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The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan

Alan Booth

4.10 · Rating details · 1,114 ratings · 137 reviews

Traveling only along small back roads, Alan Booth traversed Japan's entire length on foot, from Soya at the country's northernmost tip, to Cape Sata in the extreme south, across three islands and some 2,000 miles of rural Japan. The Roads to Sata is his wry, witty, inimitable account of that prodigious trek.

Although he was a city person--he was brought up in London and spe ...more

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Paperback, 302 pages

Published August 14th 1997 by Kodansha Globe (first published 1985)

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Mar 06, 2020 Kiekiat rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel, japanese-culture

'The Roads to Sata' is a minor travel classic and is the tale of Alan Booth's walk from Cape Sota, in Hokkaido, the northernmost island in Japan, to Cape Sata in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four major islands--a distance stretching over 3200 kilometers. Booth made this four-month trek in 1977.

Roads to Sata is revered by many Asian travel writers, and for good reason. It is held in high-esteem because Booth was a superb writer and astute observer, as well as an erudite man who wore his va ...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Maru Kun rated it it was amazing

Shelves: review-or-reviewed, regions-asia, outer-travel, my-best-of-best, c-japan

When I first visited Japan twenty five years ago children would point at me and shout “Gaijin da! Gaijin da!” – “Look, a foreigner! A foreigner!”. If I walked round a Kyoto temple whole classes of middle school students would crowd around to have their picture taken and practice their English. I was just like a film star. Of course, I didn’t let it go to my head. Not in the slightest.

Well, 2015 is the first year Japan has seen a tourist surplus since the fifties; more people spent money visiting ...more

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Aug 26, 2017 Daren rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: japan, 4-star, travel, north-east-asia, uk-author, trekking-hiking-climbing, non-fiction

Alan booth is British, and prior to his walk (in 1977), he had spent 7 years living in Tokyo, with his Japanese wife. Having what appeared to be a very fluent use of Japanese, he decided to walk from the northern most point to the southern most point of Japan, to interact with the local people, and try to get a more thorough understanding of Japan.

For 128 days, over 3300 kilometres, the author walked (the backroads where possible) and interacted with the village people. He stayed mostly in ryoka Alan booth is British, and prior to his walk (in 1977), he had spent 7 years living in Tokyo, with his Japanese wife. Having what appeared to be a very fluent use of Japanese, he decided to walk from the northern most point to the southern most point of Japan, to interact with the local people, and try to get a more thorough understanding of Japan.

For 128 days, over 3300 kilometres, the author walked (the backroads where possible) and interacted with the village people. He stayed mostly in ryokan - a Japanese inn, for locals more than tourists.

Booth has found a writing style which accounts for the constant repetition (eat breakfast - find coffee - walk - find lunch and beer - walk - find ryokan and beer - eat dinner and beer - sleep. Repeat 127 times) without punishing the reader. In hindsight, it is not clear how he managed this -because with descriptions of his daily surrounding, some light history, some relevant traditions and culture, some interactions with the people of his day, it should not be as good a read as this was!

Setting out from Cape Soya, heading south, this book was an often amusing read, Booths writing highlighting some of the more strange conversations with the people, and many of these emphasised how he really got into the rural backroads of Japan. Through poor weather, we share his fatigue, as soaking wet, he heads onwards from lunch for another 4 hour slog to the village he plans to stay. Through the foot-wary pain, the tedium of school children yelling "gaijin, gaijin, gaijin", and people speaking about him, unaware he can understand them perfectly well. And yet, Booths appreciation and respect for the Japanese is obvious throughout, even at his lowest ebb.

Two things were impressive in this book - the authors self motivation and determination (how many lifts was he offered in the rain); and his prodigious consumption of beer.

4 stars for me.

A couple of the more amusing parts quoted below:

P102: Conversation in a bar (takes place in Japanese):
"Ah, so you have been hitch-hiking."
"No, I've been walking."
"Yes, yes, yes. And what a beautiful country Japan is to walk in. But have you found it easy to obtain rides?"
"I haven't had any rides."
"Oh, come, come, come."
"I've walked."
"Yes, yes. But what about the longer distances?"
"Perhaps you haven't understood me..."
"Yes, yes, yes. How marvellous to be British. I love the British."
...
"But how far have you hitch-hiked?"

