday night destination (about 4 hours south of Hiroshima). This part of our journey introduced us to Mr. Kuruma, a hotel manager returning home from a business meeting, and one other gentleman
who informed us that it would actually be much easier for us to finish our day's travel with a special bus that would take us directly to our destination (as opposed to only going as far as the side of the highway in Fukuoka, and then us having to navigate our way to the city center). As it was beginning to get dark, Casey and I opted for the bus, as it was in our budget, and even though we were indeed hitch hiking, we were trying to play it safe (no riding with strangers after dark). As Day 1 of our adventure slowly wound down we treated ourselves to dinner in one of the famous ramon-serving tent restaurants of Fukuoka before heading to our friend Evania's house where we were crashing for the night.
DAY 2: The great thing about travelling with Casey is that she has an abundance of energy and always manages to pack the most into the day. Knowing that we still had a lot of distance to cover before reaching Nagasaki, Casey and I were up, showered, and out of the house by 9am. We had a quick breakfast at the
subway station, and then went out in search of the highway. Yes, we had to search for the highway. With no map and a lack of road signs we decided to head to the closest hotel for directions. The desk staff at the hotel was great help and they explained to us which highways we would have to take, gave us directions to the various junctions within the city, and even photocopied 2 handy maps for us. After this lenghty discussion they slowly looked at us, looked outside, and asked, "So... where did you park your car?" Upon realising how silly we looked getting driving directions without even having a car, we laughed and tried to explain our adventure. The desk staff was in shock, they just couldn't contemplate that we were indeed hitch hiking
all the way to Nagasaki (so they humored us and bid us safe travels).
As Casey and I followed our highlighted trail on our photocopied maps towards the highway we came across a pretty little temple in the heart of Fukuoka. Stopping for a few minutes to take some pictures Casey soon realised that she had actually been to this temple on
a previous visit to Fukuoka, and inside one of the adjacent buildings stood Japan's tallest/largest wooden indoor Buddha. A very pleasent find!
After departing from the peaceful atmosphere of the temple we made our way to the highway junction where we then experienced the roughest 2 to 3 hours of our weekend. Getting a ride to the highway proved to be quite difficult in Fukuoka, as the main highway junction was quite far from the city center. Once there we ran into a few problems which resulted in us becoming more than slightly behind our schedule. We were finally 'rescued' around 2pm by Mr. Shibayama, a gentleman who hitch hiked from Osaka to Hokkaido when he was a university student. He loved the fact that we were hitch hiking, and although he wasn't going very far, knew just as well as we did that the hardest part of hitch hiking is to get onto the highway and to a service area. Thank you Mr. Shibayama.
Our next stretch of highway covered was in the car of a well-travelled man named Mr. Sasaki. Casey and I met Mr. Sasaki as we were sitting outside of a service area restaurant.
Just as we pulled out our sign for Nagasaki, Mr. Sasaki drove up and offered to drive us part of the way until he exited the highway in Saga (halfway to Nagasaki, or about an hour south). What luck! This was by far our quickest pick-up as we had waited less than 10 seconds! Driving with Mr. Sasaki proved to be a very enjoyable experience. He spoke English (the only one during our entire weekend), and had travelled to just as many countries as Casey and I. Taking in the beautiful scenery as we drove south, Casey, Mr. Sasaki, and I were able to discuss various attractions worldwide and shared recommendations of places to visit in more than 30 countries. Everyone who knows me will understand just how much I enjoyed this conversation! When we reached Mr. Sasaki's destination Casey and I were grateful to hear that he had changed his mind and would drive us the entire way to Nagasaki!! To us, the idea of having a ride all the way there was great, but to him, I guess the idea of a free 2 hour English lesson was just as appealing. When we arrived in Nagasaki Mr. Sasaki
was nice enough to drive us right into town and drop us off directly infront of Glover Garden, our sightseeing selection for the remaining part of the afternoon. Although we invited him to join us for a late lunch at one of the recommended Chinese restaurants in town, Mr. Sasaki politely declined, reminding us that he was meeting a friend at 6pm in Saga. Anyways, meeting and talking with Mr. Sasaki was a great experience, and because Casey and I could not treat him to a lunch in Nagasaki we have made plans to take him for Hiroshima's famous
okonomiyaki the next time he visits Hiroshima.
