A hot air baloon, carrying Michio Kanda and Naoki Ishikawa, lifts off from Tochigi city in 2004
© AFP/JIJI Press/FileTOKYO (AFP) - Local government employee Michio Kanda, 58, left before sunrise to begin his 9,000-kilometre (5,580 miles) journey to North America, which is expected to take him about 60 hours.
Kanda, who has been air-ballooning for 30 years, set the record of 50 hours and 38 minutes after leaving Calgary in Canada and landing in Jordan in the US state of Montana in 1997.
"I will do my best as this is the culmination of my hot-air balloon adventures," Kanda told cheering fans before his departure north of Tokyo.
If successful, Kanda may also break the record for the longest distance travelled in a hot-air balloon at 7,672 kilometres set in 1991 by Virgin executive Richard Branson, the Japan Balloon Federation said.
Kanda' balloon "Starlight", which measures 45 metres by 50 metres (149 feet by 165 feet), is the biggest in the world and the second biggest in history, according to a federation official.
The balloon has no propulsion system so Kanda is expected to depend solely on jet streams, which will blow him across the Pacific to an unknown destination, the association said.
Kanda's other feats include flying over the 8,125-metre (26,660-foot) Nanga Parbat in Kashmir, the world's ninth highest mountain, in 2001.
Although he continues to do his desk job with the local government in the Tokyo suburb of Kawajima, Kanda reportedly saved up and spent 20 million yen (170,000 dollars) to produce and operate Starlight.
"He has taken several days of vacation to accomplish his feat," a local government official said.
His attempt comes as two Americans -- Troy Bradley, 43, and Peter Cuneo, 56 -- prepare for an attempt on the record for distance flown in an old-fashioned gas balloon with no burner.
They plan to fly in their balloon, "Celestial Eagle", from Japan's southern Saga prefecture to the west coast of the US, although weather conditions are currently unfavourable, according to their website.
©AFP