Welcome to the cheapest way to get around Japan.

Hitchhiking while hitchhiking the whole country from Kagoshima, Tokyo, Edo I stopped halfway to make a quick guide with tips on how to hack the system.

All this adventure can be yours if you put away your Japan rail pass and take out your phrasebook adventure awaits the adventurous.

Hello, everybody.

I thought I take it break out of my very busy highway schedule too.

Give you a little guide on how to hitchhike in Japan.

So I've been doing this for about 15 years now and I absolutely love it.

The reason why I do it is not because I don't have any money.

But that's exactly why I started hitchhiking back in 2003 when I traveled the road from what Canada?

Kagoshima, The opposite way.

I wanted to see the whole country without draining my bank account.

And during the one month trip, 20 people stopped taking me the length of the country.

I spent only $150 for four weeks staying and towns off the beaten path, discovering new places, not in any guidebook.

But I digress.

It's because I want some adventure.

I hitchhiked because I want to meet people.

And Japan is a very safe country.

Um, in the sense that people will pick you up are doing so because they want to help you.

They wanna meet you there.

Curious about what you're doing and why when you hitchhike, Don't get in a car if you don't feel comfortable with the person is picking you up 9 10 times out of 10.

I can't say that nine 99 out of 100 times the present picking you up you're gonna say yes to because they're very kind hearted person.

Don't go by the way people look, go by the way people act.

One instance was a man who saw me holding my sign at a service area and offered me a ride In the 1st 10 seconds.

I felt comfortable.

He told me he was traveling to toy Yama alone that could use the company and I was happy for the ride.

Don't bring a lot of luck.

It's Don't do what I did.

I haven't hear lots of cables, tense batteries, a tent, batteries stuff for video, video equipment.

Very little of it is clothing This is what I'll be wearing for the entire month.

And I'm able to do laundry because there's laundromats in Japan just about everywhere.

Every two or three days.

I I do the wash and this bath.

So I'm I'm always pretty clean, which isn't a problem, But it's OK to look scruffy, which is number three.

Don't look like a 1,000,000 bucks.

No one's gonna pick up someone in a business suit, right?

Why don't Why don't you take in your private jet?

So yeah, dressed down a little bit.

And but stay neat.

Equipment tent.

Because if no one picks you up you to place this day, having a tent is extremely invaluable.

I've used it four times on this trip already.

So where do you sleep when you're traveling on the road like this?

Thistles.

Not camping?

Not really.

When you say camping in Japanese, people think of recreational camping with barbecues, cooking on fire and friends and families making a lot of noise.

In those cases, you need a recreational camping area.

If you're just pitching a tent and crashing for the night, a local Parker Public area will dio Thea.

Unwritten rule is to set up late after dark and get up early and leave.

When the sun comes up, make sure the area is clean and don't disturb the neighborhood.

If the area is private property like farms, ask in advance.

If you're not sure, find another place.

The local tourist office and train stations can sometimes point you in the right direction.

Uh, so very, very important.

O have hardboard.

I need to be able to communicate with people.

So having cardboard is the way I communicate to let people know where I'm going.

This is my Joudeh, which is the next destination or near the next station, that next destination where I want to go.

You'd have markers, have more than one have maybe 23 Handy, keeping it nice and neat.

That's a sort of a Japanese trade.

You wanna have it looking pretty good.

I have a lot of duct tape, which I used not just for making it more visible.

The signs, but also for taping them back to keep them from flapping around in the wind, will be times when the wind is very, very heavy and having the duct.

The duct tape helps a lot.

It also helps case there's a hole in your tent or other reasons.

If you might need it, like taping a camera to wall or something like that communication.

I told you about the cardboard.

It also helps to be able to speak some Japanese.

You have to be able to right where you want to go.

The reason why I don't write it in Ramadi is Japanese eyes, although traffic signs have both Japanese Condi and Ramadi, English letters, Japanese.

I see this.

They don't see the English letters.

Foreign tourists see the English letters first, not the Japanese characters.

You're getting picked up by someone who's Japanese.

You want to write in their language.

That's an essential key.

You could do that with Google, translate app, which is free, or just the map and copy down what you see.

Just be very careful in the way you write it because the strokes sort of matter in being understood.

You wanna have a smile, you don't have a good attitude.

You want to be able to speak Japanese a little bit, have a phrasebook or ah, guide where you can communicate with the person who picks you up.

