A Japanese Hitchhiker Story

The classic “Hitchhiker” ghost story is well known in the United States. In a past post I shared one of them on this blog. While reading ghost stories from around the world I have found that the Hitchhiker story is by no means unique to the United States in fact one similar story to ours has been told in Japan for several generations.

In modern day Tokyo taxis are considered as haunted as any ancient graveyard. Many drivers or pullers over a 150-year plus history have told stories of a passenger, specifically a young girl, who gets on or in their cabs and then simply disappears. 

Why I say ‘pullers” and “gets on” is that the cheapest public transportation in Japan up until World War II were jinrikishas (there are several alternate spelling of this word) or rickshaws which seat one person and are pulled by human runners.

One such rickshaw puller on a rainy autumn night near Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo picked up a quiet young woman drenched by the rain. It was dark so he did not get a good look at her face but she seemed sad and he guessed she must have been visiting the grave of a relative or friend. 

The address she told him was across town so he quickened his steps as he ran. When they arrived at the address the young girl do not move to get out instead she gazed up at a second floor window and indicated she wanted just to stay put. The puller saw a dark figure pacing in front of the window.

After ten minutes the young girl softly gave the puller another address that was back near the cemetery where he had picked her up. The rain continued to pour down in sheets. When they arrived at the new address the puller noticed it was a large house in a good neighborhood. As he set his wooden poled handles down and turned he was startled to see an empty seat. Thrown into shock he stood frozen in place.

A man approached from the shelter of the house. He walked up to the rickshaw driver and offered him the exact change he was owed for the young girl’s fare. Seeing the pullers confusion he quickly explained that the young girl was his daughter, who had died in an accident several years back. 

He pointed to the Aoyama Cemetery, she is buried there. The father went on to explain that from time to time his deceased daughter would hail a ride and after she visited her old boyfriend’s house she would ask to be driven home. The father thanked the puller and sent him on his way.

It is interesting how similar this story is to our Hitchhiker stories here in America.