Japanese-Vietnamese newlyweds leave careers behind to travel world

At the beginning of May, Ngo Quang Dung and his Japanese wife, Chiaki Hatori, found themselves wandering on foot down remote rural roads in Madagascar, an island nation off the coast of the African continent that boasts some of the world’s most untouched wilderness.

Life in the villages the young couple visited was simple.

The houses were made of dirt, and locals traveled on foot without vehicles. Families cooked with wood for fuel, and in the afternoon, the children would heard buffaloes and goats back to their homes before taking impromptu dips in the natural rivers that dotted the landscape.

"Chiaki was quite surprised," said Dung, a 28-year-old IT engineer. His wife had never seen anything like this in her home country before. "I told her life in Vietnam in the not-too-distant past was the same as here."

Chiaki and Dung in a small village near Oaxaca, Mexico, in August 2023. Photo courtesy of the couple

Dung, who hails from the town of Son Tay in metropolitan Hanoi, met Chiaki at a meeting of their school’s English club during his freshman year at the Tokyo University of Agriculture in 2014.

They fell in love quickly, and their bond was strong enough to endure a major long-distance relationship when Chiaki then had to continue her studies in France.

In October 2021, the couple reunited in Vietnam to get married. Two days after the wedding, Chiaki infected with Covid. It was nearly midnight when she suddenly went pale, her limbs ran cold, and she became so short of breath that her breathing nearly stopped.

Dung’s family rushed her to the hospital where oxygen therapy returned her breathing to normal. But she remained bedridden in her hospital room for three days. After a two-week stay, Chiaki recovered, and the couple decided to move to Japan.

Chiaki and Dung’s near-death experience prompted the husband and wife to realize that "death can come to you anytime."

The incident helped them come to believe that to spend too much time working would be a waste of their youth. They had both always wanted to travel, but health problems could randomly prohibit them from ever traveling.

"We’re still young, we’re not burdened with children, so I want to wander the earth and learn about the world outside of Vietnam and Japan," said Chiaki, a business consultant. Her husband heartily agreed.

Chiaki and Dung spent a few months preparing for the trip. They made a list of the countries they wanted to visit, supplemented by a collection of locations in those countries they wanted to see. "We had been working for 4-5 years, and living frugally, so we had enough savings to leave work for a year and go on our trip without worry," Dung said.

At the end of July 2023, the young couple embarked on their first journey. Over the first four months of their travels, they visited the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Brazil.

After traversing America’s major nature preserves, the couple returned to Japan to apply for visas. Next, they celebrated the Lunar New Year Festival (Tet) with their families, before flying to the Philippines. They then flew to Sri Lanka, India, Georgia, Turkey, and are now currently in Madagascar.

For the next three months, the couple is planning to continue traveling more African countries before ending their year-long journey.

A silhouette of Chiaki and Dung look up at the Grand Canyon’s night sky during their long road trip through 23 U.S. national parks. Photo courtesy of the couple

Passions thrive

Dung is enthusiastic about photography and videography, and his hobby has won him several awards. He likes to focus on capturing images of the natural world – mostly animal and plant life. Chiaki is more curious about local cultures, communities, history, and societies of people. In every new destination, the two seek out the best places and activities to engage with their personal interests.

One of Dung’s most striking and memorable moments on the trip so far was when the couple spent two days in a small village deep in Bolivia’s Andes Mountains, surrounded by the two peaks of Condoriri Mountain, over 5,600 meters high, and Huayna Potosi Mountain, over 6,000 meters high.

"We often hike mountains in Japan, but we had never been anywhere that didn’t have phone signals or creature comforts like TVs, wifi, and 24/7 electricity [power only flowed for two hours per day in the Andes mountain regions they visited]. When we were disconnected from these modern tech gadgets, we really only had each other, although the vast the earth and sky were also our companions," Dung said.

The couple also traveled the wild Amazon jungle in Brazil. They were quickly overwhelmed by the gargantuan forests. Dung found that even his Flycam unable to penetrate the vast canopies and they only striking images it could capture were slices of mighty rivers cutting through the jungle here and there.

"Sailing through the Amazon is like being in the middle of an unmoving sea, we felt so small," Dung said.

Chiaki and Dung hoist their countries' flags at the Uyuni Salt Flat in Bolivia in the winter of 2023. Photo courtesy of the couple

Dung and Chiaki both said that they have no desire for luxuries, houses, or cars.

Indeed, they instead used all their hard-earned money to buy a year of youth, allowing them to open their eyes and truly enjoy life.

After their sojourn, Dung will go back to his old job, while Chiaki is planning to find a new job that allows her to utilize her French skills.

"This journey inspired us to live for ourselves and spend more time with our families. No matter what happens, Dung and I will always be here for each other," Chiaki beamed.