Yuujou grew from a simple idea: a circle of friendship strong enough to carry a group of travelers around the world. Sisters and storytellers Corinne and Yvonne Eisenring partnered with Oliver Herren, a Swiss internet pioneer, to bring this vision to life. On April 11, six travelers will embark on a 100-day journey with that vision as their sole itinerary. The journey begins with all six in Berlin, Germany, then splits into two teams of three, one heading east and one heading west, meeting each other 100 days later in Tokyo, Japan. Along the way, teams must stay with a friend of their previous host, moving from friend to friend across the globe. There are no prizes, no ads, no scripts, just the expectation that each traveler will creatively document their experiences of human connection along the way.
After receiving over 30,000 applications, Yuujou has narrowed the pool down to ten finalists. Culturs brings you a look at Yvonne Eisenring’s surprise visit to each finalist in this 10-part series.
Finalist #10
John is a researcher from Chennai, India. An “artist in a scientist’s cape,” John understands the world from a variety of perspectives. By day, John is a researcher and an engineer, solving problems, creating mathematical models and performing experiments. By night, he is a creative, singing and playing instruments with friends, capturing intriguing moments through photographs and reading and writing stories of history and people. John described Yuujou as “perhaps the most meaningful experiment I’ve ever done.” He expressed pride in the connections he has already built through travelling and hopes to expand that network through Yuujou. “Yuujou is by far the most enticing concept I’ve come across on the internet. I want to be on this ‘Jules Verne’-ish journey to tell you a hundred stories from around the globe and to reassure that we’ll always have one another, that we needn’t fear for there’s always this net of people we can fall back on,” he said.
“There’s nothing more enticing than traveling to distant lands, meeting new people and exchanging a piece of my life with them. It makes one immortal!”
Watch Eisenring surprise John in Chennai:
You can read more about Yuujou and follow their journey here.
