In the interim, he's persistently mistaken for an American (something that annoys most Canadians, but not Ferguson, whose previous publications include Why I Hate Canadians) is given a lift by a man who yells 'Cowsex!' at him over and over again encounters Japanese gangsters, Godzilla and underwear vending-machines, revels in all the other ultra-kitsch detritus of 'J-Pop' culture is arrested drinks an awful lot laments his hangovers, and generally gets to know Japan about as well as a gaijin (foreigner) could hope to. He starts on a semi-tropical archipelago and ends up a couple of months later in a blizzard. The book is long, but then so is Japan - almost 3,000 km. Hokkaido Highway Blues is his account of this journey. After a few too many sakés one year, Ferguson - Canadian, English teacher and travel writer of considerable flair and attitude - declared his intention to follow the sakura - and the saké - from toe to tip of Japan, hitchhiking all the way. The advance of the sakura is tracked, as Will Ferguson puts it, 'with a seriousness usually reserved for armies on the march', and its arrival in a region is celebrated with extempore haiku, and thermosfuls of saké.
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