P108: Arriving at a ryokan (inn):
"Are there any rooms free?" I asked with an encouraging smile.
"Well, yes there are, but we haven't got any beds. We sleep on mattresses on the floor."
"Yes, I know," I said. "I have lived in Japan for seven years."
"And you won't be able to eat the food."
"Why, what's the matter with it?"
"It's fish."
"But I like fish."
"But it's raw fish."
"Look, I have lived in Japan for seven years. My wife is Japanese. I like raw fish."
"But I don't think we've got any knives and forks.
"Look..."
"And you can't use chopsticks."
"Of course I can. I've lived..."
"But it's a tatami-mat room, and we don't have any armchairs."
"Look..."
"And there's no shower in the bathroom. It's an o-furo."
"I use chopsticks at home. I sit on tatami. I eat raw fish. I use an o-furo. I have lived in Japan for seven years. That's nearly a quarter of my life. My wife..."
"yes," moaned the woman, "but we can't speak English."
"I don't suppose that will bother us", I sighed. "We have been speaking Japanese for the last five minutes". ...more

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Jan 04, 2015 Ms. Smartarse rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Ms. Smartarse by: Katy

Shelves: biographical, mid-xx-century, cover-love, non-fiction, travel-guide

Back in the 1970s, Alan Booth decided to go on an adventure. Though it may not have seemed as magical as Bilbo Baggins' quest, people's reaction to it was just as exasperating. After all, it's not every day, that you encounter someone traversing your country on foot: from its northernmost point (Cape Soya) all the way to its southern counterpart (Cape Sata).

Japan map

I wasn't sure what to expect, which is why I have shelved this book under "travel guide". The Roads to Sata is much closer to a memoir howev ...more

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Jun 05, 2020 Debbie Zapata rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020printbooks

First of all, thanks to GR friend Kiekiat for his review of this book, which inspired me to find and read it myself.

I love books about walking since I enjoy long-distance walking myself. Walking is the original human rate of speed: we can't see our surroundings anywhere near as well when we are zipping along in a car or a train. The only way to truly discover any place is on foot. Although I must admit, walking from one end of a country to the other is not something the average person would want First of all, thanks to GR friend Kiekiat for his review of this book, which inspired me to find and read it myself.

I love books about walking since I enjoy long-distance walking myself. Walking is the original human rate of speed: we can't see our surroundings anywhere near as well when we are zipping along in a car or a train. The only way to truly discover any place is on foot. Although I must admit, walking from one end of a country to the other is not something the average person would want to do.

But Alan Booth did, and here he shares many of the things he saw on his journey. The book was interesting, yet I found myself able to put it down and not pick it up again for a day or two. I am not sure why, though. Granted, Booth was a bit of a Grumpy Gus, and I got annoyed with him at times, but the book was filled with fascinating bits of history about the places he passed through, and enough pleasant interactions between the author and the people he met to make up for those times when I thought he was being incredibly rude.

I think part of what kept me from immersing myself in the book was Booth's attitude towards the people of Japan. I could never really make up my mind if he liked them, merely tolerated them, or hated them with a passion. He had been living in the country for seven years but still got annoyed when people didn't think he could speak Japanese or use chopsticks. And the children drove him crazy. I think he truly did hate the children.

I lived in Mexico for eight years, so I am used to people staring, little boys behaving like little boys the world over, and people wondering if I could or would eat the food or speak the language. But I never got as annoyed about any of that as Booth did. He seemed to have a major chip on his shoulder about the whole topic, and nearly every encounter that could have become something pleasant if he had allowed it to develop that way left a bitter taste in his mouth and in the reader's.

But maybe he was just following the advice one shop owner gave him when he learned that Booth was a writer:
"A country is like a sheet of paper; it's got two sides.On one side there's a lot of fancy lettering ~~ that's the side that gets flaunted about in public. But there's always a reverse side to a piece of paper ~~ a side that might have ugly doodlings on it, or bits of graffiti, or goodness knows what. If you're going to write about a country, make good and sure you write about both sides."

If you are going to describe both sides of a country, I suppose you should also be honest and describe both sides of your own self, right? So that may be why we get the Grumpy Booth as well as the Booth who went drinking with the baseball team or the sumo wrestlers. At east he LIVED while he was there. That is more than a run-of-the-mill tourist does.

I remember one old man who came up to me when my husband and I were walking around the city of Huamantla in the state of Tlaxcala, Mexico. The town was about an hour from where we lived and I loved the place, it was magic. Especially with memories like the ones this old man gave us. He saw me, his face lit up, and came rushing up and said "Wisconsin! Wisconsin!" I grinned and said "Arizona! Arizona!" We both laughed and then he told us how when he was a younger man he had gone north and worked in Wisconsin. Those few moments made us all smile and we parted friends. Making connections with other people is what real travel is all about it, right? At least it should be, anyway.

