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'''Tokyo''' is the capital of [[Japan]].
It is almost impossible to hitch out of [[Tokyo]] or any large Japanese city by waving your thumb on the [[Tokyo/Ginza|Ginza]]. Thus, to get out, you have to find the places where drivers going out congregate, which in practice means '''service areas''' (サービスエリア ''sābisu eria'', '''SA''') or '''parking areas''' ('''PA''') on the large toll expressways (高速道路 ''kōsokudōro'') connecting Japan's major cities. As you might guess, service areas are larger and better equipped than parking areas, but surprisingly few Japanese are familiar with the difference so it's easier to label them all service areas.
A useful rule of the thumb (pun intended) is that if you can get somewhere on a train for less than 2000 yen, hitchhiking the distance is unlikely to be worth the trouble. For destinations around Tokyo, such as for [[Mount Fuji]], [[Hakone]], [[Nikko]], hitchhiking is unlikely to be worth the trouble... until you actually get there, that is. All three regions have expensive local transport but plenty of unhurried tourists driving about, always a good combination for the hitchhiker.
==How to get out of Tokyo==
Lots of expressways radiate off Tokyo's local highway system (首都 ''shuto''). So what you want to do is pick a destination, match it to an expressway, and get to the closest PA/SA. Here's the list in clockwise order from west to east, you will probably find it useful to consult a 1:10000 Japanese map to get your bearings. Most English highway signs will not distinguish short and long vowels, but your driver will, so pronounce it right!
