Do you really want to spend your precious travel time on a freaking local train? IT IS HELLISH.
Why don’t you try cycling? It’ll be a hell of a lot faster than walking, you still get close to the countryside, and you’ll probably meet more people. Never tried it myself, but I know a guy (he’s Japanese) who’s cycled all over Japan, and said it was a great experience.
The problem, dakravel is that transportation is expensive. You’ll have to spend that money anyway if you want to go anywhere.
I’ll say this once more: I live in Japan. I own a car. In the unlikely event that I should pick up hithch-hikers close to an interchange, you can be damn sure that I’d ask them to pay for the toll fare. You just cannot expect to get any freebies.
The 21-day JR pass comes out to about 2700 yen a day. If you plan on staying in and around the same general area (say, Kansai) then maybe buying tickets and using the youth-18 pass for longer trips might come out cheaper. Note, however that the youth-18 pass still comes out to 2300 yen a day, so it’s not that much cheaper. You’d be a fool, however, to not make some sort of budget and figure out which is going to be cheaper before you go.
RindaRinda’s idea of cycling is a great one too. As a matter of fact, cycling is the only way you’re ever going to travel longish distances for free.
Another suggestion, in the same vein as the Kumano Kodo is to do the Nakasendo. That used to be one of the two main highways between Edo and Kyoto, with the Tokaido. It went through the mountains and the area is still very rural. I think keeping away from large cities is best both from a cultural and financial point of view.
Well, if you don’t want to listen to any of us then that’s your right…and, as the saying goes, your funeral. Not that I think you’re likely to actually be murdered, although I guess you could die of exposure waiting for someone to come by who’s willing to give you a ride.
*Expensive? Ha! I wish I could get one of those “expensive” passes, but as a resident alien I don’t qualify. A friend from the US came to visit me for Golden Week, and she got seven days of unrestricted travel on everything but the very fastest shinkansen line for what I paid for one roundtrip shinkansen ticket.
The JR West Japan pass is available to foreign tourists in-country, although I’m not sure of the details as I don’t qualify for that one either.
You wanna do Japan on the cheap? Visit a Japanese family and get them to pay for everything. People tend to be really generous to guests, especially young’uns.
Or do what we do: live here and get to know what’s a rip and what’s not. There are plenty of fun things to do in this country wherever you might be.
Japan has only a rudimentary tourist industry. Plane fare and train fare within the country are expensive, and so are decent hotels (though not insanely so). And trust me–everything costs something. You wanna see that nice little temple in Kyoto?–300 yen admission fee! I kid you not. Many Japanese people find it’s much less expensive to go overseas than travel within their own country.
If you think the JR pass is costly, you’re in for some surprises! It can cost $10 just to go from one side of Tokyo to another–or more.
One thing about cycling locally. Japan is extremely mountainous, and you might be in for some heavy-duty pedaling. Personally, I have enjoyed walking in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto–cheap local fun when you live there.
Get a plan, get a budget, identify some youth hostels, etc.
you know, in the 1980’s, Japan was relatively easy place to get around hitch hiking, people would often drive far out of their way to take you somewhere (and buy you a meal and give you 10,000), and one could camp in city parks in smaller towns. Man, those were some good times. 
So maybe the OP has a false idea of what Japan is like today based on some out dated experience from the 1980’s.
The OP mentioned that he’s 19, so I hope not :eek:
I can’t say that hitching here is something that I would want to do, but a quick check of the net brings up a lot of positive anecdotes. Perhaps the novelty factor for Japanese drivers makes it easier. Lonely Planet mentions this book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1569472343/104-3417858-0233526?v=glance as a useful guide for hitching in Japan. It also suggests $60 as a skeleton budget (including train fare).
BTW, Fuji-san is very much overrated.
How’s your Japanese?
If you’re planning to go to the top of Fuji, I’d recommend climbing during the day and spending the night on top. There are huts where futons can be rented and noodles and such bought. I climbed it twice, both times at night, so I could watch the sun rise. If I were to do it again, I’d climb during the day. It’s a damn cold climb at night, especially in the rain. Don’t choose your climbing clothes based on Tokyo’s weather.
As I understood it at the time, there is only a small window of time when climbing Fuji is even permitted. I climbed both times in mid-August, but it was still miserably cold near the top. Not sure why I did it the second time, considering that the first time was one of the most unpleasant, difficult nights of my life. I guess it was the view of the sunrise from the top–it is a beautiful thing, and I’m glad to have had the experience, but overall I’d probably agree that it’s overrated. Then again, most everything is.
About the hitchhiking, though, I have tried it, and got hauled in to the police station for it. I just tried it once, but the experience cured me of wanting to try it again. I wasn’t tortured or anything, but the police didn’t treat me with the usual Japanese courtesy, either. When my interview was finished, the guy jerked his thumb toward the door, and said “go.” He used the lowest form of the verb, the same word he would use to tell a stray dog to get off his lawn. Good luck, but be prepared.
You got a ‘futon’? Damn. When I went, we were packed into bunk-like things like sardines. It was miserable. I do agree that staying is the smart thing to do, however.
The peak Fuji season is July-August. I believe that climbing is allowed outside of that window, however.
The sunrise was beautiful, but I was very much let down by the mountain itself which I found quite ugly and artificial.
My number one Fuji-san recommendation is to buy one of the walking sticks sold at the bottom. Best 2000 yen I’ve ever spent.
Oh, I didn’t actually stay there. I just thought I saw futons spread out, with people spread out on them–not necessarily one person per futon.
You’re probably right about the climbing window. I was going on the advice of friends, and their advice to climb only during the warmest two or three weeks of the year was probably aimed at me specifically. They knew I was a wimp in the cold.
And I agree that it’s a bit of a letdown. It’s a beautiful mountain from a distance, but when you’re on it, it’s just a big cold black rock. I did meet some very friendly fellow climbers, though.
Just curious, did the Ghost of Theodore Roosevelt tell you to go to Japan?