Kaishun Nishigaya, 82, is very modest about his life, filled though it is with voyages into the unknown, adventures in new and contrasting lands and seemingly insurmountable challenges.

As a university graduate, he set sail from Yokohama to California to chase his dream profession and settled in Seattle, where he realized he "couldn't really speak English." The appeal of the "last frontier state" drew him to Alaska at the time of its rapid development and, later, he was dispatched to Saipan where he contributed in breaking records for the island's tourism.

Yet, "the most wonderful thing about my life," he says, "is that I'm still alive."