After travelling 28,000 kilometres at a speed of 60 km/h, Fumynori Saito chose a hostel in Whitehorse to relax and recover from his journey.

Saito made the journey from the southern tip of Argentina to Deadhorse, Alaska, including several detours, in a little over six months. He rode on a 90-cc Honda scooter he purchased in his native Japan.

'I was following my dream,' Saito said in a recent interview as he explained his reasoning behind why he quit his job last December to journey through the Americas. He witnessed history, poverty, civil unrest, death and compassion.

After sending his bike from Yokohama to Buenos Aires at a cost of $1,200 (US), Saito made his way to Argentina last Dec. 19, the day after he quit his job as a corporate real estate agent at Japan's prestigious Sumitomo Corp.

After dealing with delays, which included Argentinean customs officials losing his scooter, the 30-year-old 'rider', as bikers are called in Japan, made his way to Argentina's southern most tip.

'Patagonia was so windy, my motorbike didn't have much power. I had to drive with my head down at 40 km/h, and I was at full throttle,' Saito said of his first day, often switching between English and Japanese.

'My bike had a top speed of about 65-or-70 km if the conditions were perfect, but if there was wind or hills, it was much, much less.'

Touring through Argentina, Fumynori, or Nori, as his friends call him, made sure to take lots of pictures and keep his journal up-to-date so his friends could check in on him through the website he had constructed.

After nearly two weeks of travel, Nori's scooter puttered through the Andes into southern Chile and onto what 'looked like a Japanese highway' narrow and busy.

'I was a little nervous, my scooter couldn't go very fast so I had to be very careful on the highway. I couldn't stop and had to keep my eyes on the road.

'Actually, it was a little boring,' he said.

Next stop for Nori was the sprawling metropolis of Santiago, Chile's capital and a city of more than 15 million people. His plan, he explained, was to drop in on some colleagues at Sumitomo, Chile, for some 'sushi and saki' but upon reaching the city, he changed his mind.

'Everyone (in Santiago) was wearing business suits and looked really busy, I was wearing dirty jeans and I had shaved my head.

'I felt a little guilty that I was enjoying myself and everyone else was working. I was a little embarrassed so I kept driving.'

North of Santiago, Nori entered mountainous terrain, the Andes, and began to realize the limitations of his tiny scooter.

'My bike wasn't able to go very fast with the height of the mountains. I was at full throttle and was going about 10 km/h and my engine stalled a few times.

'I received a very strange reception when I entered Peru on March 14,' Nori continued.

The children, it seemed, were not as interested in strangers as the kids in Chile, and Nori was welcomed with a flurry of rocks. He also found 'one of the dirtiest, smelliest' rural hotels that he had ever seen, and some of the nicest soldiers he'd ever met.

'It (the room) made me think of Alcatraz as beautiful.'

Upon entering Peru, Nori said he took a break from the road and did some sightseeing, heading to ruins of Machipichu by plane and then returning to Lima to pick up his bike and head toward Lake Titicaca.

He said he was surprised to learn that the country was so divided over the leadership of Alberto Fujimori, Peru's former leader who sought refuge in Japan after facing corruption charges in Peru.

'The people in the south hated him and the people in the north wanted to re-elect him. It was really quite strange.'

After entering the nation of Ecuador on April 4, Nori learned of some political unrest in Columbia and decided to ship his bike and head to Panama by

plane.

Central America posed the hardest part of his journey. He had trouble finding his scooter as the shipping company kept giving him the run-around. He also had to bribe border officials in Nicaragua to gain access to Honduras and saw a person killed right outside the Mexican border in Guatemala.

'It was the first time that I've ever seen anybody die. Right before the border, I saw a bus speed and run over a person. It scared me; it really scared me,' Nori said with a serious look.

'Entering Mexico, I felt better. I felt that Mexico wasn't so dangerous because I was entering North America. I enjoyed the food and the people were so nice.'

Also surprising was the fact that he bumped into his neighbour from Yokohama, a pro-wrestler working in Mexico, at a Mexico City youth hostel.

'I thought my neighbour was the coolest. He went all the way to Mexico by himself to work as a wrestler; it gave me a lot of courage,' Nori said.

After getting some much-needed repairs on his scooter at a Honda factory in the city, he made his way to Tijuana and the American border.

'The people at the factory were so nice to me when I told them what I was doing. It was nice to see the Honda spirit (in Mexico).'

After crossing into the United States on June 4, Nori said he entered onto what he described as his 'hell road' the Interstate.

'It was very scary, there were four lanes and cars were going 130 kilometres an hour. I thought about changing to a bigger bike but I didn't have enough money so I decided to go to Las Vegas to try to get some money.

'I had no luck (in Vegas) and I spent a lot of money.'

It took him nearly a month to make his way through the side roads of America's west coast, including Route 66. After staying at his friend's house in San Francisco for a few days, he made his way into Canada on June 24.

'I was thinking, Great, this is one of the last borders I have to cross.' I guess I didn't really have an idea of how big this country was it's huge,' Nori said.

Fighting through some bad weather, he scootered and camped his way up toward Alaska, meeting 'very friendly and kind' Canadians on his way.

'I met an owner of Tim Hortons while camping in Cash Creek, B.C. We were the only ones camping so they invited me for dinner. I was surprised because I was so dirty from the road.

'I told them my story over a steak and pasta dinner and at the end of the evening, they thanked me for coming. I was touched.'

Nori made it to Fort Nelson, B.C. on June 30 and Whitehorse on July 3. After resting a few days, he made his way into Alaska on July 10.

'I wasn't sure what my final destination was going to be. I went to Fairbanks but I felt that it just wasn't it.'

In the end, his final destination was Deadhorse, 'which was as the end of the road and as far as (he) could go.'

Nori made his way back from Whitehorse to spend time and relax in the city he describes as full of 'nice and interesting people.'

He is now resting comfortably at a local hostel the same hostel where he told his story.