A shy Japanese backpacker is quickly gaining new friends and supporters during an epic journey through Australia pushing a scooter and wearing sandals.
Ryokie Mifune, 23, who prefers to go by the nickname Uni, is travelling from Melbourne to Cairns dressed in a traditional ‘Kasa’ straw hat and a black robe.
Uni started his roughly 3,000km trip on January 24, one that takes around 31 hours in a car.
Deciding to take backroads instead of highways for his own safety, Uni estimates the journey will take months pushing his two-wheeled, non-electric $100 scooter.
A distinctive sight against the dusty backdrop of inland Australia, Uni has attracted attention from Aussies offering him food, beer and even beds to sleep in along the way.
Uni says his motivation to embark on the daunting trip was to overcome his natural shyness, forcing himself to talk to random people in the broken English he’s learnt on the journey, delivered with an infectious smile.
A passionate filmmaker, he has created short videos for his Instagram, Uni.kick, to show the kind-hearted Australians helping him along the way.
Ryokie Mifune (pictured), 23, who prefers to go by the nickname Uni, is travelling from Melbourne to Cairns on a $100 scooter and has captured hearts across the nation
More and more people started to follow Uni’s journey as they spotted him pushing his scooter through rural Victorian and NSW towns.
His Instagram is now littered with images of him with Australians who have followed his journey, smiling with him over a beer or enjoying a home cooked meal.
‘I even had a person all of a sudden giving me a $50 bill out the window of a moving car,’ he told the Guardian.
‘What I appreciate most of all is people who were complete strangers letting me stay at their homes.’
Within days of beginning his trip he was being invited into Aussie homes, meeting couple Marg and Michael in Euroa in Victoria.
Uni previously travelled to all 47 Japanese prefectures on a similar scooter over the course of 10 months before choosing Australia as his next destination, seemingly at random.
‘I didn’t care about what country I wanted to go to – I just wanted to get out of Japan to somewhere I hadn’t been,’ Uni told the New York Times.
‘I thought it might be an adventure.’
The roughly 3,000km trip takes around 31 hours in a car, but could take Uni months on his two-wheeled, non-electric scooter
Uni arrived in Sydney on Sunday and is enjoying a short break after 26 days on the road.
He has even connected with family members of people he had met earlier on in his journey who are taking him sightseeing around Sydney.
However, he has little to no plan about what route he will be taking to reach Cairns once he leaves Sydney, other than hoping to take the coastal route.
‘I don’t think I prepared anything in particular for this trip,’ he said.
‘If I think too much, it’ll just complicate things and it’ll be hard to take a step forward.
‘So I thought: If I jump straight in with no plan B, I’ll somehow figure things out.’
Wearing a traditional Japanese ‘Kasa’ straw hat (pictured), Uni is a distinctive sight against the dusty backdrop of rural Australia
Comments underneath his Instagram posts show Australians cheering Uni on.
‘You are so brave to do this in the middle of summer and not knowing English hope it goes well and smoothly,’ one commenter wrote.
‘Australia opens its arms to you Uni! May you have safe travels with your scooter, we are all watching and wishing you the best,’ a second wrote.
‘Doing it in thongs the legend,’ a third wrote.
‘As an Aussie, it’s so good to see how much care Uni is getting from many many Australians along his route, including some who have a love for Japan themselves,’ a fourth wrote.
Uni’s story has spread across Australia, as more and more Aussies welcome him into their homes to offer him food, beer and a bed to sleep in to help him along his journey. Uni with Euroa couple Marg and Michael in Euroa in Victoria
