Kengo and Aya
I had two consecutive hitchhiking adventures, the first to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo, and the second to Nagano. The total distance traveled in the 19 vehicles was about 1750 kilometers or 1095 miles. This was during the period called "Golden Week" in Japan. Golden Week is a string of 4 national holidays which begin on April 29 and ends on May 5. Many people travel during this period to visit their parents and relatives, and so it is a relatively good time to hitchhike long distances.
The first day, Wednesday April 27, I hitchhiked to Osaka, a distance of 565 kilometers from my home to my friend's home in only 9 hours and 40 minutes! This is an exceptionally quick considering that it was on a regular day of the week. The 4th and last vehicle, a mini van, took me 498 kilometers of the 565 kilometers or 88% of the distance. This is the furthest traveled in a single ride since I have been keeping statistics from August 2003. The driver went a bit out of his way to take me right to my friend's house! The driver and his partner are members of the "Sokagakai" sect of Buddhism. They are not known to be friendly to other religions, and especially not to Christians, but they were polite. I ask them questions about what they believe and they always listen later when I tell them about Jesus.
Osaka is next to the city of Amagasaki where a tragic train accident occurred on April 25 when 107 people died when the lead car derailed and smashed into a building.
Two days later I took the train to Kyoto and visited two friend's homes. This was the most expensive part of the trip - about $10 to travel only 1.5 hours. People often ask me if I visited the many temples in Kyoto. I do not visit temples!! I tell them if I wanted to see a Buddhist temple, (I don't) I would take a little walk down the road from my house to see one.
The photo on the left is the Okubo family who took me from Kyoto to a parking area near Gifu City. A Japanese muck raking tabloid called "Friday" published an article in that week's edition about my Christian Fellowship, The Family International, and had a line about yours truly in it! It says, (my translation from Japanese) "Hitchhike evangelism - A male believer of the group who supports the Ainokakehashi Project (a web site I made for my friends in Hiroshima) is engaged in evangelism while hitchhiking across the country. On his web site are many photos of regular people who picked him up." Ha! While at a parking area I pointed out to Mrs. Okubo the magazine at the newsstand and told her there was a line in it about me. She said, "What?! There's something bad in it about you?" "Not at all" I replied, and I showed her the article. She understood very well that the particular magazine is a muck raking tabloid trying to make money by throwing dirt at others. The article didn't even have all the facts correct. But I felt honored that the reporters noted my web sites. The Devil may be trying to hurt my hitchhike ministry by this article, but because Friday magazine, though nationwide, is read by a relatively small percentage of the population, so far nobody who has picked me up since the article has mentioned it. None of my close Japanese friends read such a gossip rag.
After spending the night in Gifu City I hitchhiked to Tokyo. Shigeru, an officer in the Japanese Self Defense force took me a good distance and even bought me lunch. He works as a MP. Shigeru says that unlike the US Military, there is no military court system in Japan. Serious crimes in the military are brought before civilian courts. I had a great time talking to Shigeru and shared the Gospel with him.
An Indonesian couple with two small daughters in the car took me back to Niigata from Tokyo. The husband spoke English well and was quite talkative. They are Muslims. I have no problem at all with most Muslim people I meet. Only a small percentage of Islamic people I have met have tried to argue against the Divinity of Jesus Christ. The Indonesians were very friendly. They understand very well the *real* reasons for the war in Iraq. Many Japanese tell me that the war is about religion. Nothing could be further from the truth. I try to help them see how they have been conditioned by the mass media to think so.
I hitchhiked to Nagano on Friday. An elderly man took me most of the way and even bought me a nice lunch. Nearly every week I go to Chino City to perform marriage ceremonies. I get a ride to the wedding chapel but to return home, I often walk from Chino station to the Suwa interchange, a distance of about 3 kilometers or almost 2 miles carrying all my luggage with me, in order to get to a good spot to hitchhike. But I really don't mind that. It keeps me healthy. Part of hitchhiking is not only the "hitch" but the "hike" . When I get weary of walking, I think of wealthy people who spend thousands of $ just to scale a mountain peak while enduring all sorts of discomfort but getting nowhere. I walk not just for exercise, but to get somewhere.
On the right is a photo of Mrs. Yamashita and her children who were riding in the car that picked me up on May 7. Her husband, Masa, speaks English. He took me from Suwa IC to the Suwa parking area a few kilometers down the road. Masa has since been writing me emails asking deep questions about the reasons for war and why believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and personal savior is so important.
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