Wednesday, January 21, 2009

:Japanese wonder man arrived in Tawau


TAWAU, A lone Japanese man made his trip to the district on foot from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau in 13 days walk staying anywhere possible for the night along the way.

Tadashi Nagase, 52, hailing from Izumo City, located some 300 kilometer from the better known Osaka city, Japan, cited friendly villagers he met along the route he took for the 512 kilometer trip as one of the memorable event.

`There was once I was caught in a possible bad weather but I manage to find an empty hut and the nearby kind villagers permit me to use it as my shelter for an evening’, he said when met at a HASH dinner held by YB Jimmy Wong, the State Assemblyman for Sri Tanjong on the evening of January 3.

But, the trip was nothing as compared to the long list of countries he had visited and walked since 1975 at the age of 19 where he had walked for nearly 45,000 kilometers until today!

Tadashi claimed to have traveled to exotic places such as across Sahara and Kalahari deserts, Andes mountain range, Australian desert and Amazon rainforest and many countries.

To make matter more challenging, Tadashi also pulls a two wheels trolley filled with the needed essentials such as water and food on all his trips with the heaviest weight of the trolley estimated to be at around 150 kilograms depending on the nature of the trip.

`Water is the heaviest substance I have in my trolley especially when I walk through deserts’, he explained adding that the weight varies based on requirement.

Asked on his future trip after planning to go back to Japan from Tawau, Tadashi said that he is in love with forests and deserts and might plan such walk but he had yet to plan any trip at the moment.

Tadashi also said his wife is very supportive over his unusual keenness and had supported his endeavor.

`She always said go and walk when I plan my next walk’, Tadashi explained adding that he made his earning by giving talks on all his trips and had written nine books over the numerous journeys he had undertaken.

The friendly Tadashi who has two sons had traveled to counties such as China, North Thailand, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Indonesia, South India, Philippine, Mongolia and Malaysia.

Caption: Tadashi (2nd from right) with Wong (right) and some friends at the dinner.

Caption: Tadashi seen as he walked through the Sahara desert pulling his trolley.