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Except for the occasional impoverished student in the wide expanses of Hokkaido, there is very little tradition of hitchhiking in Japan, and you will more likely than not be the first hitchhiker that your driver has ever even seen, much less picked up. The key to hitchhiking is thus to assuage these fears and look as '''harmless and friendly''' as possible.
The top worries of a Japanese driver when they see a hitchhiking gaijin are: Can he '''communicate'''? Does he know how to behave? The quick way to answer those questions is with a [[signs|sign]]: 日本語できる！ (''Nihongo dekiru!''), literally "Japanese can!", is just six characters and works like a charm. And you don't really need to know Japanese all that well to use such a sign, as long as you can communicate... somehow...
Second on the agenda is '''[[appearance]]'''. This is not the place for a mop of unruly hair, ripped jeans and sunglasses — foreigners are by default scary, and you need to do your best to look like you stepped out of an L.L. Bean catalog. Neat trousers, clean shirt, a hat to protect you from the sun instead of sunglasses. If you have a huge rucksack, hide it off to the side.
