Rating: 
Summary: Unpretentious and witty view of Japanese and their land
Review: Canadian author Ferguson, a teacher in Japan for a number of years, hitches from the bottom of the island nation to the top. Invaluable stories provided of what happens along the way: best way to understand the Japanese, and especially their view and interactions with Westerners. Unlike many tourists, Ferguson doesn't care for museums (though he does provide some really nice background history on many locations, customs, etc.). Stand with him while visiting a zoo, in which an entire class of students have their back to a caged area with animal and point to him, caucasian, as infinitely more exotic. Author Ferguson precisely captures the feeling of how non-Japanese may never be accepted within this society and the consequential love/hate relationship that results. As good as Pico Iyer's view, but more candid and true to life: the missed-timing of one of the possibilities at his journey's end is so true to life. A blast to read without the getting drenched on the highway.
Rating: 
Summary: Negative and Patronizing
Review: First of all, let's get this straight, the author hates Japan. Will Ferguson, the author of this book is one of the most arrogant persons to write a book. Throughout the whole book, he shows a very negative attitude. He complains about everything--the cities he visits, the people he meets, the culture, and anything he can get his hands on. I was particularly irritated by the mean-spiritedness he displayed toward the people who picked him up during his hitchhiking trip through Japan. He takes every opportunity to make trouble for them and he always insults them. The impression I got was that he was a smart aleck. It's no wonder he felt alienated in Japan. He was doing his best to keep people away from him with his repulsive attitude. I'm surprised he didn't title this book "Why I Hate Japan" or "101 Stupid Japanese People I've Met."Due to the bitterness in this book, I recommend you to avoid this one. I've been living in Japan for 7 years now, and I can't see where he gets all of his negative ideas. If you're interested in reading about experiences in Japan, I recommend "Learning to Bow" or one of Alan Booth's books instead. Whatever you do, don't read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Negative and Patronizing
Review: First of all, let's get this straight, the author hates Japan. Will Ferguson, the author of this book is one of the most arrogant persons to write a book. Throughout the whole book, he shows a very negative attitude. He complains about everything--the cities he visits, the people he meets, the culture, and anything he can get his hands on. I was particularly irritated by the mean-spiritedness he displayed toward the people who picked him up during his hitchhiking trip through Japan. He takes every opportunity to make trouble for them and he always insults them. The impression I got was that he was a smart aleck. It's no wonder he felt alienated in Japan. He was doing his best to keep people away from him with his repulsive attitude. I'm surprised he didn't title this book "Why I Hate Japan" or "101 Stupid Japanese People I've Met." Due to the bitterness in this book, I recommend you to avoid this one. I've been living in Japan for 7 years now, and I can't see where he gets all of his negative ideas. If you're interested in reading about experiences in Japan, I recommend "Learning to Bow" or one of Alan Booth's books instead. Whatever you do, don't read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Highway Robbery
Review: Hokkaido Highway Blues is a readable but over-long travelogue. Will Ferguson was an English teacher in Japan- along with thousands of others- until he decided to hitch hike the length of the country, following the cherry blossoms as they emerged, and the celebrations that attend them. As anyone who has lived in Japan or is an aficianado of Japanese culture will be aware of, Cherry blossom viewing is one of the highlights of the seasonal festivals that pepper the Japanese calendar. Foreign inhabitants of Japan will recognise and appreciate many of the foibles that Ferguson turns his wit to in Hokkaido Highway Blues, but you may also be turned off, as I was, by his increasingly patronising tone, and his ungracious mockery of some of the peole who assist him in his "quest". Having lived in Niigata for two years myself, I can admit to some feelings of wounded parochial pride on reading a comment such as the following: " had a sore butt as well, and so I should: I had been royally screwed by Niigata". Often Ferguson's judgements on the places he passes through are based on such glancing impressions as a day or two or sometimes only an hour can afford. The irony is that Ferguson wants to be accepted by the culture he examines, yet can only appreciate it from the peripheral standpoint of the hitch hiking traveller. I also had to wonder why, coming from an author who apparently spent a considerable period of time living in Japan, the lingering impression Hokkaido Highway Blues gave me was a sense of alienation. Add to this a swag load of clumsy, mawkish insights and half baked haikus (a la JET Journal) and Hokkaido Highway Blues is not much more than a series of anecdotes, occasionally funny, but hardly a classic.
Rating:
Summary: Captures it!
