As someone who takes frequent road trips throughout the United States, I wondered if there was such a thing as “road trips” in Japan. Given the prevalence of public transportation and mountainous landscape through much of the country, I wasn’t sure if long car rides to cross hundreds of miles were cost effective, or even plausible. These questions were answered one day when we took a long bus ride to visit the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant from Tokyo. Located over 250 kilometers (or over 150 miles) from where we were staying in Tokyo, the ride to the power plant took over three hours and followed along Japan’s Pacific coastline. After getting out of the city, the first thing that caught my attention was the green landscape that rolled on for miles, touching the ocean outside of the right window of the bus. It reminded me of the California coast, with mountains leading to the ocean below. I also noticed the mixture of homes and agricultural land spattered throughout the mountains, as pictured below. In the first image you can see family homes laid out in a suburb-like pattern with mountains in the back. In the second picture you can see rice crops growing just off of the side of the road, with the same mountains featured in the background. This reminded me of driving through the Rocky Mountain region in America, less the ocean views off to the right.
Alongside the highway were also various street signs, two of which are pictured below. The first one shows an image of a Japanese raccoon dog, which are small animals related to other mammals such as wolves and foxes. They bear a striking resemblance to raccoons with their fur pattern, facial features, and paws, which is what gives them their name. These signs warn of wildlife crossing the road, which is similar to the deer crossing signs seen across the United States. The second sign is of a tube-like flag that shows the wind strength and direction on the highway. These are unlike any signs I have seen in America, though I think the simple technology is something that could benefit drivers across the world, particularly in areas with large vehicles.
Even though these views reminded me of driving across the United States, I still hadn’t seen the characteristic rest stops that would be needed for any drive of substantial length. That was until we stopped for the first time after over an hour of driving, and I saw the place pictured below. It was a rest stop, complete with long-haul semitrucks and public restrooms. It even featured the diagonal parking spaces present in most rest stops in the United States.
Not pictured were even more similarities, which were vending machines next to a small convenience store and public payphones. In the United States, when I go on road trips, I take a small RV with me. This is something that I always knew was popular in America due to the long, open roads, but I never expected it in smaller countries like Japan. Thus, when I saw the advertisement below in the lobby of a popular building in Tokyo, I was very surprised.
The small camping cars resembled some of the small RVs we have in the United States, and if we had more time in Tokyo, I definitely would have gone to take a closer look. These small RVs, much like the rest of the road trip we took in Japan, shared many similarities to the US counterparts. However, with all of the aspects, there were details that were uniquely different, and this made me hope that one day I could return to Japan and experience what it is like to drive across the country and camp.