Japanese hitchhiker experiences China off the beaten path

NANJING — Far from an impulsive decision, a Japanese student planned a well-thought-out route to experience the real China. With a tight budget and schedule, he hitchhiked over 3,000 kilometers from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, to Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

After discovering stereotypes about how Chinese and Japanese people perceive each other, Hibiki Tanikawa, 24, felt reality might tell a different story. "Only by communicating with Chinese people can one see the real China," he says.

With that belief, Tanikawa, a postgraduate student at the School of Journalism and Communication at Nanjing University, set out on a unique journey on Jan 21.