Ten years ago, Japanese teacher Kazunari Uzunomiya and his wife Tomoko began to realize their dream of cycling around the world. Now, 10 years and 88 countries later, they have fulfilled their dream and are ready to face new challenges.
The couple began their round-the-world trip on a tandem bike in 1997. Katsunari had been a cycling enthusiast since childhood and had read many books about round-the-world adventures.
But Tomoko, who worked in an office, had no interest in cycling at all and was afraid of going to foreign countries and meeting strange people.
"I was scared when I thought about guns in the US, and Africa was poor and dirty. But he tricked me into going along by saying that we would ride a tandem bike so that I could sit in the back seat and peddle only when we had to climb up a road," she said.
The trip turned out to be much more strenuous, but also much more exciting and rewarding, than she expected.
"We met many good people and saw many beautiful places. I am very happy when we are on the road, and all the hardships have been worthwhile," she said.
The couple, both 39, began their trip in June 1997 in North America.
From there, they traveled to and peddled around New Zealand, Australia, South America, Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia. On May 5, they arrived in Taiwan from the Philippines.
Between continents, they disassembled their bike and packed the parts up to be transported by ship or plane as check-in cargo.
The reason they made Taiwan the final leg of their journey is that when cycling in New Zealand in 1999, they met Taiwan cycling adventurers Lin Chi-ying (林姬瑩) and Chiang Chiu-ping (江秋萍), who invited them to visit Taiwan. Lin and Chiang, known as Vicky and Pinky among international cyclists, are teachers in their 30s. The two women have already cycled through many countries and have played host to many foreign cyclists.
After resting up at Lin's home in Taichung, the Japanese couple are peddling in central and southern Taiwan, accompanied by a dozen Taiwan cyclists, and plan to return home to Japan by ship from the Keelung Harbour on June 5.
Tomoko, who is more fluent in English than Kazunari, described the round-the-world trip as full of hardship due to their tight budget and harsh weather conditions.
"We lived on US$10 a day. In the US, we stayed in a hotel only once in six months. We ate bread for breakfast and lunch and ate canned food only for dinner," she said.
They mended their own clothes and repaired their tandem bike when necessary.
They put up with the bitter cold on the 5,000m plateau of Tibet and braved the heat of the Namibian desert. In Slovenia, they slept in their tent when the temperature was -15oC.
During the 10 years of travel, the couple returned to Japan four times to take breaks for two to three months.
Tomoko said the trip has taught her that life does not have to be as stressful and fast-paced as it is in Japan.
Kazunari and Tomoko said their decade-long odyssey was in part a rebellion against their stressful lives in Tokyo.
"We really don't like to return to the stressed life in Japan, but Japan is our home and we have to take care of our parents. So we will go home now. But maybe we will take another overseas cycling trip in a few years time," Tomoko said.
Kazunari seemed less worried because he has seen his wife transformed from a weak woman into a strong and resourceful cyclist.
"She has become stronger and healthier. She looks like a different person than before," he said.
Kazunari and Tomoko have to look for work when they return to Japan, but they are not afraid since they have traveled around the world and are willing to do anything.
Taiwan cyclists have suggested they give talks to Japanese students or write a book on their round-the-world adventure to encourage young people to realize their dreams.
IN 2002 Thomas Hertog received an e-mail summoning him to the office of his mentor Stephen Hawking. The young researcher rushed to Hawking’s room at Cambridge. “His eyes were radiant with excitement,” Hertog recalls. Typing on the computer-controlled voice system that allowed the cosmologist to communicate, Hawking announced: “I have changed my mind. My book, A Brief History of Time, is written from the wrong perspective.” Thus one of the biggest-selling scientific books in publishing history, with worldwide sales credited at more than 10 million, was consigned to the waste bin by its own author. Hawking and Hertog then began working on
It’s a fairly common scenario: A property has been foreclosed and sold at auction on behalf of a bank, but it remains occupied. The former owner may be refusing to leave, because he has nowhere else to go. Humans or animals may be squatting inside. Or — and this happens often enough that many foreclosure specialists have come across it — the stay-ons are gods. On June 1, 2020, ETToday reported on one such case in New Taipei City. Following the sale of a foreclosed apartment in Sinjhuang District (新莊), a second auction, to dispose of movable items left inside, was
Pingtung County was home to many of Taiwan’s earliest Hakka immigrants. Jiadong Township (佳冬鄉), now little more than a small rural outpost along the road to Kenting with a slowly dwindling population and a local economy supported mainly by aquaculture, was once a thriving Hakka stronghold. Evidence of the residents’ strong family ties, self-reliance and, in some cases, keen business sense, still remains. At the time of the Japanese takeover in 1895, it was still an important enough center that the incoming colonists sent a special military mission to capture it. Nowadays, much has been done to preserve the cultural
March 27 to April 2 After placing fifth in the 1964 Miss Universe pageant in Miami, “Miss China” Yu Yi (于儀) toured the US to great fanfare. The Chinese community in San Francisco called her the “pride of the Republic of China (ROC),” and she even received the key to New York City. Taiwan’s Miss China pageant produced three winners that year who performed on the international stage. Lin Su-hsin (林素幸), the second Taiwan-born Miss China, did even better, claiming third place in London’s Miss World. She says she was elated to see
RSS