I may not have been over the moon about Booth but I did order another book he wrote about Japan, called Looking for the Lost: Journeys Through a Vanishing Japan. It arrived the other day, so after my feet get rested up from this journey, I will see what else Booth saw in a country I myself would love to visit. ...more

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Aug 16, 2018 Patrick Sherriff rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: japan

Alan Booth's Roads to Sata has been an ever present through my life in Japan. Published in 1985, 12 years before I first set foot in Japan, the book was always there, waiting for me to be ready to read it. I ignored recommendations by ex-colleagues at the Daily Yomiuri and more recently couldn't find the time to read it even after a friend working at the Japan Times thrust a copy into my hands with the command: "you gotta read this".

But I didn't. The prospect of reading another gaijin-does-Japan Alan Booth's Roads to Sata has been an ever present through my life in Japan. Published in 1985, 12 years before I first set foot in Japan, the book was always there, waiting for me to be ready to read it. I ignored recommendations by ex-colleagues at the Daily Yomiuri and more recently couldn't find the time to read it even after a friend working at the Japan Times thrust a copy into my hands with the command: "you gotta read this".

But I didn't. The prospect of reading another gaijin-does-Japan book left me listless. It was only after I liberated a first edition copy from a bargain bin in Kanda-Jimbocho last month that I finally, if a little reluctantly, pulled back the covers to see what lay beneath.

Sure, on one level it is another gaijin-does-Japan book, if those gaijin include Donald Keene, Alex Kerr, Ian Burma and Lafcadio Hearn. It's the quality of his observations and the self-effacing way that Booth writes them that makes The Roads to Sata so good. Nowhere does Booth commit the error of saying "the Japanese do this" or "the Japanese do that". Instead he employs the skills of a (good) novelist to show through his experiences a picture of Japan that while far from complete (this isn't the Japan of the big cities or big screens or big business) it is encompassing. Through focussing on the individuals he meets, chats to and tries to understand, the wood becomes discernible from the trees.

Some have criticised the book for a perceived negativity or cynicism on Booth's part, but I beg to differ. If Booth gets frustrated after four months of being harangued by high schoolboys taunting him to perform dancing-monkey-like, who can blame him? But Booth was merely being honest in his portrayal of his experiences, most of which were positive. He writes lovingly of the ordinary folk who went out of their way to be hospitable, and critically of those who did not, though all the while leaving it up to the reader to make the final judgement, leaving the door ajar, as all good writers do, for interpretation.

If you have an interest in good writing about Japan, you gotta read this.

Download my starter library for free here - http://eepurl.com/bFkt0X - and receive my monthly
newsletter with book recommendations galore for the Japanophile, crime-fiction-lover in all of us. ...more

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May 27, 2007 Jamie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: travel-writing, favorites

Man, it is hard to say just how much I like this book. Alan Booth, seven years into his life in Japan decides to walk the length of the archipelago. In the process he seems to empty himself out completely, opening himself up to the sights and smells (and beer) of rural Japan. There is not a shred of interpretation or theorizing about "What is Japan?" in the whole book, which just leaves you with a long series of vignettes and many, many bottles of beer. The book is funny without jokes, sad witho ...more

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Nov 19, 2013 Brian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-stars, society-and-culture, nonfiction, asia, travel

One of my least favorite parts of popular writing about Japan is how the same tired tropes keep coming up over and over again. It's either how Japan is a paradise of harmony with nature and ancient traditions in the modern age, with plenty of references to wabi sabi and mono no aware and geisha and kami and sakura, or how Japan is crazy and weird, with references to dakimakura and soushoku danshi and Kanamara Matsuri and hostess bars and low birthrates. It is to The Roads to Sata's eternal credi ...more

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Feb 05, 2019 Ms.pegasus rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: anyone interested in Japan

Recommended to Ms.pegasus by: Patrick Sherriff's review

Shelves: memoir-biography, japan, nonfiction

Author Alan Booth had been living in Japan for seven years and spoke fluent Japanese by the time he embarked on the unique project of walking from Cape Soya, the northernmost point of Hokkaido, to Cape Sata, the southernmost point of Kyushu. The time is the late '70's. He started out in June. By the end of his journey it was November. He chose a route along the western coast crossed by dusty paths, the occasional highway, and hilly terrain dotted with rural villages so secluded that residents of ...more

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Jun 28, 2015 Myridian rated it it was ok

