For most people, all it takes to get from Tokyo to London these days is an air ticket and a 12-hour flight. But for taxi drivers Takemasa Irie and his son, Takeshige, the journey was much longer and far more grueling, and jet lag was nowhere on their long list of concerns. They were going to drive all the way in a taxi.
The plan, sponsored by TV Tokyo, was to travel 20,000 km through 12 countries, besides Japan -- China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France and England. Their starting point was Sukiyabashi in the Ginza district of Tokyo, where Japan's first taxi firm was founded in 1912. Their final destination: London, and in particular, the street where the world's first taxi service began operating from in 1897.
"Twenty thousand kilometers may sound like a long way, but I wasn't worried at all," says 31-year-old Takeshige. "As taxi drivers, we drive between 300 and 400 km a day."