When I hear the word pilgrimage I think of monks walking for miles and miles. I use the term figuratively in my case — the lowly Shigesato Itoi traveling across Japan and overseas to visit all the people and companies to whom he’s indebted.

Once a year, everyone who works on the Hobonichi Techo in any capacity gathers together for a big meeting where we share news and ideas over a meal.

It’s only thanks to all the sincerity and teamwork of such a large group of people that the Hobonichi Techo is what it is today, and these meetings help us all realize that. So every year we invite people across the country to the Hobonichi office in Aoyama, Tokyo. It’s always been a lot of fun.

But one day it occurred to me that a change could be good every once in a while — we could visit the factories and workplaces of all the people who help us to express our appreciation directly, see where the hard work is really done, and get a better feel for what happens behind the scenes.

There are so many places working on the techo that it will take some time and effort, but we’ve decided to plan out our itinerary and go everywhere we can. Hopefully we won’t be a bother to anyone; it’s just that it will be good to have a real handshake supplement our proverbial one. By truly getting to know each other we’ll be able to get more out of working together. And of course, in this digital age, we’d love to do things the old-fashioned way and say thank you in person. After all, isn’t the Hobonichi Techo all about going analog?

We’ll be taking our time as we make our way through our itinerary, visiting 27 different places over 140 days. We look forward to seeing everyone.