A 39-year-old man recently finished an 11-year bicycle journey of more than 150,000km—equivalent to circling the globe nearly four times—arguably setting a record among Japanese adventure cyclists.

Daisuke Nakanishi of Kawanishi, Hyogo Prefecture, left Japan for Anchorage, Alaska, the starting point of his journey, on July 23, 1998. During his subsequent bike trip through 130 countries, Nakanishi changed 82 tires, 15 chains and five pedals and fixed more than 300 punctures.

“Only the frame is the same as when I left,” Nakanishi said.

Nakanishi carried a tent, sleeping bag, cooking utensils, clothes, books and maps, spare parts and tools for repairs and other goods on his bike, a load totalling about 50 kg. The bike itself weighed 20kg.

Nakanishi averaged between 100km and 150km a day on his bike.

He returned to Japan from Busan, South Korea, on October 1 and arrived in Osaka, his final destination, on October 11. On that day, he attended the 30th anniversary ceremony of the Japan Adventure Cyclist Club in Osaka, where he was awarded the fourth grand-prix for his feat. He accepted the award with a shy smile on his suntanned face.

In front of about 70 cyclists and club supporters at the ceremony, Motomitsu Ikemoto, president of the club, said: “A cycling journey through more than 100 nations is an extraordinary accomplishment. His achievement is equivalent to that of Nobel Prize winners, I’d say.” Ikemoto said Nakanishi far surpassed the previous Japanese record of 116,780km and 117 countries.

Asked how it felt to end his long journey, Nakanishi said: “I’m relieved. Though, more than that, I’m at a bit of a loss now that my long-pursued dream has been accomplished.”

As a university student, Nakanishi belonged to a cycling club and travelled in 20 countries by bike over the course of five trips abroad, including a coast-to-coast journey across the United States. He gradually nurtured the dream of travelling around the world and spent six years working for a construction firm in Osaka and Kumamoto to save enough money to pursue his goal.

Once he had enough money, Nakanishi set off. His 11-year journey initially took him from Anchorage down the North American west coast through Mexico and Central America before arriving in Panama about nine months later in April 1999. After reaching Peru, he flew from Lima in June of that year to Stockholm and cycled to the northernmost point of Europe in Norway.

From August 2000 to September 2001, he travelled more than 15,000km down the west coast of Africa.

Nakanishi then went to Australia, New Zealand and Argentina, where he visited the southernmost point of South America, and reached Buenos Aires in June 2003.

His journey reached 100,000km on Oct 1, 2006, in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

On Aug 8, 2008, the opening day of the Beijing Olympic Games, Nakanishi was in Tbilisi, when hostilities broke out between Russia and Georgia and an airfield on the outskirts of Tbilisi was bombed by Russian planes.

In the ensuing chaos, Nakanishi tried to flee to Azerbaijan, but it took several days. He said that compared to the European Union, which arranged microbuses for EU citizens to escape immediately, the Japanese reaction was rather slow.

Nakanishi had a number of life-threatening experiences during his journey. On an August night in 2001 in the Namib Desert of Namibia in southwest Africa, two hyenas circled his tent as he laid inside it. “I lay still for two hours clutching my kitchen knife,” he said.

Nakanishi got another kind of scare when he contracted malaria in Equatorial Guinea.

During his travels, he sometimes asked police and fire stations if he could stay overnight. “It wasn’t only for safety reasons, but also practical reasons,” he said.

In South Africa, Nakanishi approached a police station looking for a place to stay after he had no luck finding affordable accommodation. In the end, an officer said he could stay in one of the detention cells. Nakanishi agreed and also shared a meal with the detainees during his stay.

“It was comfortable because I was sure that both me and my bike were safe, and because I was out of the rain,” he said.

In Brazil, Nakanishi often sought shelter at fire stations, where he was treated as a guest. “Many of the firefighters I met showed me respect as a sportsman, because many of them also played sports.”

Nakanishi asked a fire department chief in Santos, Brazil, to arrange a meeting with soccer legend Pele, and it just so happened that one of the station’s officers had a friend who worked in Pele’s office.

When Nakanishi later met Pele in the city, the soccer star told him to take care of himself and have a safe journey.

In January 2002, another unforgettable encounter occurred in Auckland, New Zealand, when Nakanishi called on Sir Edmund Hillary, who in 1953 became the first person to climb Mt. Everest. Nakanishi found his number in a telephone book and called without any advance notice, saying, “I came to New Zealand to meet you.” Hillary seemed surprised at first, but eventually invited Nakanishi to his home. “We shared a lot as adventurers. He understood my hardships very well,” Nakanishi said.

As he travelled, Nakanishi often found that bribes were expected at checkpoints and borders. His worst experience was at an immigration office in Gabon in Central Africa, where an officer charged him US$60 to get through. Nakanishi had no choice but to comply, as he felt he might otherwise face serious consequences.

Nakanishi had another tough experience in Equatorial Guinea, where he had to haggle over bribes at almost every checkpoint and always had to pay two or three dollars.

Now back at home, Nakanishi says he has been enjoying the peace and affluence of Japanese society. A French woman he met and who provided him with accommodations during his journey has visited him. Other friends from Poland and Spain are also scheduled to come.

“The most valuable asset I gained through my journey is that I made lot of friends all over the world,” Nakanishi said.

One of these friends is a schoolteacher in Switzerland he met in Patagonia in South America. The first thing he said to Nakanishi when they met was, “What do you need?” When Nakanishi asked for water, the teacher said he would also need food.

The man provided Nakanishi with a great deal of help, including allowing him to stay with him for six months in his house. “He’s like my older brother,” Nakanishi said.

Among places Nakanishi could not reach on his journey, he most regrets not visiting Afghanistan, Iraq and Tibet for security reasons.

He now aims to get a regular job while writing and lecturing about his experiences.

Asked if he might ever embark on another journey, he said, “Definitely,” adding that even if you go to the same place on the same route, you will encounter different people, landscapes and have new experiences. (By Kenichi Okumura in Osaka/ The Daily Yomiuri/ Asia News Network)