When Life Hands You Lemons
When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. Or so the saying goes. I wish I had photos of this chance encounter today, but alas, I don’t. I was on the way home from work today when I stopped in at a Lawson’s convenience store. I just wanted to buy a jug of water and some snacks. As I was paying, I noticed another fellow walk into the shop - I’d seen him on the road earlier riding his bike. I decided to wait for him outside. He came back out of the convenience store and I struck up a conversation with him. My starting point? The 「日本一周中」sign on the back of his decked out bicycle. That roughly translates as “currently making a lap around the entirety of Japan.” Awesome. I asked him if it was true, and he told me that it was. He said he departed from Kyoto on the 24th of June this year. He’s coming across the Shimanami Kaido bridges (which link Onomichi / Honshu to Imabari / Shikoku) and will make a full loop through all four prefectures here before heading back down south. He said he’s already done Hokkaido, and he fully intends not only to take a ferry to Okinawa and cycle the main island, but to go to the furthest possible island that still counts as “Japan” and back. I told him how cool I thought it was and asked why he was up to it. Some folks do these things as sponsored charity awareness things or whatever. He told me that since the economy just crapped out globally he’d been fired from his job, and thought “hey - why not do it now?” With no excuses and plenty of free time ahead of him, he ventured forth on his bike. I asked if he was blogging the experience or anything, but he said no. He said his phone dies too often to enable him to connect for blogging purposes. I suggested that he do a photo essay afterward if possible. Anyhoo - it was a great moment today that I thought I’d share with you. Cool dude. Cool thing to do if you’re fired and have the ability to take a large chunk of time off.
