Hitching Rides with Buddha
by Will Ferguson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Will FergusonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-04-21
ISBN: 1841957852
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Canongate U.S.
Book Reviews of Hitching Rides with Buddha
Book Review: Following The Cherry Blossom Front...
Summary: 5 Stars
Will Ferguson one day decided to hitchhike from Cape Sata to Cape Soya, following the Cherry Blossom Front. Of course he can't remember saying that but everybody who was at the party said he said it. Maybe he was too drunk to remember. Maybe they were all lies and his friends were pulling his leg. But he went anyway, following the Cherry Blossoms as they went north. He met friends, made enemies and drank. A lot. Also ate a lot of food, which he really didn't like, and hit on women who didn't really like him. Kind of reminded me of Alan Booth's The Roads to Sata. But more whining. A journey with no real goal. The author isn't searching for anything, which is always good, because they rarely found what they were looking for and then the ending feels forced as they try to pretend that they found world peace and Buddha and love. And they didn't, but they have to sell the book, so they say they did.
There is humor, some sadness and a few scenes in which the author just went nuts, because of the weather or the way he was treated. Funny, you could think a Canadian would control his temper more? In the end we just learn a lot of stuff about the Japanese people. And one author.
I gave this book a 5 out of 5 because it is a good book. I wanted to take points away. I really did. For example, the author seemed to hate museums. I work at a museum so I took some offense to that. But why take it out on such a nice book? Its not the book's fault.
Also the author sexually harassed a Japanese women - he rubbed his leg against her thigh. See page 332. She smiled at him, but once at the bar sat as far away as she could. Gee, no, really? Maybe she did not stop her thigh from touching your leg because the CAR was crowded? They have enough trouble on the trains with Japanese men without non-Japanese men adding to it outside the train, thank you. But is that the book's fault? Once again, no, so why blame the book?
Oh, and just a reminder this is a reprint of a earlier book under a new title. Hokkaido Highway Blues was the old title. So if you have that book don't get this one. Otherwise get this one, but don't think it will give you the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. Maybe a few insights, like don't eat pizza toast. Oh, and remember it was published in the late 90s, so very outdated by now - don't use it as a tour guide.
Summary of Hitching Rides with Buddha
Take a humorist from the Great White North ? one part Bob and Doug McKenzie, the other Bill Bryson ? feed him lots of sake, and set him loose hitchhiking his way through polite Japanese society. The result is one of the warmest and funniest travelogues you've read. It had never been done before. Not in four thousand years of Japanese recorded history had anyone followed the Cherry Blossom Front from one end of the country to the other. Nor had anyone hitchhiked the length of Japan. And, as Ferguson learns, it illustrates that to travel is better than to arrive.
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