Getting engaged is already a huge milestone — but one man took that moment and turned it into a six-month-long journey across an entire country, all for the sake of asking one simple question.

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Back in 2008, Tokyo-based artist Yasushi Takahashi — better known as Yassan — decided he didn’t want an ordinary proposal. Instead, he combined creativity, travel, and sheer determination to create something on a scale few could even imagine.

His idea? To quite literally write “MARRY ME” across Japan.

Yassan is known for creating GPS art — a form of expression where a person follows a pre-planned route while tracking their movement with GPS. When uploaded onto platforms like Google Earth, those routes transform into massive digital drawings.

For his proposal, he decided to use the entire country as his canvas. He said in a video for Google: “I planned the route on Google Earth and then quit my job and left.”

At the time, GPS art wasn’t widely known, and the technology available was far more limited than it is today. Without smartphones, Yassan had to carefully map everything out by hand.

He used tracing paper over a large road map to design the route, and relied on a GPS logger — typically used as part of a digital camera — to track his progress.

But this wasn’t a simple road trip.

To complete the enormous drawing, Yassan traveled 4,451 miles, starting in Hokkaido and ending in Kagoshima. The journey took six months, during which he lived out of his car and faced constant challenges.

“At night I camped out in my car. There was heavy rain, snow, and earthquakes but I never gave up,” he revealed.

The route itself wasn’t always as straightforward as it looked on paper. Many of the roads he needed to follow were unpaved or difficult to navigate.

“There are many unpaved roads in Japan. There was no street view to rely on, so if I saw a road that would work for my drawing, then I’d take it. Only when I get there would I realize that only locals have the skill and experience to comfortably drive through it.”

At one point, things went seriously wrong.

“Once, I was going through a narrow path near a river. It was too narrow, so I decided to give up and go back by reversing. That proved to be also impossible. The car ended up at the bottom of the bank. I called for a car service, but their crane also could not get through the narrow path.”

He also dealt with tyre punctures and even drove through unseasonal snow using summer tyres — all while keeping his true purpose a secret.

At the time, Yassan had just moved in with his girlfriend, Natsuki. When he suddenly quit his job and set off across the country, she understandably had questions.

“We only started living together. If marriage and family were ahead of us, I had to be concerned if he says he’s going to go jobless.”

Unable to reveal the real reason behind his decision, Yassan simply continued his journey — documenting parts of it on his blog while she waited back home.

Despite the hardships, the trip also gave him unforgettable experiences.

“I was in Lake Mashu (Hokkaido) one morning. The mist was a veil to the calm but enormous lake. It was surreal,” he said in an interview with Guinness World Records.

After six months, the journey finally came to an end — and with it, the completion of his giant GPS artwork.

When he revealed the map to Natsuki, the result was not quite what he had imagined.

“What does it say?” she asked him.

It turned out she didn’t understand the English phrase.

Yassan had to explain the meaning behind the message — but despite the unexpected hiccup, the answer was exactly what he had hoped for. “Of course I answered ‘yes’”

Natsuki later joked about the experience and Yassan’s trips without her, saying: “I kept thinking: ‘Where are you going without me?’”

The project didn’t just result in a successful proposal — it also earned Yassan a Guinness World Record for the largest GPS drawing created by an individual.

Remarkably, it was his first ever GPS artwork.

“I was working at a very busy company, and I had no time to practise. So I had to just go and do it. At the end of the first night, I saw a single line I drew. That was exciting,” he said.

Looking back, Yassan still stands by his bold decision to go all in on such an ambitious idea.

“You are only meant to do a marriage proposal once in your life. So that memory will stay with you for the rest of your life. So I still think, after all these years, it was a good idea. Even though it sort of went custard at the end. Looking back, I realise that what I have done was wild,” Yassan said.

Today, the couple are still happily married with two children — and his once personal project has since inspired countless others to explore GPS art for themselves.

But even among those creative efforts, Yassan’s proposal still stands out — not just for its scale, but for the level of commitment behind it… and to the woman he loves.

Featured image credit: Google Earth