Accompanying Various Experiences: From Baseball Games to Snow Monkeys:

I obtained my national licensed guide-interpreter (English) certification in 2007 and began guiding activities as a side job, mainly on weekends, while working as a company employee. In 2017, I started guiding inbound FIT tourists on city tours, walking tours, and cycling tours in Kansai, Okayama, and Hiroshima. In December 2022, I moved to Myoko City and expanded my activities to the Hokushinano and Myoko areas.

During the snow season, I manage a small lodge with my family. Alongside lodge operations, I plan original tours for long-stay foreign visitors to the Myoko area, including snowshoe hikes, dinner and town walking tours, Japanese sake and microbrewery tours, and Snow Monkey & Obuse tours. In summer and early autumn, I also guide children's mountain bike tours, e-bike tours, and trekking in Togakushi, Iizuna Mountain, and the Myoko area, contracted by local businesses in Shinano Town.

From late March to mid-April during cherry blossom season and from mid-November to early December during autumn foliage season, when Myoko and Nagano are in their low season, I guide FIT tours in the Kansai area and from Kansai to the Chugoku and Shikoku regions. While mostly city walks, I also provide special interest tours like sake brewery visits, professional baseball game viewing, and activity-based guide services such as cycling tours on Naoshima Island and the Shimanami Kaido.

The essence of guiding is the unique encounters with clients from various backgrounds and lifestyles. It's enjoyable to rediscover the charm of Japanese culture and the guided areas. As I love traveling myself, I feel like I'm traveling with different customers each time while working. My favorite in Nagano Prefecture is the Togakushi Kodo Walk. The trail connecting the five shrines boasts beauty in all four seasons, and Togakushi's culture and history, including mythology, mountain worship, syncretic religion, ninjas, and soba noodles, provide endless topics for discussion. I enjoy conversations with clients while walking this spiritual trail dotted with photogenic spots like the cedar-lined path and Mirror Pond.

What I value most is providing a guiding style tailored to each client. Instead of imposing what I want to show or have them experience, I try to incorporate the customers' preferences and requests into my guidance as much as possible. Even for tours contracted by travel agencies, I strive to flexibly accommodate customers' intentions. I also strongly desire clients to enjoy encounters at the places we visit, so I create many opportunities for conversation and interaction with locals. For original tours, I try not to provide too much information in advance to increase surprises during the tour.

Rediscovering the Charm of Nature Familiar Since Childhood as a Guide

I grew up in a provincial city in the Seto Inland Sea area. Influenced by my father, who loved the sea and fishing, I've been familiar with playing in the sea and rivers since childhood. Before starting school, I played with my older sister, who is 2 years older than me, and her friends, so I learned to ride a bicycle and swim in rivers and the sea earlier than my peers. I was a wild child who was competitive, willing to try anything, and full of curiosity. I loved ball games and spent my elementary school days playing volleyball and girls' soccer, and in junior high school, I played softball at a powerhouse school. I was so enamored with the Koshien baseball tournament that I even regretted not being born a boy (laughs).

My first encounter with extreme outdoor activities was through the university's expedition club. I still remember my first mountain climbing camp, which also served as an entrance test, where I walked for five days carrying a heavy 70L backpack exposed to wind and rain, leaving both my body and mind in tatters. To acquire skills for academic expeditions, I experienced not only mountain climbing but also rafting, rock climbing, and caving. Through these activities and the accompanying preparations and camps, I learned basic outdoor skills and manners in natural environments from my seniors. It was a time of valuable experiences, including various encounters.

One of the most memorable outdoor experiences was a downhill mountain bike tour on the so-called "Death Road" in Bolivia. It was already a highly dangerous tour, but we faced continuous troubles like my friend's bicycle malfunctioning and our shuttle vehicle breaking down. The sense of relief when we finally completed the tour is still unforgettable. The World Rafting Championship in Shikoku, where I participated as an interpreter, is also a fond memory. Players worldwide praised the highly transparent rivers, beautiful satoyama landscapes, and the abundance of outdoor activity fields right next to people's everyday lives, making me realize anew that "this is Japan's treasure."

Comprehensive Knowledge Update Coinciding with the Start of a New Business

I learned about the training program after moving and starting to participate in guide work and training in the Myoko and Hokushinano areas. August, when the training began, coincided with the completion of my travel business registration, which prepared me to create and sell package tours and guided tours including the Nagano area as an individual business. This was one of the reasons I considered for participating. Although I had experience as a cycling guide and trail guide based on my own experiences, I had never received comprehensive and practical training as an outdoor guide. I thought it would be a good opportunity to improve my guiding skills and confirm the knowledge I should have as a guide for this region and outdoor fields. I was pleased that it included practical content such as international certifications like WAFA and LNT, as well as English guide training.

The most significant learnings from the training were being able to objectively review my guiding skills, recognizing the importance of risk management before and after tours, and realizing the significance of regularly updating wilderness first aid knowledge. Networking and information exchange with fellow guides was another positive aspect of participating.

I want to continue to be conscious of the following points: always checking safety even in familiar places, having the courage to refuse clients or guests when necessary, and being a presence that can provide reassurance.

Aiming to be a Local Business Delivering "Travel Like a Local" Experiences

I aim to expand my network with attractive local guides and unique business operators who are working individually, and create original tours that can't be replicated by AI or Google Maps alone. I want to provide liaison-like services connecting locals and customers. I also want to create guided tours that appeal not only to inbound travelers but also to Japanese travelers who are not yet accustomed to using guide services at their destinations, providing guide services that both international visitors and locals can enjoy together.

Personally, I'm working on multi-day guided tours combining cycling, hiking, SUP, and other activities based on the fields from Niigata to Nagano that I usually enjoy in private.

In Nagano Prefecture, while hidden attractions like "Jigokudani Onsen" and "Magome-Tsumago" have been widely promoted to overseas travelers and contributed to regional revitalization, I feel a dilemma as a guide about the environmental destruction and friction between local residents and tourists caused by over-tourism. I want to create tours and provide guide services that are welcomed not only by visitors but also by the local people receiving them rather than just aiming to increase the number of visitors.

Since my first solo trip at the age of 12, I've traveled throughout Japan and the world whenever I had the chance. I've also been immersed in mountain climbing, river activities, snowboarding, etc., and I chose this place to live because I wanted to make it a base for outdoor activities. I believe guiding is my calling, and I want to continue it forever while also wanting to keep traveling and enjoying outdoor activities as long as my body allows. Surrounded by majestic mountains and rivers, Nagano Prefecture offers sceneries and lifestyles reminiscent of good old Japan. I want visitors to experience "Travel like a local," including various outdoor activities, culture, traditional lifestyles, and interactions with local people. There are many unique and attractive local guides and outdoor guides in the area who will undoubtedly create special experiences to the fullest!