Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan [Paperback]

Will Ferguson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2000

This work recounts Will Ferguson's journey through Japan, as he hitch-hikes and follows the path of the cherry blossom or "sakura" moving from one coast to the other.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author had been teaching English in Japan for two years before he decided to hitchhike from one end of Japan to the other and then write about it. His goal was to follow the trail of cherry blossoms that, at the start of spring, crest in a wave from Cape Sata in the south to Cape Soya in the far north. Ferguson hitchhiked with "a decidedly limited arsenal of Japanese, most of which seemed to revolve around drinking and the weather." Although many of the people he encountered not only went out of their way to transport him long distances, offering him meals and opening their homes to him, there were times when he was treated as if he were a stereotypical Westerner. After a sailor called him "Henna gaijin!" ("Weird foreigner!"), Ferguson replied by asking the sailor whether he was Korean. This is one of a few incidents throughout the book that touch on Japan's caste system, which stigmatizes Japanese-born ethnic Chinese and Koreans. Most of the writing, however, is less concerned with social issues, and the general tone of the book is irreverent as Ferguson encounters wild monkeys, visits the famed Bridge of Heaven and shares a drunken, emotional evening with a former soldier who had been a POW captured by the Americans during WWII. It all makes for a pleasingly witty and offbeat travelogue.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Ferguson (The Hitchhiker's Guide to Japan, Tuttle, 1998) was teaching English in Japan when he decided to follow the cherry blossoms as they bloomed from south to north. To get to know the Japanese people better, he opted to hitchhike the whole way. Hitchhiking is technically illegal in Japan, but Ferguson had little trouble getting rides. He not only provides some insight on Japanese manners and mores but really captures what it is like to be a foreigner in Japan. As a gaijin, he played various roles: the honored guest, the entertainment (kids at the zoo find him more interesting than the animals), the temporary escape from Japanese society, and the rude barbarian. But the one thing he wanted most he could never have: to feel as if he belonged. He captures all of this with great humor, a touch of sarcasm, and a clear affection for Japan. This book is an updating of Alan Booth's The Roads to Sata (1986), which remains the standard. Highly recommended for travel and foreign studies collections.?Kathleen A. Shanahan, American Univ. Lib., Washington, DC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 433 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Pub Ltd (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0862419964
• ISBN-13: 978-0862419967
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,404,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The new standard for travel books on Japan..., January 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan (Hardcover)

In the 80's it seemed that almost any foreigner who spent much time in Japan felt obliged to write a book about their experiences. This lead to a lot of dull, pithy, pedestrian writing in which the same standard Japan cliches and themes were raised again and again to the point where self-parody became a real danger. Many of these works amount to little more than the product of a writer's conceit in having been published.

However, the best travel book I have ever read on Japan has just been published: 'Hokkaido Highway Blues' by Will Ferguson.

in 1996, Ferguson hitchiked the length of Japan, hardly a feat worthy of the 'extreme' category of travel writing currently in vogue, but certainly of interest to those of us who have spent time in foreign locales of no particular touristicattractions and have admired them precisely because of their normalcy- as a microcosm of the country at large. Ferguson spends much time in such locales nominally following the cherry blossom front from the southernmost point of Kyushu, up the lesser known Japan Sea side of Japan to the northern tip of Hokkaido. Along the way Ferguson converses and interacts with drunken truck drivers, high-school aged fisherman, sporty hedonistic new people, possible gangsters, overbearing intellectuals- a piece of Japanese society at large.

This is also a book that shows Ferguson to be an articulate, perceptive and very witty writer. Ferguson can paint words with the tender strokes of an impressionist only to be followed by Dave Barry-like ironies and double entendres. Ferguson is aware of the Japan cliches and stereotypes but does not ignore them. He calls a spade a spade when necessary but invariably with great wit and insight. On worn out cliches he is savvy enough to provide new perspectives that are enlightening yet not encumbering the reader with dull, indulgent academia.

