A 31-year-old man from Tottori City, Japan, Masahito Yoshida, has been challenging himself to travel the world on foot by pulling a cart since 2009, starting from Shanghai.
Masahito Yoshida wore out the soles of his shoes.
On July 1, Masahito Yoshida, a 31-year-old man from Tottori City, Japan, who has been challenging himself to travel the world on foot by pulling a cart since 2009, successfully crossed the Australian continent after traversing the Eurasian and North American continents. He plans to continue trekking through Southeast Asia and aims to return to Japan in June 2013.
Yoshida believes that "it is precisely this kind of walking, at a speed of just 5 km/h, that allows him to visit more places and have more unexpected encounters." In January 2009, he set off from Shanghai and walked approximately 16,000 kilometers across the Eurasian continent over a period of one year and eight months. Starting in August 2010, he spent another one year and four months walking about 6,000 kilometers across the North American continent.
In November 2011, Yoshida began a new challenge, starting from Melbourne in the southeastern part of the Australian continent. He traveled via Alice Springs in the center of the continent, then headed northward, covering approximately 5,000 kilometers, and arrived in Darwin in the north on the morning of June 21.
The desert area in the central part of Australia was the biggest challenge, with towns spaced about 250 kilometers apart. With temperatures reaching up to 35 degrees Celsius, Yoshida successfully completed the journey while pulling a container holding 32 liters of water, as well as canned food and bread.
Yoshida said, "After returning to Japan, I hope to convey to children the importance of steadily moving forward step by step toward dreams and goals."