A Dialogue Of People Who Saw Sokichi Takashita

Click this link for a dialogue of people who saw Sokichi Takashita on the highway.
http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/fiw6y/i_met_a_guy_when_i_was_out_biking_ladies_and/?sort=new

Sept 16, 2010 Mase Petty Podcast

On September 16, 2010 an Australian podcast mentions Sokichi Takashita. Mase Petty says on his podcast "I saw Sokichi Takashita".

Sept 16 Australasian Music Episode

I saw Sokichi Takashita. Music of Mickey Gloss, Frowning Clouds, Space Party, Royal Headache.

Sept 13, 2010 Sokichi Takashita Interviewed on Video By Ottawa Sun

On September 13, 2010 the Ottawa Sun interviewed Sokichi Takashita on the side of the highway and captured him on video.

Walking across Canada

Sokichi Takashita, a Japanese national who speaks English with the aid of a translator is walking across Canada by walking from coast to coast pulling a rickshaw type wagon. He started in Vancouver in May and expects to reach Halifax in November.

Click the link to watch the video of Sokichi Takashita Walking across Canada

 

Sept 14, 2010 Its No Walk In The Park

On September 14, 2010 The Ottawa Citizen had an article written by Dave Rogers of the Ottawa Citizen (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/walk+park/3520618/story.html). It was a longer version of the article found in a few other newspapers. The article was entitled "Its No Walk In The Park, A Japanese man is living his dream, one step at a time, by walking across North America. Dave Rogers reports:

It's no walk in the park

A Japanese man is living his dream, one step at a time, by walking across North America. Dave Rogers reports.

By Dave Rogers, The Ottawa Citizen September 14, 2010

Grinning broadly as he pulls his homebuilt rickshaw along Boulevard des Allumettières in Gatineau on Monday, Sokichi Takashita explains he is crossing Canada "old style" because he loves nature.
After more than 20 years as a bookstore owner near Niigata on Japan's west coast, the 62-year-old is fulfilling a dream he has had since 1974 of walking across North America. He started in Vancouver on May 10 and hopes to finish his 6,300-kilometre trek in Halifax in November.
Takashita, who wears an old-fashioned bamboo traveller's hat on top of his baseball cap to protect him from the sun, says the trip has been an adventure that has made him love Canadians.
(When asked what happened to his bookstore, Takashita, who speaks little English or French, opens an electronic translator and writes the words "bankrupt 2008" in a reporter's notebook.)
Takashita walked carrying a backpack until a father and son in Moonbeam, Ont., near Hearst, spent three days building him a rickshaw out of angle iron, steel tubing, old bicycle wheels and foam panels.
The rickshaw bears two Canadian and two Japanese flags signed by the people he meets on the road. The vehicle holds Japanese straw sandals, a tent, sleeping bag, foam pad, raincoat, rubber boots and groceries.
Pointing to a spare tire and leaky inner tube slung from the back of his rickshaw, Takashita says he has had so many punctures he has run out of patches. He asks directions to the nearest Canadian Tire store, but settles for directions to a bicycle shop in downtown Hull that's closer.
Normally, Takashita sleeps and eats beside the road after walking about 35 kilometres each day.
His previous trips have included a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and journeys to Mount Athabasca and the Columbia Icefield between Banff and Jasper, Alberta.
"In Jasper, when I was asleep beside the highway, a bear pushed my tent over and over," Takashita said, mimicking the rolling motion.
"I saw bears crossing the highway three times near Edson and Hinton in Alberta. I hope there will be no more bears and no more storms."
Canadians have been giving Takashita food, money and equipment along the way. He had raised $2,000 for UNICEF by the time he reached Gatineau and expects the total will reach $3,000 by Halifax.
"It costs $10 to save one young child," Takashita said. "If I can raise $3,000, I will be able to save 300 children."
This winter, Takashita hopes to travel to Calgary and go downhill skiing and perhaps ice fishing before returning to Japan in February 2011. Eventually, he hopes to take his rickshaw across Australia.
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View a video report of Sokichi Takashita's trek on our website at: ottawacitizen.com/Video