Shelves: nonfiction, asian, memoir, travel

Booth quickly became a tiresome traveling companion. He seemed annoyed through much of the trip and I started to feel like the main point of this book was to complain. About how he was a spectacle to children, businessmen, and Japanese people in general. (Let's ignore the fact that he was the one who chose to take a walking tour from one end of Japan to the other, thereby making himself stand out even more.) About the weather. About the traffic. About the trash on the side of the road. I also co ...more

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Oct 29, 2015 Domhnall rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: life

This is the account of an Englishman’s somewhat unromantic walk from the most northerly tip of Japan to its southernmost extremity, a 2000 mile journey along the Western coastline, punctuated by a myriad of incidents, encounters and anecdotes. Seven years of life in Tokyo had equipped Alan Booth with fluent Japanese, an ability to eat raw fish and a confident mastery of the sandals worn in Japanese toilets, but at no point in his journey was he ever other than a “gaijin” - a foreigner - to the p This is the account of an Englishman’s somewhat unromantic walk from the most northerly tip of Japan to its southernmost extremity, a 2000 mile journey along the Western coastline, punctuated by a myriad of incidents, encounters and anecdotes. Seven years of life in Tokyo had equipped Alan Booth with fluent Japanese, an ability to eat raw fish and a confident mastery of the sandals worn in Japanese toilets, but at no point in his journey was he ever other than a “gaijin” - a foreigner - to the people he met. The book is a hypnotic read, despite the utter absence of any plot or story, a patient passage through one location after another, for which most merit only a few pithy lines and none more than a few pages. There are descriptive passages, there are brief historical interludes, there are occasional serious conversations that shed light on aspects of Japanese life. Often, though, a single sentence or brief snatch of conversation is sufficient to convey the essence of each experience and these moments of insight (epiphanies) can be a joy to read. He does not romanticise the Japanese - their lives often seem very restricted and narrow - but he describes them in affectionate terms. When they annoy him, though, he retaliates by immortalising their silliness in this lovely book and that is a tradition which many other writers have observed and of which I greatly approve.

Some quotes

Naoetsu is described in the official guidebook as “one of the flourishing industrial centers on the Japanese Sea Coast.” It is so flourishing that from a distance of four kilometers you can’t see it. As you get closer, the mechanics of its disguise become apparent. The chimneys of the Nippon Stainless factory and the Mitsubishi petrochemical complexes pump a solid stream of choking brown smoke into the Sunday afternoon sky. The dock is full of cranes and filthy little tramp steamers and a continuous trickle of dust filters down from the snow roofs that ward off nature from the pavements. Naoetsu has the distinction of being the only city in Japan whose beer shops I raced by without a second glance. I had a vision of petrochemical yeast dissolving most of my vital organs which were then replaced by a stainless steel liver and an injection-molded Mitsubishi stomach...I fled Naoetsu in top gear and didn’t look back at it till forty minutes later by which time it had disappeared. [p134]

...while the temple gardens are meant strictly for contemplation, you can stroll along the pathways of Kenrokuen as you would through an English park. A European might not consider Kenrokuen old. It was laid out in 1822 and in Europe there are parks and gardens that predate it by centuries. But here in Japan, where fires and earthquakes so frequently ravish the cities, and where, consequently, many of the most famous landmarks have had to be rebuilt in modern times, anything that has stood for a hundred years can claim to be venerably “old”.
You can experience a little of Kenrokuen’s peace by looking at the photographs in the guidebook…. I went to see Kenrokuen on a fine Monday afternoon. Children screamed, young men shouted, businessman drank and staggered about, cameras clicked, babies cried, thousands of people followed dozens of guides along the paths between the unruffled ponds and the long-suffering trees. Each guide carried a flag in one hand, so that her charges would not lose themselves in the crush, and a portable loudspeaker in the other hand, through which she furnished the explanations so essential to the appreciation of natural beauty. The older tourists listened to the guides and stayed so close to their heels that they seemed to be on leashes. The younger tourists listened to the transistor radios they carried slung across their shoulders:
I want you baby
I want you ba-a-by
[pp148,9]

Near the top of one hill I came to a cleft that several generations had used as a rubbish dump. There was a little wooden shrine above the stinking heap of cans and cartons and again I couldn’t help pitying the deities for the slums they are lodged in. “There are thirty thousand gods in Japan,” a friend once boasted to me. “Yes” I had retorted, in a bloody mood, “and about three of them paid any respect.” [202]
...more

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Aug 03, 2007 Kay rated it really liked it

Shelves: travelogues, nonfiction, japan-japanese-lit

An introspective travelogue, focused more on the inner than outer journey -- my favorite kind of travelogue, in fact.

