Book Review

Hitching Rides with Buddha

Author:- Will Ferguson

Published by:-Canongate, N.Y. 10003

Will Ferguson spent first two years of his stay in Japan, teaching English in High Schools on the remote Amakusa Islands. The highlight of the year there was the Faculty Cherry Blossom Viewing parties. In one of these parties, when he was drunker than usual, the author announced to his fellow teachers that he was going to hitch hike to follow the Cherry Blossom front all the way to Hokkaido, at the northern end of Japan. What is surprising is that he actually carried out his intention and traveled from Cape Sata on Kyushu Island, which is the southern tip of Japan, to Cape Soya, the northern tip of Hokkaido Island. We never realize because of the Cartographic projection, that Japan is a very large country. Stretching almost three thousand kilometers, north to south. The cherry trees or Sakura blossoms do not happen simultaneously all over the country. They start from south and go all the way to north.

This book is his travelogue of this novel journey. Will Ferguson is a very witty and humorous writer. This book therefore is great fun to read.  Such travelogues are essentially about people and in this case Japanese people. Some of the personalities he met on his way bring out the finest things as well as funny idiosyncrasies of people of Japan and create a lasting impression on the reader. He encountered many people on his way staring from teachers, professors, women executives and even a former American POW. He even was arrested for traffic rules violations, only to be let off with warning. His narration about ‘Bridges of Heaven’ is particularly quite hilarious.

The book presents a true picture of Japan at grass roots level. A very nice book to read.

24 May 2008