[INTERVIEW]Just with a bicycle and free coffee."Can we live free from money?❶
A long interview with a Japanese bicycle adventurer, Masanori Nishikawa Part1. It's been 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 and why 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
—Prologue—
"Hi, I came to see Joel[at Courier Coffee] after reading a Japanese magazine (about his coffee delivery by bicycle)"
It was as if a neighbor had just walked in and was relaxing with a cup of coffee on the front porch (this is actually a common scene in Japan). I remember that he seemed to be completely at home as I came in the coffee shop.
At first glance, I felt it was not strange at all that he was there. After briefly asking him about his plans, I unconsciously told him,
"We're having our wedding here (at this coffee shop) tomorrow".
My parents, who were also visiting from Japan for our tiny wedding, repeated the words and then were telling him with calm tone.
" You should come to the wedding too "
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Can you imagine that you're inviting a traveler you've never met to a wedding the following day?
Can you believe that It was only within half an hour of meeting him?
It would have been completely normal to receive such comments from all directions, but our family calmly sent a casual verbal invitation, which he gladly accepted.
This was the brief story of how he and I first met in January 2014.
A set-up and a surprise. Coincidence and miracle. The encounter with him symbolized such words.
FYI:Just in case,if you wonder who is “Joel” at Courier Coffee. He is the one who became my life-long partner on the day of also me meeting this bicycles guy from Japan.
"He" is the main character of this article, Masanori Nishikawa (Masa). An adventurer who travels around the world by bicycle, and at the time, he was on his way from Japan to Alaska and then south to LA.
That was the first time I met someone with such a title, and since then, I have never met anyone but him.
After the weding,I met him only once again, but for the next few years, I quietly watched him through his social media, and around 2018 that I started to pay atention to him a little more and more since he started a project called #dailylifebicyclecoffee[Free coffee].
The intention of "Free" is to charge coffee "Free". You can pay for it or not, or you can pay for it with something other than money. There are no rules for all of them. In other words, everything is "Free". It was also an experiment in life that he had set for himself, to be "Free" from the value of money and system of capitalism.
Masa wondered if he would be able to make a living by traveling around Japan for a year without a penny and without asking for any compensation, just serving coffee.
I looked back a few years ago and told him,
"You made a huge decision!”
“Yeah, I was really scared at first though"
He then continued that even so there was something that compelled him to do it. Something that seemed to be destined to lead to “life or death”.
From Stability to True Adventure
“Since the Great East Japan Earthquake[March in 2011], I have been connected with schools in Fukushima and other places in Japan, and invited to give lectures. As a result, I was able to make a living somehow. I'd like to expand this activity, and get companies to sponsor me so that I can raise stable funds”
This was Masa's goal six years ago, when he told me about his way of living as an adventurer.
One of his goals was to get stable funding from educational institutions and sponsoring companies.
Yet,in 2018, he deposited all the money he had in the bank, with no way to withdraw it, and set out on his journey penniless.
What kind of a huge turnaround is this? I was really curious.
"Oh no, did I say that ?! that's not cool at all, that's so embarrassing for me to have said that!"
After laughing at those old days, Masa walked me through the process leading up to the incident that could be called a big turning point in his life.
This phone interview took place during his pilgrimage on foot to the temples of Shikoku. The sound of passing cars and the rhythm of his breathing conveyed how he was making his way step by step.
A Penniless and Near-Death Experience in a Foreign Country
The first reason was that "travel" and "adventure" had become "work" for him and he had become accustomed to scheduled classes.
“I'd have meetings with the schoolteachers beforehand, but my mind was becoming less and less alive because on a tightly planned trip, barely unexpected would happen. What I wanted to share with the children was the kind of passion and excitement that comes from the bottom of my heart, like when I first started traveling, such as harrowing happenings I never imagined, but that has been getting disappeared. And I realized that what I "wanted to do" had become something I "had to do," and the pressure to "meet" expectations and results had become greater”.
Lecture class at an elementary school.Remote classes broadcast live from his travels.
Japanese children responded to Masa ‘s travel during one of the remote classes broadcast live.
The second reason can be said to be the deciding factor that drove him.
“In Latin America, I was robbed, beaten up, stripped of my clothes, lost all my money, and had "death" staring me in the face with a gun. In Mexico and Costa Rica. For the second year in a row, I experienced the loss of all my money and near-death at the beginning of my trip.
I had a certain way of dealing with death that I was expecting. For example, when I was told that I had only three months to live, I wondered what I could leave behind in those three months. Or what can I tell to friends and family? I even thought of it as a dramatic thing, and that death would be the end after I had done everything I could.
But I knew firsthand that it was a total illusion after those experiences.
Death can happen to anyone, at any time. It is entirely possible to die tomorrow”
Even after this narrow escape from death and the experience of being left penniless, Masa decided to continue his journey. This is because when he encounters unexpected happenings, what does he think about, what does he do, and connect with? These unexpectednesses, which are not in the textbooks or in the prearranged meetings, that he truly wanted to pass on to children through his adventures.
When he reported on the robbery on social media, people he knew in Japan and Mexico saw the report and spread the word, and the trip became a bead of connection, attracting more and more unexpected encounters. Even if he didn't have money, or if he spoke different languages or cultures they didn’t know, there were way more people who welcomed him with open arms than expected. He realized that no amount of money could pay for the richness of those relationships, kindness, and time spent together.
“Until then, I had this notion that I was supposed to work hard and live desperately, but I didn't care about that anymore.
I just became to want to be satisfied with myself in each moment. To be thankful that I was able to finish today with the support of something/someone great. After a series of such things, I changed my mind and thought that it would be enough if I could feel happy at just the moment of my death. Then I didn't have any goals in life, and I found out that I was able to live very comfortably.
＊The sequel will follow Part2.
【PROFILE】
Masanori Nishikawa
A Japanese Bicycle Adventurer. Masa started traveling by bicycle after graduating from college, and has traveled 97,200 kilometers in 37 countries.
Since 2019 visiting Korea and Hong Kong 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
＊All photos are licensed to Masanori Nishikawa.