Booth walked from the northernmost to the southernmost points in Japan, a trek of some 2,000 miles. Although he spoke fluent Japanese, he found that the perceptions (especially in rural areas) of his "foreignness" created almost an invisible barrier. Still, there were times when he transcended cultural perceptions and had amazing encounters.

Rather episodic by nature, Booth's obs ...more

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Sep 25, 2014 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it it was amazing

Shelves: on-the-road, travel, japan, nonfiction, favorites

This book is going straight to the top of my list of favorite travel narratives. What a story! What amazing people he met! And what a writer Booth is!

In the early eighties, Booth decides to travel from the tip of Japan in the north to the tip of Japan in the south. On foot. Along the way, he meets perplexing Japanese person after perplexing Japanese person. Here’s a sample:

‘I recognized the turnoff to the lodging house...by a brightly lit electric sign glowing an effusive welcome...The doors of ...more

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Sep 13, 2017 Blythe rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017

I have finalllllly finished this book. I think I started it in early 2016, and I finished in summer 2017; that is not to say it's a bad book. I usually put those down. But it is slightly repetitive ("I walked into this small town, a Japanese person made a xenophobic comment, then something lovely happened.")

Overall, I highly recommend this book to a very *specific* audience, or, rather, two specific audiences: people who like tales about people walking far distances, and people who are interest I have finalllllly finished this book. I think I started it in early 2016, and I finished in summer 2017; that is not to say it's a bad book. I usually put those down. But it is slightly repetitive ("I walked into this small town, a Japanese person made a xenophobic comment, then something lovely happened.")

Overall, I highly recommend this book to a very *specific* audience, or, rather, two specific audiences: people who like tales about people walking far distances, and people who are interested in a very intimate glimpse of Japanese life outside of Tokyo.

I have always been fascinated with stories about people walking. One of the original books that got me interested was a book about someone's journey along the Appalachian trail (there wasn't Goodreads back when I read it, so I don't remember the title or author, sorry!) A more recent memoir that I loved was Without a Map. And The Roads to Sata is an excellent addition to this genre.

Only, sometimes it plods along as slowly as such a trip might. But that adds to the realism!

I picked this up somewhat randomly from the free book bin at the library and it was worth every penny. Kidding, of course - I spent way more in time investment than money on this book, and wholly without regret.

Alan Booth was a British journalist whose mother (I think) was Japanese, and though he looked like a Westerner, he spoke Japanese fluently. This makes for some amazing moments where the Japanese people he meets, who constantly assume he doesn't know the language (sometimes despite him speaking to them), react in humorous ways to his knowledge of their language and culture.

He is an excellent describer of people and places he travels through, and as I have wanted to travel to Japan for many years, this was a lovely introduction to the country.

The bittersweetness of this story is that Booth passed away not long after its publication, so there's not really any other books by him. He left behind a Japanese wife and young daughter. His writing marks him as a man of intelligence, good humor, and integrity, and when I googled him about halfway through reading the book, the news of his death some 40 years ago was unexpectedly saddening. "Unexpectedly" is probably the wrong word - what I'm saying is, I started to feel like I knew the man or was in conversation with him, at least. His book gives an intimate picture of him as he is mostly alone. And so the news of his death was unlooked for, and the sadness completed some connection I had made to a long-gone soul.

...more

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Dec 29, 2014 jen rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, walking, japan

I was just thinking about this book again recently, and looking back I see I never wrote a review. There was so much that I loved about this account of a walk from one tip of Japan to the other. The author set out walking and reported what he saw, the good and the bad. Mostly he was walking through rural areas that you never hear about in other accounts of Japan or in travel guides. There was no spiritual journey or journey of self-discovery where the reader has to slog through painful accounts ...more

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Aug 19, 2007 John rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: folks interested in Japan

Insightful, but his bitterness overshadows the story.

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Mar 13, 2016 Gail Pool rated it really liked it

To travel on foot is a lure for many people, whether they are pilgrims following in the footsteps of those who preceded them, or adventurers setting out on their own paths. As Patrick Leigh Fermor observed in his classic, A Time of Gifts, “on foot, unlike other forms of travel, it is impossible to be out of touch.”

Alan Booth clearly felt the attraction of this kind of journey. An Englishman who had lived in Japan for 7 years, was married to a Japanese woman, and spoke fluent Japanese, he set out To travel on foot is a lure for many people, whether they are pilgrims following in the footsteps of those who preceded them, or adventurers setting out on their own paths. As Patrick Leigh Fermor observed in his classic, A Time of Gifts, “on foot, unlike other forms of travel, it is impossible to be out of touch.”

