And So It Begins...

On the off chance that those who read this aren't just friends and family, let us begin with a proper introduction.

        So that's me, staring dumbly into the camera with some admittedly beautiful flowers in the background. My name is Dylan Jacoby, I'm 24, and I am going to ride my bike across Japan in order to raise money for the 赤十字 (Japanese Red Cross). I will begin my journey in mid July and it shall end roughly 2 months later. Why am I doing this, you might ask? Let me get right into it, then:

     Suffice to say I have always had an interest in coming to Japan. After graduating college with degrees in Computer Science and Philosophy (like peas in a pod, those two), I taught in a high school for 2 years and then jumped ship and came to Japan. I've been here since the end of January, studying in an intensive language school for 6 weeks and then traveling with friends and my girlfriend until just recently. On May 9, 2011 at 12:34 a.m., I decided I would ride a bike across Japan to raise money, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

     On March 11, Japan was hit by a massive earthquake in the Tohoku region of Japan causing horrific amounts of death and physical damage to the area. Like many Japanese and foreigners in Japan and abroad, I felt the general desire to help by either sending money or trying to actually go there and help out (since I was in Japan I though: "Why not?"). However, as time passed and the news showed more and more of what was actually happening, I progressed past the "Gee I wish I could help out" stage and started to really weigh some options. Here's what I learned about my situation: I have little money, I am young, fit, occasionally intelligent and I love Japan.

So, obviously the only thing I can do is plan a bike ride from one end of Japan to the other, right?  Right.

     Though I am indeed doing this for the benefit of the Japanese Red Cross, I would be lying if I didn't hope to have an unforgettable experience and some stories to tell along the way. I'm actually hoping that the acquisition of stories will make my foray into social networking a more effective fundraising tool. 

     BUT, and this is a big BUT (hence the excessive formatting), there are a few obstacles to overcome before I get on the road. Most importantly, since I didn't plan on this bike ride before coming to Japan, I don't actually have the tools to accomplish this task (i.e. a bike, or any of the other gear), but this is something that I will overcome.

     I was hesitant to begin this blog in the early stages of planning, and even more hesitant to let anyone know that I was writing it. But here you are, anyways. In my life, aside from whatever successes or failures I have been responsible for, none of them have felt particularly rewarding or upsetting. The reason? I've never really done anything risky or terribly important to me. Whenever entering into a situation, I usually knew my chances. Therefore I'm wasn't surprised when I succeeded and it wasn't too painful to fail. But this, my friends, this will be different. I have about 1,000,000 things to do between now and mid-July to make this ride work, and I don't know if I will be able to do them, but I guess that's the reason I've started down this path. I will need to work harder than I ever have starting from now until I am standing on the northern coast of Japan to even hope to accomplish this. My hope is to take some of those that are reading this along for the ride.

     I hope that this blog will be a way for people to hear my story, donate to my cause and maybe have a good time looking at some pictures. Like these one:

Posing with the infamous Banana Man and Friends

I'm not sure I got the pose right...

     Like I said, I am hesitant to begin this blog so early in the stages of development, but now I have pigeon-holed this blog into one of two scenarios. 

1.) I will not accomplish what I have set out to do, and I will (hopefully) learn from it and be stronger for it.

2.) I will chronicle the story of someone who had no idea what they were doing and then accomplished something pretty neat.

Maybe I'll throw a poll up here and see what you guys think ;)

PLUG TIME!!

Donate to the Red Cross:

     First and foremost, donate to the Red Cross! I would like to keep track of donations in my name, but that will come later, I would rather someone donate now, if they are willing. The benefit to donating to the Red Cross instead of the various "Earthquake Only" charities that have sprung up is that, on the off chance that too much money is sent to Japan on behalf of the earthquake, the money will be put towards the various other humanitarian programs they are running (more on those in a later post).

Donate to the Japanese Red Cross by clicking the button at the top of the page!


My Japanese Language School

For anyone interested, I had a very nice experience with the school I attended here in Fukuoka, Japan. So here's their website:

Genki Japanese and Culture School