Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan

by Will Ferguson

Release Date: June, 2001

Edition: Paperback

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Best travelogue of Japan I have read

I have made many trips to Japan and always had something of a fascination for the country, but even after all that time there always seems to be parts of it that elude me. This book captures clearly the love/ hate relationship that many people have with a foreign country and the infinite possibilities and freedom that one can experience as a stranger in a strange land.

This book was inspired by Alan Booth's classic The Road to Sata -a travelogue in the 1970s where Alan Booth walked the length of Japan. (Also highly recommended but a little dates due to the references to popular culture of the time.) This time Will Ferguson Hitchhikes from South to North, and recounts his encounters and experiences, and is a worthwhile read for most tourists to Japan who never make it beyond Tokyo or Kyoto.

The book is an easy read and Will has a gift for the penetrating observation or anecdote that reveals a lot about both himself and the country he is in. Such as the Japanese attitude to the Ainu, or to Gaijin or the recession's effect on areas like Shikoku. (His description of some of the industrial areas of Japan are much more effective than Dogs and Demons by Alex Kerr(another highly recommended book about Japan))

But the special thing about this book is that it manages to transcend its genre, that it does not degenrate into a mass of random experiences, like a bunch of picture postcards picked up from the airport souvenir store. Will is able to draw the parallels between his journey and one's journey through life. Through a series of false starts and dead ends, we reach the end of one stage which heralds the beginning of a new one. Looking back we admire him for trying to make sense of his decisions and have seen him grow with the experience and perhaps we have grown a little with him.

A book of two halves

In a moment of drunken inspiration author Will Ferguson decides that he is going to hitchhike the length of Japan following the cherry blossom front because, well he doesn't know because, alcohol does that to you sometimes. But from this moment of inspiration comes this funny and thoughtful book.

A resident in Japan, teaching English, Ferguson illuminates the nuances of Japanese custom and culture in a manner reminiscent of the great humourist PJ O'Rourke such that he has the reader (or this one at least) laughing out loud at frequent intervals. This is in the first half of the book however. As the author's journey progresses the humour does thin out to be replaced by more serious observations and reflections. It is most definitely a book of two halves and whilst each facet is good on it's own I found myself wishing that the book was either one or the other kind of travelogue.

That aside the book is well worth reading and I will definitely keep my eye open for more by this author. If you like travelogues of Japan then people who enjoyed this may enjoy "A Ride in the Neon Sun" by Josie Dew and if you like travelogues caused by moments of mad inspiration then Tony Hawks' "Round Ireland With a Fridge" (which is exactly what it says) will definitely fit the bill.