To see the country, road trips are the only way to go

I am not an enthusiastic air traveler. Bustling through airports, getting checked by security, and standing in lines leave me     1    . But road trips are different. While the transit time is longer, opportunities to get off the     2     path make it worthwhile. I see places and interact with people and cultures that I otherwise tend to miss, rediscovering how far you can go and how much you can experience without leaving the United States. So, when my son said he wanted to tour the Kansas State University campus after receiving an admission offer, we threw our luggage and a case of bottled water in the car and     3     the highway. One attraction of traveling at the speed of a car is the transitions. Arizona’s Meteor Crater, Two Guns, and Painted Desert give way to New Mexican villages, then farm towns. Red rocks become open plains where grain elevators are the only features     4     above endless miles of flatness.

That flatness poses an unexpected challenge when there’s nothing to step behind. Eating on the road can also be a challenge. For basic sustenance, Anthony and I relied on Subway sandwich shops, which offer the same reliable fare at every location. While not exactly a     5     of local cuisine, they didn’t leave us regretting lunch when we returned to clocking miles. Salads were     6     difficult to come by in the college town of Manhattan, Kansas, although we had no complaints about the burgers and barbecue.   

In contrast to airport excursions, which often feature     7     and even confrontations, our trip was entirely pleasant. When you meet folks in their natural environment after hours of     8     scenery, it’s easier to remember just how big the world is and to appreciate that many of its inhabitants are perfectly happy living     9    , and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be.

As it turned out, the greatest source of stress was the frequent reminder that my son changes     10     like he’s afraid of missing a sharp turn. Fortunately, that’s a travel headache that can be fixed.

Throughout the 20th century, Japanese towns and cities grew     1    . Today about 80 percent of the Japanese people live in urban areas. The growth of towns and cities, called urbanization (城市化), happens in two ways. One way is     2     rural-urban migration, when people move to the city from the country. As cities prosper and grow, industries and services that     3     many people both as workers and consumers grow to meet the     4     of the increasing population. New industries and services emerge to support the growing business, and the region experiences an upward spiral of growth.

The urban areas on the Japanese island of Honshu (本州岛) continue to grow     5     they attract more people, industries and business. These urban areas contain nearly two-thirds of Japan’s population and manufacturing. City suburbs are     6     in the rural spaces between the towns and cities, and Japan’s efficient and fast transportation system links them all.

Four     7     cities on Honshu-Tokyo Kawasaki (川崎), Chiba (千叶), and Yokohama (横滨) have grown together into one of Japan’s largest urban areas. Two other large urban areas have     8     on Honshu. The area around the city of Nagoya (名古屋) forms one, and the cities of Osaka (大阪)，Kyoto and Kobe (神户) from the other. At the     9     time, these three areas are growing toward one another to form one long, enormous urban area. A single urban system this large is called a megalopolis. This Japanese megalopolis on Honshu, stretching from Tokyo in the east     10     the way to Kobe in the west, is called the Tokaido (东海道) megalopolis.