Ferguson displays an inner understanding of Japan that matches Alan Booth ('The Roads To Sata'-hitherto considered THE travel writer on Japan) and far outdistancing the myriad sophomoric writers of the late 80's (including Pico Iyer's highly literate but maudlin and fanciful ' The Monk and the Lady'). Ferguson seeks not only to grumble but to praise Japan, and always with both incisive anecdotes on the state of modern Japan plus humourous self-parody of the 'gaijin'. Particularly funny are the situations in which Ferguson, a Canadian, is automatically deemed to be American everywhere he goes despite protestations to the contrary. This allows Ferguson to take some lighthearted jabs at both the U.S. and Britain while acting as a kind of underhanded, tongue-in-cheek Canadian ambassador. Thankfully, unlike Booth and Iyer, Ferguson does not seem to take himself so seriously .

Perhaps that which is most endearing about Ferguson to the reader, is that he is 'one of us', a run-of-the-mill expat, in his case as an language teacher at a remote Japanese high school who spent several years in Kumamoto (one who can really WRITE however). He is knowledgable enough about Japan and the language without falling into the common expat writer's trap of becoming a know-it-all pedant.

I highly recommend this book to any foreigners living in Japan, to Japanese people who can read English, anyone who has lived in Japan and anyone about to come- in short, just about anybody with an interest in Japan.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unpretentious and witty view of Japanese and their land, March 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan (Hardcover)

Canadian author Ferguson, a teacher in Japan for a number of years, hitches from the bottom of the island nation to the top. Invaluable stories provided of what happens along the way: best way to understand the Japanese, and especially their view and interactions with Westerners. Unlike many tourists, Ferguson doesn't care for museums (though he does provide some really nice background history on many locations, customs, etc.). Stand with him while visiting a zoo, in which an entire class of students have their back to a caged area with animal and point to him, caucasian, as infinitely more exotic. Author Ferguson precisely captures the feeling of how non-Japanese may never be accepted within this society and the consequential love/hate relationship that results. As good as Pico Iyer's view, but more candid and true to life: the missed-timing of one of the possibilities at his journey's end is so true to life. A blast to read without the getting drenched on the highway.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Right on the mark....Japan meets Canada, January 18, 2002

By 

S. Hodge - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hokkaido Highway Blues (Paperback)

Will Ferguson, author of "Canadian History for Dummies," "Bastards and Boneheads," "Why I Hate Canadians," and "How To Be A Canadian (Even If You Already Are One)," has truly hit the mark with "Hokkaido Highway Blues." As someone who has studied Japanese culture and language for the last five years and will be teaching in Japan through the JET Programme in the next few years, this book was a much-needed laugh and a cultural revelation about Japan.

Japan is a surprising country in many ways: its customs, obsession with Western culture, slang and fads, the blend of city and country, ancient and modern. Ferguson takes the reader on a memorable journey from the southernmost point on the island of Kyushu (Cape Sata) to Cape Sooya on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, home to the Canadian World amusement park. I kid you not. This is another example of perplexing Japanese behaviour. Canadian World is a theme park that recreates Avonlea on PEI and has Canadian guides greet visitors and teach them Canadian crafts. I'll be sure to visit when I'm homesick for Canada. Right.

Ferguson is hilarious at times when telling Japanese about Canada: "In Ka-Na-Da everyone lives in peace and harmony. It sure is great being a Canadian. You get to share all the material benefits of living next door to the United States, yet at the same time you get to act smug and haughty and morally superior. You just can't beat that kind of irresponsibility."
"Hokkaido Highway Blues" is as much a reflection of being Canadian as it is about Japan.

Ferguson nails cultural attitudes, the art of Japanese conversation, spreads out dishes of miso, unagi, tako, tonkatsu, and other delicacies for us to sample, shows us the many shades of green, rocky shores, and Shinto shrines, and makes us love his vision of Japan. His humour, honesty, and excellent storytelling abilities make this a true treasure for anyone interested in Japan (JET teachers should be required to read this before they go!), the exhilaration of hitchhiking into the unknown, and making do in a foreign environment.