Images © Tyler Ensrude / Outdoor Japan

Ian (hereafter called Ivan) and I were at uni together some 20 years ago - both studying Film and Media at Griffith Uni back in the days when Griffith Uni was the coolest campus in Australia (It's true! It was such a great campus!). He was a few years older and way cooler than me and so I was always a little scared of him. He had this cynical, acerbic tongue and wasn't afraid to use it. The singer of a psychedelic-garage-punk band called Dementia 13 (who represented that particular mind-altering epoch for a whole bunch of us), he went on to bigger things when he moved to Sydney, with some fairly seminal bands like Nunbait who supported Nirvana on their '91 tour of Oz. Found this great quote about them:

Nunbait "The Hub" EP – Amphetamine fuelled, violent music. "The Hub" was a classic early '90s release from this Sydney band, and while this recording never did the band justice compared to what they were as a live act, they were quite the ensemble to behold. A band that appeared visually to possess a very short fuse.

Anyway, fast forward quite a few years and miles, and Ivan is now living round the corner from me here in Kichijoji, preparing for an adventure far more punk rock than any Oz Pub Band. He's going to walk solo across Japan, from its most easterly point in Hokkaido, to its most westerly point. Don't panic - he's done some massive walks before and survived to tell the tale in his inimitably enjoyable acerbic style. He's a brilliant writer.

And there's a cool zesty-lemon tangy twist to this adventure: his buddy Chris - another brilliant writer - is also walking solo across Japan, but from the most southerly point to the most northerly point at the same time. They plan to meet half way... it's all - in the warm spirit of reckless adventure - for charity (and a toasty inner glow), and they're gonna blog the whole thing. Read on, friends.

This is an email Chris sent out to help explain the mission:

As many of you know, I'm walking the length of Japan this year, some 3300km over six months. I'm walking South-North, starting in March in the tiny jungle isle of Iriomote-jima, where I'll be trying to spot the elusive yamaneko, or Iriomote Wildcat. My friend Ian is walking East-West, starting in the four-metre spring snows of remote Hokkaido, where he'll be trying to stay alive. We're meeting somewhere in the middle of Honshu -- hopefully near a bar.

We're both writing about our adventures on our expedition website:
fourcornersofjapan.net/

I've been looking forward to 2008 for three years now. It's been said
that I never get excited, but I'm excited about this -- and slightly
intimidated. Hopefully the inevitable disasters that befall us along
the way will make for good reading -- though personally I'll be happy
if I never write about pressing the red button on my satellite
distress beacon. To help convince ourselves we're not completely
crazy, we're raising money for the Fred Hollows Foundation
(hollows.org.au). FHF eradicates preventable blindness in the
developing world, as well as among indigenous Australians. As far as
"practical reconciliation" goes, you can't get more practical than
helping someone see.

So, if you enjoy reading about my adventures, please consider
restoring the sight of another reader by making a donation. Twenty
five dollars (or about $0.008 for every kilometre we walk), will pay
for a 20 minute operation to restore the sight of one person, but even
a few dollars will ease the pain of the daily 25km slog. Donating is
easy -- see how at fourcornersofjapan.net/donate/. Please quote our
fundraising ID number so your donation gets counted towards our tally.

Feel free to forward this email. Also, if you know someone we should
meet along the way, or if there's an interesting festival or place in
Japan you've always wanted to visit, let me know and we'll see if we
can add a stop to the list. And, of course, you're more than welcome
to track me down in Japan and share a 100km or two...

They are seeking sponsorship, donations and publicity, so if you can help them in any way, please shoot me an email and I'll make the introductions....

Oh, and one more link: the fourcornersofjapan Flickr page.

I'm hoping to walk a few days with each of them when they get a bit close to Tokyo - should be quite the adventure.