* A fantastically offbeat odyssey brimming with irony, poetry and insight. And, as Ferguson learns, it illustrates that to travel is better than to arrive. The resulting travelogue is one of the funniest and most illuminating books ever written about Japan. But, heady on sakura and sake, Will Ferguson bet he could do both. Nor had anyone hitchhiked the length of Japan. Not in 4000 years of Japanese recorded history had anyone followed the Cherry Blossom Front from one end of the country to the other. He smiled again, and soon after changed seats.Home > Travel > Hokkaido Highway Blues Hokkaido Highway Blues By (author) Will Ferguson “I’m going to follow the cherry blossoms.” “I’m going to hitchhike the length of Japan,” I told the man beside me.

When I left my home in Minamata City aboard a southbound train, I felt suitably bold with my backpack and muscular thumb. Now, I will admit that mooching rides across Japan is not a major achievement-I mean, it’s not like I paddled up the Amazon or discovered insulin or anything-but I am the first person ever to do this, so allow me my hubris.

“But,” I would argue, “Japan is a very safe country, is it not?” “Why would you want to do that?” they asked, genuinely puzzled. This did not impress them as much as I had hoped. Striking a heroic stance, I declared my intention to my Japanese friends to become the first person ever to hitchhike the length of Japan, end-to-end, cape-to-cape, sea-to-sea. To make matters worse, I decided to hitchhike. Whether he is doing the forbidden and not knowing it, or holding 'conversations by non sequitur,' it is a journey full of misadventures and revelations. Mixing his penchant for biting observation with wicked humour, Ferguson starts at the southernmost tip of Cape Sata and heads north for distant Hokkaido. To make it a challenge worth doing, he’d hitchhike all the way: relying on the kindness of some very weird and wonderful strangers.

And after way too much sake he announced he would be the first person in recorded history to follow the blossom’s progress end to end. Will Ferguson was celebrating the event in the standard fashion.

With the same fervour they have for outlandish game shows and tiny gadgets, the Japanese go nuts each spring when the cherry blossoms sweep from island to island towards the country’s northerly tip. Originally published as Hokkaido Highway Blues, with limited distribution in Canada, Will Ferguson’s classic book about Japan, for all fans of the bestselling Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw.

Hokkaido highway blues