The third method would be to take a long-distance bus that uses the expressway and stops at a parking area along the way. It is generally preferable to sit on a local for an extra half an hour and maybe even pay a few yen for the privilege of not having to choke on exhaust for an hour. ICs do tend to be a bit closer to town, but in Tokyo they are usually in the middle of very heavy traffic and with few, if any, places where hitching is even remotely possible, so getting rides also takes considerably longer.

However, the inconvenience is manageable when you know the route (are you willing to sit on a local train for an hour to save 9000 yen?) and, as so often happens in Japan, official regulations go unenforced or downright ignored.Īside from SA/PAs, the second way to get on the expressway is to hitch outside an interchange. All three regions have expensive local transport but plenty of unhurried tourists driving about, always a good combination for the hitchhiker.ĭue to a complex conspiracy, all SA/PAs are located as inconveniently as possible, and entrance to them from outside on foot is officially prohibited. As you might guess, service areas are larger and better equipped than parking areas (with the special exception of Mekari/Dannoura, see below), but surprisingly few Japanese are familiar with the difference so it's easier to label them all service areas.Ī useful rule of thumb (pun intended) is that if you can get somewhere on a train for less than 2000 yen, hitchhiking the distance is unlikely to be worth the trouble – for instance destinations around Tokyo such as Mount Fuji, Hakone and Nikko – until you actually get there, that is. Thus, to get out, you have to find the places where drivers going out congregate, which in practice means service areas (サービスエリア sābisu eria, SA) or parking areas ( PA) on the large toll expressways (高速道路 kōsokudōro) connecting Japan's major cities. It is almost impossible to hitch out of Tokyo or any large Japanese city by waving your thumb on the Ginza. Hitchhiking does present its own unique challenges, but the purpose of this article is to demonstrate that not only is hitching possible, it's downright easy. Coupled with camping, you can effectively cut down your daily budget to food and admission fees alone - although it is wise to allow for the occasional (literal) rainy day.

Hitchhiking in Japan is the key to true budget travel in the country and the way to escape the country's ruinously expensive domestic transport costs, where an hour on the Shinkansen can set you back ¥10,000. Bihoro Pass and Highway 243, Akan National Park, Hokkaido

Hokkaido highway blues