Walking through many places in the world to call for people to plant trees, protect the environment and present gifts to orphans is Yuji Miyata, 27, chosen path in life.

Yuji Miyata on Hue city’s Truong Tien Bridge.

Yuji Miyata graduated from Tokyo University with a red diploma in politics. He commented: “I was born and grew up in a poor family, so I partly understand the suffering of poor children. I thought that I must do something and the idea of walking around the earth came to my mind.”

In Hue he stopped first at the Chi Lang Centre for Street Children. He said hello to the kids in Vietnamese and presented them with candies, cakes, toys, pens and notebooks. Kids eagerly received the gifts and replied thank you in Japanese, which they had just learned: “Domo arigato gozaimasu!” (Thank you very much!).

Many people were surprised to see a young Japanese man “roaming” National Highway 1A, asking, “Why don’t you choose another country for your fifth trip? Yuji replied sincerely: “I only know about Vietnam via the Internet as a heroic nation. Vietnamese people are very friendly and hardworking, but your country was devastated by wars. I think I can do a lot of work in your country. I especially want to explore Vietnamese culture and people by myself, not only through the Internet.”

Yuji started his around-the-earth walk in 2007. He has walked through Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China and this time – Vietnam –to deliver his message: “We can live without harming the environment.”

He began his trans-Vietnam walk in Hanoi on October 1, 2009. He has been welcomed by very friendly Vietnamese youth when he visited places to plant trees and open classes on the environment. He also shared his knowledge on how to protect the environment.

Yuji with street children in Hue city.

He went to Thanh Hoa in September 2008, where he suffered from serious illness and had to go home. The Japanese man returned to Vietnam recently to resume his trans-Vietnam journey.

He said goodbye to Hue, by saying in Vietnamese “Hãy làm một việc tốt cho bạn, cho tôi và cho tất cả mọi người vì một thế giới hòa bình!” (Let’s do a good deed for you, for me and for everybody for a peaceful world).

Yuji arrived in Nha Trang on March 27. He stopped at the SOS Nha Trang Village to plant trees.

After leaving Vietnam, Yuji will go on to some countries in Asia and Europe. His last destination will be London, which will host the Summer Olympics 2012.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre