A challenge by people under 24 / Route 66's 100th anniversary
浮世GUYS
Cycling Across America×Documentary Filmmaking
A challenge by people under 24 / Route 66's 100th anniversary
浮世GUYS
Cycling Across America×Documentary Filmmaking
About this project
Led by Tatsuya Kushihara, CEO of Route Inc., a team entirely under 24 takes on a documentary about cycling across America. We want a record of this challenge that leaves people thinking “this era isn’t so bad after all”: our own generation, and every company kind enough to back us.
Long ago, our predecessors turned a gloomy “floating world of sorrow” (ukiyo) into a “floating world to be enjoyed,” and gave us ukiyo-e. In an age where the future is hard to see, we want to make the world more interesting by taking things on. That’s where the name “ukiyoguys” comes from.
From Chicago to Los Angeles: a 3,600km journey on Route 66
Route 66 is a legendary U.S. highway that opened on November 11, 1926. Running roughly 3,940km (2,448 miles) from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, it crosses 8 states. Known as “the Main Street of America,” or simply “the Mother Road,” it has long stood for classic American road-trip culture: motels, diners, neon signs. It still draws travelers from around the world today.
November 11, 2026 marks exactly 100 years since Route 66 first opened.
We’re timing our own arrival in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, to land on that very day.
What makes this project different
Footage of the bike trip across America
The bad-weather days and the days a body is near its limit: we film them without hiding anything, and we don’t tidy it up in the edit.
Voices from young people mid-challenge
Bravado and weakness alike, nothing hidden. We show the conflicts and honest feelings each of the five carries.
Made entirely by young people, with all the energy that brings
Director, camera and cast are all 24 or under. We don’t outsource the editing or the promotion; we finish it ourselves.
Screenings + streaming + SNS, reaching the whole world
After the screening, we keep posting the rest of the journey on SNS and YouTube.
Production team
A production RV follows right behind the five riders
A 5-person crew (director / camera / camera support / SNS / documentary production) drives alongside in the RV, handling filming and safety at the same time.
- All 10 cast and crew members carry overseas travel insurance
- Coverage includes unlimited medical/rescue costs and ¥100M in liability
- Emergency contact protocols, live location sharing, and thoroughly checked routes and schedules
Why this project, why now
Fewer chances for young people to take on challenges
Chances for overseas experience and long-term challenges keep shrinking, don’t they?
In the SNS era, empathy is the medium
People are moved less by big-budget ads, more by a story from someone actually living it.
Route 66’s 100th anniversary
In a year the whole world is watching Route 66, we ride it by bike.
Five people riding it as hard as they can, filmed the whole way.
We want to give our generation an honest push forward.
The world we’re aiming for
A society where challenge keeps circulating
Give young people more choices
Not a matter of age — we mean anyone living with a spark behind their eyes
- Stand at the front line of our generation
- Follow our own hearts, follow what excites us
- Always stay true to ourselves
- Pay it forward to the next generation
The two leading this project
The founder, who’s also on camera, and the director leading production.Around these two, a team entirely under 24 is building this challenge from scratch.
CEO of Route
Tatsuya Kushihara (21)
Took a year off in 2024 to travel around the world. To stand at the front line of his generation’s challenges, he’s been sharing them on social media ever since.
- Age 16Cycled around Japan
- Age 17Traveled the length of Southeast Asia
- Age 18Won an international tourism film award
- Age 19Attempted a round-the-world trip (summited Kilimanjaro / cycled across Europe / circled Iceland / traveled South America / organized an RV trip across the US with 28 peers)
- Age 20Founded Route Inc., completed a US crossing with 56 peers
Director / Head of documentary production
Yuto Nakamoto (20)
Video creator / FPV drone pilot
Won a film contest at 16 and never looked back. Meeting adults who lit up while delivering value to the world made him someone who’s always taking a new step forward too. When Tatsuya came to him in October 2025 and asked him to direct a documentary about cycling across America, his answer was an immediate yes.
Selected credits
- 3rd Kagin Film Contest — Grand Prize, Student Division
- 1st MBC Creators Award — MBC Prize
- Chiba TV Student Film Project — Grand Prize
- Produced the Kagoshima team’s promo video, shown at Expo Osaka
- Tanegashima Space Art Festival 2024, 2025
- Screened at MOT Tokyo’s “Mission ∞ Infinity” exhibition, and more
The riders: five on the road
A calligrapher, a regional revitalizer, a share-house owner, a magic bar owner. Five very different backgrounds, riding the same bike down the same road.
The crew: five chasing the story
The creators who follow the entire journey in a camping car running alongside the riders, turning it all into a film.
Music
She doesn’t join the ride across America, but she’s the one other teammate bringing this project to life through music.
3,600km · 10people · under 24
Every mile ridden by bike. Every mile caught on camera.
Our journey so far
This crossing has a backstory.It grew out of one incident, and a wish to pay back what we received from it.
How this challenge began
October 21, 2025, mid-way through cycling across Europe
Robbed and beaten, losing every belonging, including his bike
October 24, 2025 (Kushihara’s 20th birthday)
Local media picked up the story, and a fundraiser raised ¥500,000 within 4 hours of going live. On top of that, Bottecchia stepped in as a sponsor and provided a new bike.
After a lot of thinking about how to say thank you:
“Keep riding this bike myself.”
What’s the best way to pass on the kindness he received to the next generation? The answer: film himself risking it all to keep challenging himself, and turn that into a spark for his own generation. That’s how ukiyoguys was born.
Route’s track record: 110 people mobilized
28 strangers, one generation, one RV across America
1st America crossing project: Route26
2nd America crossing project: Route54
3rd America crossing project: Route82
4th America crossing project: Route110
A film by young people, for young people
The finished documentary will screen for free at schools across Japan. With a goal of 100 schools and 10,000 people, we’re taking both screening requests from schools and support from backers.
Confirmed schools so far
- Kagoshima College of Technology
- Kobe City College of Technology
- Kindai University
- University of the Ryukyus
- Maya Hyogo High School（Planned）
- Suma Shofu High School（TBD）
With support from KOSEN Career Institute, we’re aiming for 100 schools (mainly KOSEN colleges) and 10,000 people nationwide. It brings schools, companies, and young people together, and it helps with CSR and recruiting too.
How to apply or supportOther ways to support us
Back us on crowdfunding
We’re raising funds on for Good. Your support goes straight into making this happen.
Follow us on SNS.
Instagram @ukiyoguys.jp for updates from the road while the crossing is happening.
Become an individual sponsor.
From ¥50,000, you become part of this challenge too, with an end-credit listing and one screening ticket.
Bring the film to a school.
For ¥150,000, you can gift a free screening to your old school or one in your hometown, opening up options in someone else’s life.
For companies considering sponsorship
This project runs on sponsorship from companies like yours. It’s co-creation: sponsors help build the story as partners in the challenge. One page covers everything we offer, our plans, and real case studies.
- Exposure across SNS × film × nationwide screenings
- Boosts CSR and recruiting too
- 6 plans, from ¥50,000 individual up to corporate
Already backed by 11 companies
We’d love to hear from you
Sponsorship inquiries, screening requests, press and media: reach out about anything, any time.
Company overview
- Company
- Route Inc.
- Representative
- CEO Tatsuya Kushihara
- Founded
- July 18, 2025
- Business
- Creating challenge opportunities for young people (incl. this documentary) / an overseas community for young people / running a share house (Route Base) / SNS marketing support
- Vision
- A society where challenge keeps circulating
- Mission
- Give young people more choices
- Track record
- Ran an America-crossing project (Route) that mobilized 150 peers