Native name 藤原かんいち or 藤原 寛一 Name Kanichi Fujiwara Website kanichi.com | Spouse(s) Hiroko Fujiwara Nationality Japanese | |
 | ||
Born 1961 (age 53–54) Iwate Prefecture, Japan Known for Long-distance motorcycle riding | ||
Kanichi Fujiwara is a Japanese long-distance motorcycle rider and writer.
Contents
Journeys
Between May 1987 and August 1999 he journeyed several continents with a number of small motorcycles including a Honda Super Cub, 50 cc Honda Motra and Honda Gorilla utility minibikes, and a Honda Dio scooter. His 1995 trip around Japan was documented in his 1997 book The Original Bike Bastard Starving Around Japan.
Between March 2004 and May 2008 he made a 50,552-kilometre (31,412 mi) journey circumnavigating the world on a Yamaha Passol electric scooter, on a route including Australia from Sydney to Perth, Thailand, India to Lisbon, South Africa to Kenya, and America from New York to San Francisco (44 countries). It may have been the first global circumnavigation by electric two-wheeler. Fujiwara visited and documented the sites of sacred trees in various countries to spread awareness of green transportation.
The scooter he used in the 2004–2008 circumnavigation, sponsored by Yamaha, weighed 45 kilograms (99 lb), had a 30 km/h top speed, and an endurance of 20 km on a battery charge. Even with six batteries giving a 100 km range, his partner had to shuttle charged batteries to him in order to cross Australia's Nullarbor Plain.
Between April 2009 and November 2013, he rode 100,000 kilometers across Japan's major highways on a 50 cc Honda Cub, sponsored by motorcycle apparel supplier Rough & Road, and supported by serializing his journeys in the Japanese magazine Tandem Style and on his own blog.
Online journalism
In addition to various blogs covering his motorcycle travels, Fujiwara is also a food critic. His "Tabigohan" column covers road food at roadside stations and other Japanese venues for BBB-Bike, a online publication of large Japanese auction house BDS.