[INTERVIEW] Just with a bicycle and coffee. “can we be free from money?”❸
A long interview with a Japanese bicycle adventurer Part3. It's been more than a few years since I met him in Portland OR on his journey up and down the west coast of the United States. His philosophy of adventure has undergone a major shift over the past few years. How did the change happen and what impact has it had on him? It could be called “independence from capitalism”,I believe in.
By Sakiko Setaka
Overlapping with your true self as you put your two hands together
"Can I really make a living in Japan while doing free coffee without having any money? "
After a year of experimenting and demonstrating, he found out that "Yes, I can!” and ended up with the confidence and results with the biggest smile on his face, saying
"It was a lot of fun!!
Most importantly, by freeing myself from schedules, obligations, obsessions, and existing values, I was able to return to my true self more and more.”
But what is the true self? If you have any doubts about what your true self is, I invite you to hold your right and left hands out in front of you and listen to Masa's awareness and metaphor in a peaceful and relaxed manner.
“You have two palms, and your left hand is your innate nature and the right hand is the person you think, and the person you want to be.
In my case, my "right hand self" had been controlling me for a long time, telling me that I had to be this way and that I had to do this. But after I could make it my bike journey without any money in foreign countries, I was able to start a free coffee experiment in Japan and truly free myself from the ideals and common sense set by someone (or society).
It was like my right hand and left hand were in perfect alignment, and I truly understood that the most important thing was to be myself.
Without knowing that fact, how to contribute to society or how to make a living is a different story for me. If you live your life as you are, you will have the right amount of blank space in your mind. It's because of that margin that I realized that there are wonderful unplanned encounters that come, and that there are things that we surrender to, harmonize with, and resonate with each other.”
Right hand and left hand, perfectly aligned, overlap with the figure of prayer. Perhaps life itself could be an act of prayer……?!
When I talk like this kind of topic, I tend to hear people say, "What a fine-sounding-talk!"
I know, It could sound too idealistic for you, may have some skepticism about.
To tell you the truth, it is a feeling that has sprouted in ME in no small measure as well. Is it a really possible to live in such naïve thinking? I wondered.
However,Masa was the most one who was more aware of such feelings than anyone else.
“No worry! I'm thinking the exact same way.
But you know, that's why I'm experimenting with the way of life, and why I'm DOING free coffee.
I'm not shy about saying it.
I want to believe in idealistic beautiful things. I don't just want to believe in it, I want to create it.
That's why I'm DOING it ! “
When we do something, we tend to unconsciously expect and calculate the compensation as if it were a matter of course. But if there is a world where I can be free from this reflexive thinking, I can't help but want to simply dive into it.
If you're nodding your head as you read this....
In other words, WE are already part of the "too naive" world as well.
Masa's favorite buildings in Hokkaido that he saw while doing free coffee in Hokkaido.
Free Coffee Across the Sea from Japan
After a year of free coffee in Japan, Masa flew to Korea and then to Hong Kong.
“ Is the media's information, which tends to over-report the deterioration of relations, true?”
He wanted to see and feel for himself what the people living in the world were thinking and doing, rather than just categorizing them by country or politics.
For him, just meeting them was fine, even if he didn't have to say anything. Neither did he want to bring up righteous arguments, nor did he have a goal or intention to eliminate conflicts.
"I just wanted to have a good cup of coffee with you."
No matter what the title of the person he is talking to, no matter what country he is in, this would be how he will always respond.
Suddenly, I was reminded of the day I first met Masa six years ago.
It was hard to believe that he had come from Japan on a bicycle, and seemed that he was like a regular, hanging out at the bar counter, shoulder to shoulder with strangers. That scene made me realized that he hadn't changed at all! As already he had a blank space in his heart at that time.
It's just that the space was a little smaller then than now. He just didn't know how to deal with that space. That's why he comfortably participated in our wedding ceremony, even though we had never met before.
After the experience of free coffee in Japan, Masa went to Korea and then to Hong Kong with a much wider, deeper, and more flexible set of mind with just a bicycles and coffee.
The next post will be about his journey in South Korea as with a short documentary movie! → Part4
【PROFILE】
Masanori Nishikawa
Bicycle Adventurer. Masa started traveling by bicycle after graduating from college, and has traveled 97,200 kilometers in 37 countries.
Since 2019 visiting Korea, Hong Kong and other countries on a free coffee trip to create human connections through coffee.
He also does talk shows, live lessons from overseas, and bicycle adventure trips with children,and is a traveler who conveys the current state of the world as seen from the street.
https://www.earthride.jp
IG: @earthride.jp
＊All photos are licensed to Masanori Nishikawa.