Alan Booth clearly felt the attraction of this kind of journey. An Englishman who had lived in Japan for 7 years, was married to a Japanese woman, and spoke fluent Japanese, he set out in the eighties, at the age of 30, to walk from the northernmost cape of the northernmost island of Japan, Cape Soya, to the southernmost cape of the southernmost island, Cape Sata—the entire length of Japan.

In The Roads to Sata, he gives us a kind of journal of this journey, which took 128 days and covered some 3,300 kilometers. He walked on back roads and, if necessary, on highways, he stayed in country inns, he consumed quantities of beer (“foot gasoline,” as he calls it), and he had encounters with, he estimates, some 1200 people: from businessmen to housewives, from priests to cyclists, and from farmers to sumo wrestlers—with whom he actually wrestled. (Spoiler alert: he didn’t win!)

Along the way, he meets an elderly man, who tells him: “A country is like a sheet of paper; it’s got two sides. On one side there’s a lot of fancy lettering—that’s the side that gets flaunted about in public. But there’s always a reverse side to a piece of paper—a side that might have ugly doodlings on it, or bits of graffiti, or goodness knows what. If you’re going to write about a country, make good and sure you write about both sides.”

Booth clearly takes this to heart. He describes the landscape, myths, and history of the regions he passes through, especially in the north. He writes interestingly about some of the fascinating rituals, such as O-Bon, the Festival of the Dead, which is for many people, he says, “the most important time of the year.” He praises the hot springs so wonderfully resuscitating to his sore legs, and the kindness and nicely quirky aspects of many of the people he meets.

But he also describes the heaps of refuse lying on the beaches, the violent pornographic comics, the cruelty to animals, and, above all, the unfriendliness and even hostility toward foreigners that he encounters. People mock him, assuming he doesn’t understand what they’re saying; little boys (but not girls) taunt him; everyone stares, making him feel like a “freak.” Many inns turn him away, claiming at times that he can’t stay because he doesn’t understand Japanese (even while he’s speaking to them in Japanese) or because he can’t eat the raw fish they serve (even though he explains that he’s lived in Japan for 7 years and assures them that he eats raw fish).

Booth recreates these encounters vividly, and they’re believable. I felt I could understand his frustration. But I began to find his depictions frustrating as well. Westerners have often had trouble with the very different culture of Japan, and I wished that while the author was getting in touch with the country, he would have been more openly in touch with himself. Why, after all, was he on this journey? He says very little about this at the start. It is only at the end of his trip, when a reporter asks him this question, that he replies: “Because I’d lived in Japan for a quarter of my life and still didn’t know whether I was wasting my time. I thought that by taking four months off to do nothing but scrutinize the country I might come to grips with the business of living here, and get a clearer picture, for better or worse.”

This statement seems to me both odd and oddly placed. Why would he be “wasting his time” living in Japan? What does he mean by this? In view of the book, I could only think he had been wondering for a long time whether he would always be viewed as an outsider in Japanese society, and that he’d been possibly “wasting his time” thinking he might be accepted. It isn’t clear. But whatever he means, the statement suggests that Booth started out with an attitude that shaped his experience, and it would have altered the reader’s experience to have known from the start what that attitude was.

The Roads to Sata is an engaging account, but it would have been a far stronger book if the author had explored his own cultural viewpoint and made it more explicit at the start. Without this reflection, and introspection, an important layer is missing, a layer of insight necessary to interpret the story he’s telling. A cross-cultural memoir—like a sheet of paper—always has two sides.

...more

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Mar 06, 2015 Patrick McCoy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, biography-autobiography, japan, travel

There have been many books written about Japan by foreigners and I think I managed to come across most of the best writers early on during my stay in Japan, Donald Richie and Ian Buruma immediately come to mind. For some reason I put off reading Alan Booth's seminal The Roads To Sata (1985). I think I heard some negative comments about it, but a good friend whose taste I respect said it was his favorite book on Japan, which makes sense because he is a long distance walker and lover of traditiona There have been many books written about Japan by foreigners and I think I managed to come across most of the best writers early on during my stay in Japan, Donald Richie and Ian Buruma immediately come to mind. For some reason I put off reading Alan Booth's seminal The Roads To Sata (1985). I think I heard some negative comments about it, but a good friend whose taste I respect said it was his favorite book on Japan, which makes sense because he is a long distance walker and lover of traditional Japaneses culture not unlike Booth himself. Booth decides to walk from Cape Soya in the distant northern peninsula to Cape Sata in the southern isle of Kyushu in 1977. It is an extraordinary feat and gives a portrait of what rural Japan was like in the pre-Bubble era. I think the strengths of his book lie in stray observations of all the distinct individuals that cross his path, descriptions of rural areas that few people-let alone foreigners-pass through, and the sly humor that often lies in between the lines, perhaps in typical English style. Many of these encounters take place in bars and over beers and result in raucous nights and comically remembered conversations and interactions. Here is an example:

...a guest says to a ryokan person (guest house worker)..."I am just going out for a short stroll" is always understood as expect me back incapable of speech at about midnight," and is automatically told what time the door locked and shown the back way in.