They'll probably be able to speak a little bit of English because they're picking up a foreigner.

But you want to be able to speak enough Japanese Teoh, carry a fun conversation if you can.

But again, the reason why I'm hitchhiking purely is for the adventure, for the fun of it and to meet people.

Hitchhiking is sort of a science.

You have to think about where the people on that road are going to go to and the highest percentage of them taking you to that spot.

And maybe you gotta hitchhike twice to get toe to the place that you want to go.

So you have to kind of figure out what are the number plates, the license plates going in your direction?

What do they say?

Where they all heading?

What's the traffic?

One of the traffic patterns.

This spot was a little outside Kagoshima on the way to the expressway towards Kumamoto.

Traffic was heavy, but it was hard to find a place for a ride to safely stop and pick me up.

Bus lanes can work when the roads aren't super busy.

On average, it took 20 to 45 minutes for a ride to stop the fastest was 45 seconds on the longest was over four hours.

My ride to Kumamoto initially passed me, then went around the black to pick me up.

25% of my rise went out of their way to pick me up just like this.

Just not my day, Asahi, color or bust In Sapporo, I started early at the entrance of the Hokkaido Expressway.

My first right only took me about 30 kilometers to the town of Awami.

I almost never turned down a ride.

If I feel comfortable with the driver, you just don't know when the next ride will stop any warming at the tollgate.

The traffic was very light, and after an hour the road service kicked me down to the low road.

It's prohibited to hitchhike on the highway unless you're dropped off.

Their one guy did stop, but I had to moneybags and his back seat was full.

Sometimes that's the way it goes.

I wasn't sure of the roads.

Any Wami.

Big intersections have a lot of traffic, but a kind woman on foot told me to go further down the road, about 200 meters away was a place where a car could Poland safely to pick me up, But I didn't realize that most people on this road we're not going to Asahikawa after over an hour here, a lady in a pink car with a sleeping baby in the back picked me up and drove me three kilometers down the road to the main free road to Asahi Cow.

She had passed me once already and came back because she felt like I'd be there for hours.

And this is why should have been.

Route 12 is the highway, not the highway, but it's the low way.

It's the other way to go to a site cow, which is 94 kilometers on this road.

So at least now I'm in the right direction.

I hope, Ah, hard Day.

But if you keep at it and state positive, good things happen.

And sometimes the way to your destination finds you.

I made it to Asahikawa by sunset, but it took more than four hours to get a ride.

The kind driver who picked me up when passed his destination and make sure I got to Asahikawa Hok Finding the right place to hitchhike from isn't always easy.

Take this map of Toy Yama, for instance, In the morning, I took a bus from the train station to the highway interchange.

I got cardboard from a nearby 7 11 and hitched by the entrance.

It took 45 minutes for someone to stop.

Knows he stopped.

He pulled into the parking lot, and I got to my destination.

By the end of the day, I have 10 rules that I follow.

What I'm hitchhiking Never hitchhike at night.

When the headlights are coming on.

I know it's time to stop.

Always carry enough cash for the next 48 hours away from cities.

There aren't always a T.

M's available when you want one.

I always smile and be respectful, even when you think no one is watching you have a Plan B.

If you're waiting a long time in a spot, may be considered changing to a closer destination or changing your hitchhiking spot.

Carry an extra piece of cardboard whenever possible.

I usually put a small backup piece inside my sign.

Always have at least three black markers always carry an exchange Business cards.

If you forget something, the right can always contact you, or you can send a post card or gift later to say thank you.

When you exchange cards, you're no longer a complete stranger.

Never sleep in the car when driving.

Always know your destination.

Hotel station.

The address without question.

Always stay positive even when things go wrong.

I'm out here working hard, trying to get a ride, and my reward is being picked up to me, that is the ultimate in the hitchhiking war.

Getting the pick up in the ride.

That's your reward for standing out here and working hard on making new friends.

There's no better feeling than when somebody stops for you.

There's a warmth that comes when strangers show kindness to one another, and more than the fact that the right is free, it's a chance to really get toe.

Learn about Japan from someone who cared enough to stop.

Good luck with your trip and see you out there on the road next time.

Is this the world's most beautiful Starbucks?

Ah, lot of reviews say so.

I stopped by for a visit to see how it stacks up to other shops around Japan.