PROFILE
Representative of Backpackers' Japan, he opened "Guesthouse toco." in Tokyo in 2010, followed by "Nui. HOSTEL & BAR LOUNGE" in Kuramae, "Len" in Kyoto, and "CITAN" in Nihonbashi. He has done a great job of popularizing the guesthouse format, and will continue to promote various projects in the future.
I was so shocked by "Ryoma ga yuku" that I took a week off from college.
I heard that you used to play tennis. And with great enthusiasm, too.
Honma:I played from junior high school all the way through college. Although I was passionate about it, I was not aiming to become a professional, but just enjoyed playing. Until the middle of college, I always wanted to become a high school teacher. I thought that if I became a teacher, I would be able to continue playing tennis even after I entered the workforce (laughs).
You became an advisor to the tennis team?
Honma:Oh yeah. I just loved tennis. I am from Fukushima, and I went to Fukushima University, which was a strong educational school. I was hoping to graduate from there and become a teacher in my hometown.
You are now in the hotel business. What was the turning point for you?
Honma:I went on a year-long trip to Australia during my junior year of college. I kept playing tennis, but I couldn't make myself a pro. It was at that time that I read "Ryoma ga yuku," which is a goofy book (laughs). I was so shocked by it that I took a week off from college.
Was it that shocking?
Honma:The story itself is a fiction, but Ryoma Sakamoto is a real person. I wondered if such a person existed in Japan. I was told that I should live more freely. So I decided to travel alone for a year at the age of 20, and I took a year off from school to go to Australia.
Guesthouses are a great way to meet people who have no connection to you at all.
Why did you choose Australia for your trip?
Honma:It was my first time abroad, and I just wanted to travel in an outfit that would allow me to escape. In other words, I wanted to be able to dash away if something happened. Australia has a warm climate, so you don't need a jacket. So you don't need to carry much luggage. Australia is bigger than New Zealand, and I thought I wouldn't get bored even if I stayed there for a year.
However, I didn't have a concrete plan for how I would spend a year over there. I just wanted to save up money, buy a motorcycle, and go around Australia. But when I got there, I found out that motorcycles were very expensive (laughs). So I gave up and traveled by bus.
I started in Sydney, then Cairns, Darwin, Broome, Perth, and finally Sydney again. It took me about 6 or 7 months to go around Australia in a counterclockwise direction, and I was in Sydney for almost half a year in total.
That trip was a turning point in your life, wasn't it?
Honma:The most important thing was that I met people I had never met before. Not only their nationalities, but also their jobs and philosophies were completely different. There were even some old men who had been hippies for decades, and we had many conversations over drinks with them.
At that moment, I had a sense that the world had suddenly opened up to me. I realized that there were so many interesting things in this world, and that my hope of becoming a teacher was only a very pinpointed part of my vision.
It is not often that you get a chance to talk with people from completely different backgrounds. The people you meet in your daily life are people who are connected to your story. People with similar interests, people from similar groups, etc. But in a guesthouse, you meet people with no connection at all. But in a guesthouse, you meet people who have no connection to you at all. I enjoyed it so much that I stayed for a year.
You were able to see many different worlds through dialogue with people of different nationalities, races, and ideologies, weren't you?
Honma:Even my hippie uncle told me that we are the greatest. He said that we live in the forest and don't use any energy at all. If everyone in the world lived the same way, it would be peaceful and energy-efficient. It would be peaceful and energy-saving, wouldn't it? You would never hear such a story in Japan (laughs).
Do you want to meet a lot of people in this way, is that what you wanted from the beginning?
Honma:No, I don't. That's just a result of the situation. I simply went there to see the scenery. But I enjoyed meeting people the most.
Standard duffel bag 231 ¥4,180 inTAX
Let me ask you about luggage and bags while we're talking about your trip.
Honma:I usually use a backpack that is not very big. For work, I only need a single computer, so it doesn't have to be very big. But a duffel bag can be used roughly, so for example, when I go surfing for pleasure, I put all my small stuff in a duffel bag like this one. Also, I like the color (Barkandy).
What is your travel style and what do you pack?
Honma:If it is for 3 days or so, I will go with a backpack that is not that big. I prefer to carry less luggage, and I don't want to get too lost in clothes, so I take a white T-shirt like the one I am wearing today as a standard item for the number of days I am there. For pants, I update them by using functional ones such as water-absorbent and quick-drying ones.
