Traveling Around the World Seeking a Liberal Way of Living

NAGASAKI Yuma

The awareness of Japanese youths is changing significantly. Even now, not a few young people want to become government employees or enter leading companies, but the number of people who prefer to buck such a fixed and restricted life and search for their own way of life is increasing. NAGASAKI Yuma (28-years-old) is one of these people.

Yuma is currently taking on the challenge of traveling around the world. He started his travels in January 2005 and by January 2006 he had began traveling to Australia, New Zealand and crossed to Chile. Then he took a northern route to reach Canada. From there, he ventured to the Middle East and to Morocco via Britain and Spain. Then he traveled down to South Africa. From there, he returned to Japan via Hong Kong.

However, this is not the end of his journey. Yuma's return was a temporary one to make his parents feel relieved. From this June, he will visit Korea for three months and from October he will visit other Asian countries for three months. He also wants to join the Ship for World Youth. What is his motivation for all this traveling? "I want to see many things," he said simply.

Over 40 years ago, a round the world essay called "Nandemo mite yarou" (I'll see everything) written by ODA Makoto, a young Japanese, became a best selling book. At that time, Japan had little foreign currency, and young Japanese who could travel overseas were limited to students studying abroad and certain privileged citizens. Therefore, travel books encouraged the imaginations of young people. But it is not a dream anymore. As Japanese get richer, anyone can travel if they want to.

Yuma became a system engineer at a bank after graduating from university. The sequence of events following this is very interesting. His girlfriend at the time did not want him to join a company. "So, I tried to find a computer job that would let me work at home," says Yuma. "But, we parted before I entered the company."

Yuma began reviewing his future as at that point he had no more reason to do computer work. In 2003, when he was traveling in Mexico, he met a Japanese couple on their honeymoon. "They were traveling the world with 1.5 million yen each. Hearing that I thought I could also make it." So, he saved 4.2 million yen in a travel fund over three years.

51 countries is not enough
By now he has traveled to 51 countries and has had many fascinating experiences. "The most surprising place was Ethiopia. This is a place called "Race Museum" where there are many different races. Women of the Mursi tribe enlarge their lower lips with a plate. This is considered fashionable and the bigger their lips, the cuter they are thought to be," say Yuma.

"Ethiopia is really a poor country and children sell various items to foreigners. They are worthless things such as banana skins, rusty nails, used dry cell batteries and stones, but with a volunteer mind, I exchange them for foreign currencies that I had left over. I intended to get different items from each child; children began to think what they should bring."

"I was mistaken as a bomb terrorist in Chile. I chained my rucksack to a chair at an airport and left there. When I returned, the chair was surrounded with security tape and people were being kept clear, and the police was watching it seriously. Nobody spoke English. I was blamed in a loud voice in Spanish. I had only to apologize to them." Yuma laughs.

Sometimes, he visits elementary schools to share lesson from his experience to students. "I was once told by a student, 'There are about 200 countries, but 51 countries are not enough.'" Their comment pushes him for traveling again. Fortunately, he is still able to afford it as he only spent 2 million yen on his last trip.

Yuma says it has become clear what he wants to do through travel. "In future, I'd like to run a guest house. Now I am visiting many guesthouses and surveying them. I think exchanges are taking place in guest houses, but I want to promote more exchanges between people in my guest house," he said, his eyes shining. Yuma's own traveling experiences will be useful.

"Seeing many people, I felt life should be freer. As many free-minded people are around me now, I began feeling less of a blockade from people. In my blog, free-minded people come and write." Yuma seems to have grown up according to the Japanese proverb: "Travel broadens the mind."

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