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Provided you understand the risks and take appropriate precautions, Japan is known as a good country for hitchhiking. Many hitchhikers have tales of extraordinary kindness from motorists who have picked them up.

The rules for hitchhiking are similar to anywhere else in the world. Dress neatly and look for a good place to hitch – expressway on-ramps and expressway service areas are probably your best bet.

Truck drivers are particularly good for long-distance travel as they often head out on the expressways at night. If a driver is exiting before your intended destination, try to get dropped off at one of the expressway service areas. The Service Area Parking Area (SAPA) guide maps are excellent for hitchhikers. They’re available free from expressway service areas and show full details of each interchange (IC) and rest stop. These are important orientation points if you have a limited knowledge of Japanese.

For more on hitching in Japan, pick up a copy of the excellent Hitchhiker’s Guide to Japan by Will Ferguson. In addition to lots of general advice, this book details suggested routes and places to stay on the road. All in all, it’s just about invaluable for anyone contemplating a long hitch around Japan.

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LOCAL TRANSPORT

All the major cities offer a wide variety of public transport. In many cities you can get day passes for unlimited travel on bus, tram or subway systems. Such passes are usually called an ichi-nichi-jōsha-ken. If you’re staying for an extended period in one city, commuter passes are available for regular travel.

Bus

Almost every Japanese city has an extensive bus service, but it’s usually the most difficult public transport system for foreign travellers to use. The destination names are almost always written in kanji and often there are no numbers to identify which bus you want.

Fares are either paid to the driver on entering or as you leave the bus and usually operate on one of two systems. In Tokyo and some other cities, there’s a flat fare regardless of distance. In the other system, you take a ticket as you board that indicates the zone number at your starting point. When you get off, an electric sign at the front of the bus indicates the fare charged at that point for each starting zone number. You simply pay the driver the fare that matches your zone number. There is often a change machine near the front of the bus that can exchange ¥100 and ¥500 coins and ¥1000 notes.

In many tourist towns there are also teiki kankō basu (tour buses), often run from the main train station. Tours are usually conducted in Japanese, but English-language tours are available in popular areas like Kyoto and Tokyo. In places where the attractions are widespread or hard to reach by public transport, tours can be a good bet.

Taxi

Taxis are convenient but expensive and can even be found in quite small towns; the train station is the best place to look. Fares are fairly uniform throughout the country – flagfall (posted on the taxi windows) is ¥600 to ¥660 for the first 2km, after which it’s around ¥100 for each 350m (approximately). There’s also a time charge if the speed drops below 10km/h. During the day, it’s almost impossible to tell if a moving taxi is occupied (just wave at it and it will stop if it’s free); at night, vacant taxis are distinguishable by an illuminated light on the roof – an occupied taxi will have its light turned off.

Don’t whistle for a taxi; a simple wave should bring one politely to a halt. Don’t open the door when it stops; the driver does that with a remote release. The driver will also shut the door when you leave the taxi.

Communication can be a problem with taxi drivers in Japan, but perhaps not as much as you fear. If you can’t tell the driver where you want to go, it’s useful to have the name written down in Japanese. At hotel front desks there will usually be business cards complete with name and location, which can be used for just