Sailor Kojiro Shiraishi is in high spirits as he is set to realize his 30-year dream.
Shiraishi will compete in the Vendée Globe, the around-the-world solo yacht race, in November. The 48-year-old will be the first Asian to participate in the once-every-four-years most famous sailing race in the world, which starts and finishes at Les Sables d'Olonne, France.
"The Japanese aren't familiar with the sport, but think about it, this is the only sport that deals with the whole earth," Shiraishi said in an ecstatic tone at a Tokyo news conference on Thursday. "A sport game usually lasts for a couple of hours. But we keep competing for 2,000 hours."