Review: I am currently a teacher living in Japan and at times I find it difficult to put into words exactly what I am going through, but Will Ferguson captures it completely! It one book he has managed to bring to life the struggles, joys, and surprises that come with being a foriegner in Japan. A must read for anyone who has ever lived in Japan or knows someone who has.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Funniest Books I Have Ever Read
Review: I have lived in Japan about 8 years and have read several books about Japan. I enjoyed Booth's "The Road To Sata" but he chose to walk the whole way so he did not have as many encounters with Japanese people as Will Ferguson did (Will hitchhiked most of the way). I really enjoyed Will's witty writing style and he mentioned so many things that foreigners experience while living in Japan. Some reviewers commented that the author often makes fun of the Japanese and does not show enough respect for their culture. But I think anyone who has lived here a while has to develop a sense of humor and laugh at certain things or they will go crazy. Will pokes fun at himself quite a lot too and there are some very touching moments like when a Japanese man talks about his experience as a POW. I also recommend Dave Berry Does Japan, Learning To Bow, and The Road To Sata.
Rating:
Summary: Best travelogue of Japan I have read
Review: I have made many trips to Japan and always had something of a fascination for the country, but even after all that time there always seems to be parts of it that elude me. This book captures clearly the love/ hate relationship that many people have with a foreign country and the infinite possibilities and freedom that one can experience as a stranger in a strange land. This book was inspired by Alan Booth's classic The Road to Sata -a travelogue in the 1970s where Alan Booth walked the length of Japan. (Also highly recommended but a little dates due to the references to popular culture of the time.) This time Will Ferguson Hitchhikes from South to North, and recounts his encounters and experiences, and is a worthwhile read for most tourists to Japan who never make it beyond Tokyo or Kyoto. The book is an easy read and Will has a gift for the penetrating observation or anecdote that reveals a lot about both himself and the country he is in. Such as the Japanese attitude to the Ainu, or to Gaijin or the recession's effect on areas like Shikoku. (His description of some of the industrial areas of Japan are much more effective than Dogs and Demons by Alex Kerr(another highly recommended book about Japan)) But the special thing about this book is that it manages to transcend its genre, that it does not degenrate into a mass of random experiences, like a bunch of picture postcards picked up from the airport souvenir store. Will is able to draw the parallels between his journey and one's journey through life. Through a series of false starts and dead ends, we reach the end of one stage which heralds the beginning of a new one. Looking back we admire him for trying to make sense of his decisions and have seen him grow with the experience and perhaps we have grown a little with him.
Rating:
Summary: Accurate and Insightful
Review: I have read a lot of travelogues of Japan, including the famous journeys of that Gaijin legend, Alan Booth. But I have to admit that this book was my favorite of them all. Not only was the author witty in his commentary of Japan, he was surprisingly insightful as well in his observations of the Japanese. I have travelled through much of Japan and can attest that Mr. Ferguson is pretty on point with his opinions and remarks of the country and the people. I found my self laughing out loud in some chapters and stopping to re-read others. (One great thing about this book is that the chapters are so small even a few brief minutes will allow you to further your journey through Japan). The author is also a very talented writer. Many of his analogies and descriptions were imaginative and well-written. Even those who have never been to Japan can, I think, benefit from this book by beginning to understand (or at least as much as a Gaijin can) the peculiar and fascinating intricacies of the Japanese people. I love the people of Japan and have spent the past five years among them. But just when I think I have them figured out, I'm wrong. My ideas fall from the limbs of my mind like sakura. This book gave me new ideas and concepts to think about, and I thank the author for that. Overall, this is an excellent book for anyone interested in Japan. And a good book for anyone who's not.
Rating: 
Summary: A sad and uncharitable view of life and Japan.
Review: I laughed many times at Will's facility with words as he touched on many funny bones of Japanese life. However the further I read the sadder it became. How cynical to launch out on a journey dependent on a society's good graces, then turn and slap it in the face. All societies have their foibles, which bear comment, but not the mocking distain of Will Freguson. Will sought the seamier side of Japan and he found it. The worldly wise mama-san in an aka-chochin in the back streets of any town in Japan has more insights into human nature than poor old Will has in his little finger. No matter how lucid our prose, unless it is matched with compassion and empathy, it will never describe the real Japan. There are errors of fact (Guam is in Micronesia not Polynesia) and I have my doubts about the facts of some of the other episodes, did women and children jump to their deaths from cliffs on Saipan or was Will thinking of Okinawa?
Getting drunk at other peoples expense and laughing at them does not constitute a good book on Japan in my opinion, regardless of the facility of the writer.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. However, I have to say that I found the author to be arrogant and condescending when it came to describing his Japanese hosts and Japanese culture. And by the way Japan is far from the only country in the world to require foreign residents to always carry identification papers and work permits.
|