The remaining part of our Saturday Casey and I spent visiting Glover Garden, eating at a Chinese restaurant that was founded in 1851, and then meeting up with our Nagasaki friends Hayden and Megumi who showed us the Nagasaki nightlife and joined us for
nomihoudai and dancing. Great night! I think we returned to Hayden's apartment around 4:30 in the morning and after feasting on our greasy MacDonald's our heads were more than happy to hit some pillows.
DAY 3: At 7:30 am our alarm
went off and we unsuccessfully tried to separate our heads from our pillows. At 7:40 am I managed to peel my tired body from Hayden's kitchen floor (Japanese apartments are small, especially when you host 3 guests!) and headed for a much needed shower. Just before 9 Casey and I were dressed and ready for our much anticipated excursion to Nagasaki's Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum.
Our visit to the Peace Park and Museum were quite a sobering experience. I guess coming from Hiroshima and being regulars to Hiroshima's Peace Park Casey and I were expecting something similar - a park which teaches about the past, but that mainly focuses on the future of peace. Nagasaki was not quite what we were expecting, in fact, it was much more honest and provided a more realistic education of the horrors and suffering which resulted from August 9th, 1945. It was very sad walking through the museum and seeing pictures of the injuries which Nagasaki's residents had to suffer. There were not only immediate injuries from the bomb, but illnesses which surfaced weeks and months afterwards as a result of the radiation. We watched videos of the victims telling their
personal accounts of what happened, and read many bits of information. It was a hard but important morning, and anyone who has a chance to visit should definitely do so - afterall, awareness is one of the best contributors to prevention.
By noon Casey and I had read and viewed everything that the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum has to offer, and we were ready to continue our hitch hiking adventure. Our next destination was Shimabara, a town about an hour east where we were catching the ferry to Kumamoto. As we wandered in the direction of the highway, we spotted a little Vitarra with two guys who looked to be about our age. Taking our chances we pulled out our "Shimabara" sign.. only to have them laugh at us. Taking the fact that they didn't drive away as a signal, we ran over and asked them if they could atleast drive us to the highway (making our travel much easier). Luckily, they agreed, and after being entertained by our crazy stories for 5 minutes they even offered to drive us all the way to Shimabara! What can I say, we were definitely happy to meet these two
crazy fun guys. Kenji and Akihiro were great company for our Sunday afternoon drive; they loved everything American and had a never-ending supply of American music to entertain us as we drove along the beautiful coast. We had so much fun laughing and talking with these guys during our drive that we decided to spend the remainder of the afternoon with them sightseeing in Shimabara. Our first stop was Shimabara Castle were Casey and I insisted that we all dress up in the samurai costumes... fun times! Afterwards we headed to the local "Joyfull" restaurant and had a late lunch before heading to the port and boarding the ferry. After exchanging e-mails we all said our good-byes and Casey and I headed inside to sample as many of the cakes in the gift shop as possible, before boarding the ferry. It was an excellent afternoon!
Sunday evening's adventure began even before we had time to board the ferry. As I asked a lady which gate our ferry would be leaving from she began asking numerous questions about who we were, where we had been, and where were we going. As it turned out, Reiko, the lady I was
speaking with, was also heading into Kumamoto and upon hearing that we were hitch hiking offered us a ride into town. Score!! So, for the 30 minutes we were on the ferry together we learned that Reiko was a retired kindergarten teacher who now lived with her husband, and frequently visited her sister. She was a very generous lady and in addition to driving us into town ended up driving another foreigner who happened to be on the same ferry as us. (Small world, he was from Toronto, but I forget his name.)
Once downtown Kumamoto Casey and I met up with Isaac, a friend of a friend, who was absolutely fascinating to get to know. Our best way of summing up Isaac is that "he is a Japanese guy, but trapped in a foreigner's body." Really, Isaac is a Canadian citizen who was born and raised in Kumamoto. His dad is a professor at the university in Kumamoto and so he has attended Japanese schools all his life. It was soooo fun talking to him and learning about all the secrets of Japanese adolescence. I guess because he appeared to be a foreigner (although his thought processes were
completely Japanese) Casey and I felt comfortable asking him all of the questions which would never be appropriate to ask an actual Japanese. It was sooo fun! Isaac definitely made us smile everytime he made comments such as "What is water skiing?" (English is his second language), and "I was named after someone famous... you know, Isaac Ne - Ne- New---" Casey: "Isaac Newton?" Isaac: "Yeah, that's him. I was named after Isaac Newton!" So, Sunday night the three of us went to a Japanese
izakaya restaurant and then, knowing that we had another big day on Monday, called it a night.
