Nowadays, in a generation where it has become so easy to run away, ghost someone or swipe to the next person, it’s truly inspiring to see someone who’s still giving so much effort to their relationship and finds creative ways to show true love and care.
Yasushi Takahashi quit his job and went off on a 6-month journey across the Japanese archipelago to be able to surprise his girlfriend by spelling out ‘Marry me’ with the world’s largest GPS drawing.
More info: Yassan’s GPS Drawing Project
Yasushi Takahashi used Japan as his canvas to spell out the phrase ‘Marry Me’
It was in 2008 when Yasushi Takahashi decided, after 8 years in a relationship, to ask his girlfriend to marry him and was determined to do it by creating the world’s biggest proposal.
After some research, Takahashi found out that he didn’t need special equipment to realize his crazy idea, yet it was still not so easy. Since smartphones were not available to him back then, the man had to place tracing paper on top of a large road map to decide which route he would need to take.
At the beginning, he thought of making multiple trips, yet very soon realized that this way it would take him at least 2 years to create a GPS drawing; therefore, he had to make a radical decision. Takahashi quit his job and with a GPS logger – an optional part of a digital camera – for the tracking, without much practice, headed to Hokkaido, where his enormous project began.
“I was working at a very busy company, and I had no time to practice. So I had to just go and do it. At the end of the first night, I saw a single line I drew. That was exciting,” he recalled the memories.
The 7,160-km journey on foot, by car, ferry and bicycle took him through 40 prefectures in Japan and most of the time, the roads looked way better on paper than in reality.
“There are many unpaved roads in Japan. There was no street view to rely on, so if I saw a road that would work for my drawing, then I’d take it. Only when I got there would I realize that only locals have the skill and experience to comfortably drive through it,” Takahashi shared. “There was heavy rain, snow, and earthquakes, but I never gave up.”
And yet sometimes, his attempts to pave the way weren’t successful.
“Once, I was going through a narrow path near a river. It was too narrow, so I decided to give up and go back by reversing. That proved to be also impossible. The car ended up at the bottom of the bank. I called for a car service, but their crane also could not get through the narrow path,” he shared.
Takahashi’s unique marriage proposal took 7,160 km of travel through 40 prefectures
No matter all of the struggles and challenges along the way, Takahashi was also able to experience some truly unique moments in the parts of Japan that only locals would know.
“I was able to discover all kind of things that I had only known in the books. I ate well, maybe too well. At night, I camped out in my car. I even found time to relax,” Takahashi shared. “I was in Lake Mashu (Hokkaido) one morning. The mist was a veil to the calm but enormous lake. It was surreal.”
After 6 months of adventures, Takahashi’s unique marriage proposal was finally ready. “After I finished my trip, I uploaded my GPS data to Google Earth and showed my girlfriend the surprise message,” he told.
The Global Positioning System records of his journey spelled out the phrase “Marry Me” covering Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku with the shape of a heart speared by an arrow in Hokkaido. Funnily enough, Takahashi’s girlfriend could not understand the English phrase and then he had to explain what it meant, but that didn’t stop from getting the answer ‘yes’.
“You are only meant to do a marriage proposal once in your life. So that memory will stay with you for the rest of your life. So I still think, after all these years, it was a good idea. Even though it sort of went custard at the end. Looking back, I realize that what I have done was wild,” Takahashi shared.
To this day, the couple are still happily married and have two kids.
The creative marriage proposal over the years was covered by major media, which led the man to start his second career as a GPS artist. For those interested, you can discover more of Takahashi’s GPS drawings here.
The creative marriage proposal across the Japanese archipelago became the largest GPS drawing ever
Image credits: Yassan’s GPS Drawing Project
“You don’t need to make sense to everyone. The right people will appreciate your kind of crazy,” once said Chicago-based writer and podcaster Case Kenny, and I have to admit that I truly agree with him.
Much louder than just sweet words are sincere efforts, and the ones made by Takahashi not only gained his wife’s heart, but also covered the entire archipelago of Japan.
People on the internet were overwhelmed with Takahashi’s efforts and such a unique way to propose