Sept 14, 2010 Tourist Rickshawing From Coast-To-Coast

On September 14, 2010 an article was written about Sokichi Takashita by Dave Rogers of the Postmedia News. The article was entitled "Tourist Rickshawing from Coast-To-Coast, Man walking from B.C. to Halifax". The article has been found in a few newspapers on the internet. It was found on the Vancouver Sun website at http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Tourist+rickshawing+from+coast+coast/3522277/story.html, the Edmonton Journal site at http://www.edmontonjournal.com/travel/news/Tourist+rickshawing+from+coast+coast/3522277/story.html, the Windsor Star site at http://www.windsorstar.com/Tourist+rickshawing+from+coast+coast/3520330/story.html and the Global Maritimes website at http://www.globalmaritimes.com/story.html?id=3523618. The article is as follows:

Tourist rickshawing from coast-to-coast

Man walking from B.C. to Halifax

Dave Rogers, Postmedia News: Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Grinning broadly as he pulls his homebuilt rickshaw in Gatineau on Monday, Sokichi Takashita explains he is crossing Canada "old style" because he loves nature.
After more than 20 years as a bookstore owner near Niigata on Japan's west coast, the 62-year-old man is fulfilling a dream he has had since 1974 of walking across North America. He started in Vancouver on May 10 and hopes to finish his 6,300-kilometre trek in Halifax in November.
Takashita says the trip has been an adventure that has made him love Canadians.
Takashita walked carrying a backpack until a family in Moonbeam -- a community in northern Ontario --spent three days building him a rickshaw out of angle iron, steel tubing, old bicycle wheels and foam panels.
The rickshaw bears two Canadian and two Japanese flags signed by the people he meets on the road. The vehicle holds Japanese straw sandals, a tent, sleeping bag, foam pad, raincoat, rubber boots and groceries.
He usually sleeps and eats beside the road after walking about 35 kilometres each day.
"In Jasper (Alberta), when I was asleep beside the highway, a bear pushed my tent over and over," Takashita said, mimicking the rolling motion. "I hope there will be no more bears and no more storms."

Canadians have been giving Takashita food, money and equipment along the way. He had raised $2,000 for UNICEF by the time he reached Gatineau and expects the total will reach $3,000 by Halifax.

Aug 5, 2010 Newspaper Article in Mississsippi Mills

On Aug 5, 2010 there was an article on the Your Ottawa Region dot com site (http://www.yourottawaregion.com/news/news/article/856799). Desmond Devoy wrote about a trio of cyclists travelling across Canada. They were in Mississippi Mills at the time the article was written. The trio, Steve Tosh, and Scott and Kelsey Smithson talked about their journey. They also mentioned a few people they met along the way, including Sokichi Takashita.

They have met fellow travellers along the road who are as varied as the terrain they covered. They met two young women from The Netherlands – a country known for cycling – who were pedalling across Canada, as well as a Japanese man who was pushing a shopping cart, decked out in Japanese flags, who was walking from Victoria, BC, to New York City.
“We stopped and took pictures of each other,” recalled Tosh.

July 22, 2010 Upsala to Ignace

Our friend Sokichi Takashita is spotted again in Northern Ontario. This time it is from the blog Canada a Velo 2010 - Canada by bike 2010 (http://canadaavelo2010.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/heading-to-the-prairies/) written by cyclists travelling from Quebec to British Columbia.

Nice sunny and windy day, I stopped in English River to have coffee and met two women fron Holland cycling east across the country. We actually drank three coffees and exchanged about our trip so far, I had a good time there! The second half of this day was a bit harder as the wind (headwind as usual) seemed to blow for ever in my face. Just a few km before I reach Ignace, I met another dude that made my day. You thought I was crazy going on this trip by bike, but let me tell you that there is worse! That guy on the picture is actually walking across Canada, pushing a grocery kart he bought in BC. He was japanese, so I thought it would be appropriate to tell him the few sentences I learned in my japanese classes this year. I introduced myself with a bit of an accent in his language, and he started talking very rapidly to me (I couldn’t get a single word of what he said). I signed his flag and wrote the only encouragement I know in japanese (GAMBATE – means good luck or go go go or something like that) and he laughed for ever.