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"Maybe No One Will Finish It!" A Stamp Rally from Japan's Northernmost to Southernmost Tip is Going Viral! An Unexpected Response to an "Impossible" 2,700 km Challenge.
"We've come up with something crazy." A certain stamp rally that started on October 1st is making waves online.
It's called the "Sunflower Hashikko (Edge) Stamp Rally"! This stamp rally crosses the very "edges" of Japan, with checkpoints at Cape Soya, the northernmost tip of the mainland, and Cape Sata, the southernmost tip. The distance between them is a staggering approximately 2,700 km. The conditions are so demanding that the organizers themselves have described it as a "crazy project" and said, "Maybe no one will even complete it."
How did this "2,700 km straight-line distance" stamp rally come to be?
Why was this unprecedented stamp rally created?
The organizer, MOL Sunflower, is a new company launched on October 1st. It was formed by the merger of Ferry Sunflower, which operated the Kansai-Kyushu route, and MOL Ferry, which operated the Tokyo Metropolitan Area-Hokkaido route. This stamp rally was planned as a campaign to commemorate the merger. It's a wild idea that only a ferry company with routes to both the northernmost and southernmost parts of Japan could pull off!
An Unexpected Response! Has Someone Already Completed It?!
Believe it or not, it seems someone has already completed this stamp rally! Its sheer craziness has generated a much bigger response than expected, with brave comments on social media like "Challenge accepted!" and "When they say no one can do it, it just makes me want to prove them wrong."
The event runs for a long time, until September 2024, so there might be more brave adventurers completing it than you'd think.
Start from the North? Or the South? Collect Stamps and Get Prizes!
You can participate in the campaign by collecting stamps at four locations: the checkpoints at Cape Soya and Cape Sata, and on board two designated ferries. There are no model courses; as long as you meet these conditions, you are free to choose your route and where you stop along the way! For tourist spots around Cape Soya, be sure to check out Domingo.
■Click here for spot information around Cape Soya, the northernmost tip of Hokkaido
■"Sunflower Hashikko Stamp Rally" Special Page
＜Image source: Sunflower Hashikko Stamp Rally Official Website＞