I plan to eventually visit every prefecture in Japan, so I was particularly interested in those areas I have yet to visit. So the Hokkaido section and Tohoku sections were particularly interesting for me, since I have only been to the capital city of Sapporo and Akita city in Akita. He has great admiration for the northern region as it is where he first lived when he arrived in Japan (in the northern most prefecture Aomori) and finds the sparsely populated countryside peaceful. I was also interested in his journey through the Chubu region-in particular Sado Island, the isle of exile, in Niigata and Kanazawa, one of the few cities spared from bombing in WWII, in Ishikawa-two places with long histories that are on my short list for traveling in Japan this year. In the south I know little of Fukui and Yamaguchi as well. And once he crosses into Kyushu, a place I have visited several times, but not through the swath through the middle that he went, which crossed through Kumamoto and Oita-the next two places I plan to visit. I think Booth's book is less personal and less judgmental than Donald Richie's great travel book, The Inland Sea, a book I can't help but compare this to. I find it lacking in that sense, but I think these books would be a great starting point and companion pieces in learning about Japan. I think both books provide a glimpse into a forgotten Japan that no longer exists. To Booth's credit, I think he is reluctant to make any general observations about "the Japanese" and it is clear that he tires quickly of the attention and attitudes people had of foreigners in the 70s, he merely wants to be accepted as an individual person rather than an exotic gaijin (foreigner), and as a result he connects with those who look past his foreignness and accept him as a person. He has little faith that he will ever truly understand Japan, even though it is probably what he thought he would accomplish in his herculean task. He admits as much in the final pages. But then again, no foreigner can. And I think this is the appeal of living in such a place as Japan and something that both Richie and I would probably concur with. ...more

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Mar 24, 2012 Dale rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, japan, nonfiction, travel

It turns out that when you walk 2000 miles through heat, rain, cold, wind (and some nice days); and when you speak fluent Japanese but are constantly confronted by people who talk to you as if you had no understanding; and when you are choked by truck fumes and forced off into the ditch by aggressive truck drivers: when all this happens you might occasionally get a little grumpy. Fortunately you have ample opportunities to down a beer or two, or 30 shots of sake, or the occasional painful blast ...more

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Dec 16, 2010 Jim rated it it was ok

Shelves: asia, nonfiction, travel

Can we find a little joy in Japan? Ferguson did. Granted, Booth was writing in the 1980s, not far removed in the grand scheme of things, from defeat at the hand of evil empire (oh, wait, that's the Middle Eastern view) and cultural upheaval, and granted also that a journalist must call them like they see them, but really, you almost get the feeling that the hiking trip from top to bottom of the islands was foisted on him by his publishers and he wasn't having it. It is basically a litany of bewi ...more

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Oct 01, 2014 Ashley rated it really liked it

Alan Booth is a gifted writer. I was drawn ever onward through his adventures, despite a total lack of the thrill or complicated plot that drives so many stories these days. I loved the dialogue that he portrayed, and I loved that he let us draw our own conclusions about why the conversations were included and what they meant. My heart ached for him and his struggle with being "foreign". I could relate to almost every stereotype and bias that he was saddled with on his walk. I was actually astou ...more

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May 10, 2008 Susan rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this book. I was puzzled by several things. He always walked on the road; he never seemed to have snacks or food with him; and he talked often about drinking beer and sake, but never water. I think things have changed a lot with the walking/hiking crowd since the 80's, but still....

It was surprising the difficulty he had as a non-Asian walking in parts of Japan. Some of the most fascinating observations concerned the difficulty many Japanese had in accepting that a white man wh ...more

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Apr 23, 2015 Josie rated it it was ok

Shelves: non-fiction, depressing, let-s-go

I read this book in the hopes of becoming enthusiastic about an unwilling move to Japan. I was hoping to learn about the culture and some out of the way sights. Unfortunately, this book was about a man walking along roads, with no particular interest in sights. Entirely readable and thoroughly depressing. I learned: that the Japanese litter, there are an awful lot of snakes in Japan. Also an awful lot of racism. If you don't like fish, you'll probably be eating random and weird things. This auth ...more

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Dec 30, 2020 Christopher rated it it was amazing

This book was fantastic. This has to be my favorite read of the year.

