Hearing Impairment Does Not Stop Japanese Man From Riding Motorcycle Around The World

By Nur Fazlizai Ali @ Omar KUALA TERENGGANU (Terengganu, Malaysia), June 29 (Bernama) -- A hearing impairment does not stop a Japanese man from riding around the world on a motorcycle. Kohei Hakamada, 65, from Yokohama, said to date, he had travelled to 91 countries since he started the solo adventure five years ago. "Even though I have hearing problem, I am still eager to travel, and I want to prove that deaf people can travel around the world alone," he told reporters through a sign language interpreter when met at Terengganu Association for the Deaf in Batu Buruk of Malaysia's east coast state Terengganu, here. Among the countries he had visited were South Korea, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Egypt, Thailand and India. Hakamada arrived in Malaysia in January. Hakamada said he would be heading to states of Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak (both Sabah and Sarawak are east Malaysian states) before finding his way to Singapore and Australia. "Upon arriving at one particular country, I will explore some of the places to get to know the culture better," said the father of two, adding that he expected to complete the mission in 2018. He said the idea to ride around the world alone on a motorcycle came after he retired from a newspaper printing company at the age of 60 as he wanted to fill his free time and gain knowledge from the adventure. --BERNAMA