MAN TRAVELS ACROSS JAPAN TO CREATE 4000 MILE MARRIAGE PROPOSAL WITH GPS TRACKER
Marriage proposals have been done for centuries, from surprising your girlfriend with a huge set up to pop the question or taking her out for dinner with the ring placed inside the champaign or dessert. When it comes to creativity in that department, we can almost say that we have heard or seen it all.
It wasn’t until one man from Japan decided to up step the game of proposing by travelling across his native country to pop the question with the help of Google Earth.
The end result of his travel showed the message “Marry Me” and a heart with an arrow through it drawn on a map of Japan with the use of a GPS tracker. Yasushi Takahashi, aka Yassan, first came up with the proposal idea in 2008. After planning the route, he quit his job and spent six months driving around and exploring places he had never been to before.
After driving out his message, he uploaded the data to Google Earth where he was able to see his message come alive. Needless to say, the ambitious romantic's partner, Natsuki, said yes.
However, this romantic story doesn’t end just there. After his hard work and dedication to pop the question, the incredible journey leading to that one binding word opened up new paths for Yassan and was recognised by the Guinness World Records as the largest GPS drawing done by an individual, a record he still holds to this day. The GWR states: “The largest GPS drawing is 7,163.67 km (4,451 miles) long and was created by Yasushi Takahashi (Japan), in Japan, on 9 June 2010.”
Now, the creator regularly roams cities around the world to produce city-sized drawings. According to his website, Yassan is a “professional GPS artist with more than 1,400 artworks” and has drawn over more than 100,000 kilometres (about 62,137 miles) in 24 countries. “I regard GPS art as ‘a tool for experiencing local history and culture,'” he states. “By moving, I draw something, and at the same time, I come into contact with history and culture, deepening my understanding of the region.”