DAY 4: With limited sightseeing time left, Casey, Isaac and I headed to Kumamoto Castle right after breakfast Monday morning. Kumamoto Castle was beautiful, and we couldn't have asked for a better guide, especially since Isaac has been tested on the castle's history throughout his schooling. Thanks to our guide (and guidebooks) we learned that the original castle structure was built in 1607 but was later destroyed in a civil war. The current building was actually constructed in the 1960s, which resulted in the interior of the castle being transformed into a modern museum.
Fukuoka
This is Japan's largest indoor wooden Buddha. What a nice surprise to stumble upon it while looking for the expressway!Although there were no samurai costumes to dress up in, our visit to Kumamoto Castle was the perfect way to finish off the sightseeing portion of our adventurous weekend. Our next destination... the highway... and then hopefully back to Hiroshima!
Our journey back to Hiroshima involved 3 cars and 8 new acquaintances. Our first drive was with Mrs. Yamasaki and her friend, who only drove us onto the highway (as they had no plans to go in that direction in the first place.. but wanted to meet foreign friends); our second drive was with 2 gentlemen who were returning from a visit with their families to Shimonoseki; and our third drive was with 4 members of the Japanese marines who were returning to Iwakuni (right next to Hiroshima) after participating in a kendo tournament. Casey and I met the 4 guys - Ichiro, Masa, Tsutsumu, and Yuya - as we were eating lunch at the Shimonoseki service area. When they first walked in and began staring in our direction Casey and I knew that they would be entertaining to travel with so we held up our sign to show them that we were heading towards Hiroshima. We were a
little disappointed to learn that because they already had a pretty full car they could only take one of us, therefore making it impossible for us to travel with them since there was no way Casey and I would travel seperately. We said our good-byes and Casey and I went to buy some dessert. As we stood in line for our red bean paste fish shaped stuffed pancakes (called
taiyaki ) one of the 4 guys came back to let us know that they had rearranged things in their car, and if we would like, they could now drive us. Curious, we went over to there car to find that they had rock-paper-scissored and chosen a lucky one to sit in the trunk of their station wagon! We just laughed and said no way... but they managed to convince us otherwise, and we were soon on our way. The home stretch of our hitch hiking adventure was spent in their crowded wagon singing karaoke to various oldies from their ever so appropriate c.d. entitled "Happy Drive." ... and a 'happy drive' it was indeed!
We arrived back in Hiroshima, safe and sound, at the surprisingly early hour of
We made it! Nagasaki!
This is Mr. Sasaki who picked us up in Fukuoka and was originally only driving to Saga (halfway to our desination), but who later decided to drive us all the way to Nagasaki. He was the only driver we found who could speak English, which he has had to use in the past because he loves foreign travel just as much as Casey and I. 7:30pm (we had prepared ourselves for it to possibly take until 10 or 11 pm), and so decided to finish off our adventurous, yet budget conscience weekend, with a quick dinner from somewhere which catered to our budget - the mall food court! Sitting there eating we reflected on all of the crazy things that we had experienced over the last few days and realised that we had gotten ever more out of this trip than we had initially imagined. Who would have known that we would end up sightseeing with any of our drivers, or that we would exchange e-mails in order to meet up again in the future. Really, it was such experiences that made our weekend.
To sum up our hitch hiking adventure of more than 800 km, I choose to use the words crazy, fun, and adventurous. We met many new acquaintances, visited places we have always wanted to see, and had many good laughs along the way. It is the crazy adventures such as this that I will look back on once I am back in Canada and think... I certainly did make the most of my time in Japan!
Enjoy the
pics... we definitely had fun taking them!
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Jessica
non-member comment
Wow!
So that is probably the bravest thing I would never do! What a fantastic adventure...you have a great way of making everything a good time!