Takayama to Tokyo in a day

In order to leave Takayama, I first have to walk out of town to a good spot for hitchhiking (having blown so much money on sweets and tourist traps in Takayama, I refuse to fork out for the bus), which is a good half an hour away. At first I felt lucky that the weather was so good, but soon the friendly sun becomes a mortal enemy as it rises higher and higher in the sky. It does indeed feel good walking through the countryside though, past thatched roofs and rice paddies...already I am experiencing travelling, and I havent even got my first ride! My first ride coems within about 30 seconds, a young man and woman with a baby, and we drive through the alps to the sound of `Finding Nemo` (the babys favourite movie, without which she becomes very agitated). I get dropped of at Hirayu onsen, near the ropeway, and the scenery is spectacular as I wait with my thumb out on a road where not a single car comes. I wander around town for about 2 hours (in the midday sun with a gigantic pack, not a good idea) looking for a better spot, and naturally I end up going back to exactly the same place in the end. My next lift is a 68 year old removalist coming back from Takayama to his home town of Matsumoto, in Nagano district. At one point I realize that his age means he would have been a child at the conclusion of world war 2, and grew up in the postwar chaos, and I marvel at his kindness in helping out a foreigner in spite of this (many of his age still have a serious grudge against all foreigners). Hitchhiking truly is the greatest form of travel - we soar over turqouise lakes and on the top of giant hydrolectric dams; if only I could have got a photo of the mountain canyons.

When we arrive I am stuck once more, but this time a little closer to my destination. I feel that there is no better way to truly appreciate ones location than by being stuck there, alone and on foot. Here I circumnavigate the city for another half an hour, eating convenience store sushi (one of the best meals I have ever eaten), until I find a perfect place for hitchhiking. A thousand cars a minute going onto a major expressway, I am clearly visible and there are plenty of places to stop - it is the perfect place, except for the fact that not a single car stops. I wait for an hour, with the sun gradually getting lower as I do. I do not think I am asking too much, my sign says `anywhere in the direction of Tokyo`. Eventually a young couple stops, and are going all the way to Tokyo! They are 21 years old (it is the girls 21st birthday, but it is not such a big deal in Japan), and are both studying psychology at university. We talk animatedly for the several hour trip (my duty as a hitchhiker is to keep the driver awake with interesting conversation - after a full day of hitch-hiking it becomes a bit difficult!), and about halfway there Mt.Fuji greets me in the distance. I never, ever get used to the sight of Fuji, sitting so majestically above the cities.

Finally, I arrive at the bustling megapolis that is Shinjuku station. I laugh a very satisfied laugh - I made it!
By the grace of a family, a removalist, and two university students I traversed the mountains and arrived at my destination, and the challenge of getting there has made arriving all the sweeter. I cannot believe just how far I have come in a day:

In the morning I was walking past rice fields in sleepy Takayama.


At noon I was looking over the the Japanese Alps.


In the evening I was standing next to a highway in Nagano district.


As the twilight fades, I am looking over the neon jungle of Shinjuku.