Welcome to KIRIKO Free Spirit
Be in Nature & Traveling
My life has always been closely connected to travel.
New roads, new landscapes —
all of it inspires me.
But inspiration doesn’t have to come from far away.
No two mornings have the same sunrise.
The sky, the clouds, the wind, the trees —
everything shifts and changes each day.
Being surrounded by nature like this
is my special time.
A Memoir of My Journeys
I first set off on my journey just after I turned eighteen.
Together with my girlfriend, we had a big, naive dream —
to see the world.
We started with a ticket to Bangkok, Thailand.
From there, we bought another ticket —
Delhi in India, then London, with a stopover in New York.
Two young girls who knew nothing of the world.
I lost my wallet in Bangkok.
My friend caught dysentery in India and ended up in a London hospital
for nearly a month.
Our journey was forced to come to an end,
and we returned to Japan using travel insurance.
The following year, after saving up,
I continued the journey — London, then New York.
After that, every dollar I earned went into travel.
Across Europe, across Asia…
country after country.
Even after my child was born,
I travelled with my son once a year to a country we had never been to.
I thought it was my way of giving him the world —
a gift of knowing how vast and diverse it is.
But now, my son seems to have little interest in travel at all.
Life is funny like that...
And yet, here I am, living in a foreign land called Australia.
So perhaps the survival skills I learned through all those journeys
are still quietly supporting my life today.
A New Life in Australia
In 2008, my son and I moved to Australia.
The main reason was that he no longer wanted to study,
even after preparing for high school entrance exams.
At the time, he was still in Year 6.
So I thought — if school felt that hard for him,
why not live overseas for the three years of junior high?
If he could speak English,
perhaps he could create his own way of living back in Japan,
even without going to high school.
It was probably a reckless idea for a mother to have.
But my son agreed straight away.
Before moving, we visited Australia together.
That was when we both fell in love with Byron Bay.
The ocean was incredibly beautiful.
The people were open and relaxed.
We instinctively felt that this place had what we loved.
We planned to stay for about three years...
But somehow, we are still here.
The reasons haven’t changed —
the ocean, the wild nature, and the charm of the people.
This move became a turning point in our lives.
Through many connections, we are still living in Byron Bay today,
and I feel deeply grateful for that.
Amazing Australia
Australia is vast — almost twenty times the size of Japan.
Within the same country, there are different time zones,
different laws in each state, and very different natural environments.
Sometimes, it feels like travelling through several countries in one.
In 2010, I visited Wadeye in the Northern Territory,
a special Aboriginal community area.
Ah, this is Australia.
Red earth beneath my feet,
a deep blue ocean,
and an endless sky above.
The Aboriginal people living there were joyful and open-hearted.
I have camped by creeks with hot springs flowing through them,
nearly 40 degrees Celsius.
I have walked along beaches scattered with strange rock formations
and driven the Great Ocean Road with its breathtaking views.
I have wandered through the historic streets of Melbourne
and admired the night lights of Sydney Harbour.
Even now, I haven’t explored all of this vast country.
One day, I dream of travelling around Australia in a caravan.