I loved Alan's observations and insights. In a way it feels like a book for someone who loves to people-watch. If you're a solitary tourist that loves to wander and soak up the culture and spirit of a new place, this book will resonate with you. Alan is completely honest and frank about his observations, he doesn't idealize the Japanese but he appreciates the finer aspects of their culture. He meets warm and cold people, and h ...more

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Feb 10, 2021 Jessica rated it liked it

This book is marred by an abundance of dull day to day commentary. You could write a TLDR like this: "I walked down an filthy road. Some children laughed at my back, until I growled at them to go away. I stopped at a shop for beer. I asked about a ryokan and the wife informed me it was full, whilst muttering about 'gaijin' under her breath." This, and the occasional gross commentary about young women, or what brought the book to three stars for me.

The book shines when the author is actually enga ...more

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Sep 10, 2019 Tom Nicholls rated it really liked it

Having lived in Japan in my early 20s for a few years and being a frequent visitor in the 10 years since, I'm always on the look out for good travel books about Japan, this is definitely one of them.
This was written in the 1970s.
Alan Booth had been living in Japan for a few years and decided to walk the entire length of Japan.
He is a great writer and you feel like you're taking the walk with him.
After the Isabel Bird book, this is probably my favourite travel in Japan book.
...more

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Aug 20, 2009 Tim Hulsizer rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Travel fans & Japanophiles

Alan Booth died in 1993 from colon cancer, but not before writing a couple of top-notch travel books about Japan, the country where he lived for many years with his wife and daughter. In this book, Booth tells the story of his mid-1980s walk from Soya, the northernmost tip of Hokkaido to the southern tip of Japan, Cape Sata. Booth finds more than just blisters and beer on his epic journey. As he passes from town to town, he focuses on the little things about each place: individuals, town festiva ...more

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Jun 21, 2017 Mycala rated it really liked it

Shelves: made-me-think, 2017, inspiration, travel, asia

In 1977 the author, a native of England, walked from the northernmost part of Japan all the way to the southernmost tip. His reason? He had lived in Tokyo for nearly a quarter of his life and he wanted to see the rest of the country. It took him 128 days to walk the 2,000-mile journey. I am always intrigued by stories of people who decide to take on a lengthy walk.

I felt bad for this guy. First of all, he was constantly being mistaken as American and secondly, despite the fact that he spoke flu ...more

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Dec 24, 2012 S. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cheshire, white-rabbit

Alan Booth's travel classic narrates 2000 miles walking through Japan, wherein Booth turned down repeated offers of rides and eschewed buses, trains, bicycles, or any other alternate form of transportation. A "smart, subtle" writer, and somewhat wistful to boot, Booth was a clear Japanophile, but he avoided stupid glorification of superficial details to characterize inner truth and genuine sentiment. One is bombarded, traveling around Japan, with the resident foreign expert in every bar or water ...more

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Jun 24, 2018 Jason Fetters rated it it was amazing

An excellent look at Japan and the Japanese that is off the beaten path and could only be written by a witty Englishman. Alan Booth wrote for several newspapers and decided to hike through Japan. He chose to stay at ryokan and never once accepted a ride. Booth began at the Northernmost tip in Hokkaido and ended his journey at the Southernmost tip in Kyushu. Along the way he met some generous and kind people and also suspicious and mean people. Combined, these various individuals showed Booth a J ...more

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About Alan Booth

Alan Booth

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Alan Booth was born in London in 1946 and traveled to Japan in 1970 to study Noh theater. He stayed, working as a writer and film critic, until his death from cancer in 1993.

Books by Alan Booth

Looking for the Lost: Journeys Through a Vanishing Japan

This Great Stage of Fools: An Anthology of Uncollected Writings

Teaching History at University: Enhancing Learning and Understanding

The Practice of University History Teaching

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“The sky too is deep,
the water immeasurably deep.
Of heaven and earth we know nothing
[unnamed poet]” — 0 likes

“The entire area - some 300 square kilometers - is sacred. There are shrines and temples dotted about the slopes, but they merely confirm the sanctity of the land. It is not in the shrines and temples that the gods live, but in the mountains themselves.
[about the Three Holy Mountains of Dewa - Haguro, Gassam, and Yodono]” — 0 likes

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