RIP to travel blogger Ryo Izaki.
A young man full of life and was traveling the world and blogging about it since Feb. 2016.
This past weekend, Ryo’s next country to visit was Colombia. On Saturday afternoon, his latest stop was in Medellin, the second largest city in Colombia and on the day he arrived, he was shot and killed by robbers.
There are those of us who travel for the thrill of traveling. Discovering new locations and enjoying the culture. There are those who travel constantly and devoted their life to discovering new countries, venturing on to different continents and immersing themselves with culture. We call them “travel nomads”.
I consider Ryo Izaki to be a “travel nomad”.
Since February 2016, Ryo took a break from Hitotsubashi University to travel around the world. His goal was to visit developing countries, learning about international cooperation according to the university. And his friend said that Ryo has been saving up for this trip since he was a freshman in college.
From Japan to the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Egypt, South Africa, Africa, Canada, Bangladesh, parts of Europe, the Middle East, to name a few and just last month, he visited Cuba, Guatemala and Belize to join some friends.
Where most people would blog about the beautiful places of the country, Ryo wanted to experience life as a normal local. Enjoying the culture, the food, seeing how people live in their country.
Earlier this month, he joined his friends and fellow travelers in Mexico City. Which he enjoyed and then he posted that he would be going to Colombia. Ryo arrived in Colombia on Saturday, the 19th.
According to various news sources, he arrived in Medellin and around 4pm. He checked into the hotel and went to get some groceries but then two minors robbed him of his phone and tablet, the same phone and tablet he used to blog of his travels worldwide since February.
Ryo went after the two young robbers and he was able to grab onto one of the them and he was shot to death in the Laureles district, near the city’s soccer stadium.
This is absolutely tragic.
You hear and read about stories of traveling gone wrong but most of the time, you watch and read about the amazing adventures that people experience through their travel and how it inspires them or changes them to be a better person.
Ryo was vibrant in his posts about his traveling experience as he immersed himself in the culture of the countries he visited.
It’s absolutely tragic that his life came to an end while doing something he loved and was passionate for.
But one should remember this “travel nomad” for what he was able to accomplish, what he was able to do and to inspire others along the way.
Please visit his website. While it’s in Japanese, you can view the photos of the various countries he had visited:
Read his Blog via Google Translate
RIP Ryo Inazaki!
Image from Ryo’s travel blog
