Kaori

I am a JMGA hiking guide (stage II) based in the city of Fukushima in Tohoku.
Thanks to my parents’ passion for mountains, I’ve been hiking a lot of mountains in Tohoku like Mt Azuma, Mt Adatara, Oze, Zao and Gassan, since childhood.
Having graduated university with a major in Education, I worked for a travel agency in Tokyo. As I travelled all over the world with clients as a tour conductor, I found myself naturally attracted to the nature and in mountains in particular. So I moved to a travel company focused on hiking and mountain trips.
I worked for 20 years as a tour conductor, leading people to mountains all over the world like Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Nepalese Himalaya, European Alps, the Americas, Scandinavia and Africa.
At the same time, I climbed a lot in Japanese mountains and obtained my hiking guide qualification.

As I hiked the mountains outside of Japan, I came to realise the beauty and richness of Japanese mountains, the nature, and the lifestyle of people, and I wanted to share this gift with the visitors from abroad.
Since the earthquake in Tohoku, travellers to Tohoku has reduced dramatically and I had felt very sad. After the quake, I returned to Fukushima and started guiding mainly in the mountains of Tohoku.

Fukushima is only 1.5hrs on Shinkansen from Tokyo! Let’s go climbing and hiking in the beautiful mountains of Tohoku!

About Tohoku:
Tohoku region occupies 18% of the total landmass of Japan. It is a large region consisting of 6 prefectures, and there is the Oku mountain range that runs 410km in total length from the north to the south.
There are also other long mountain ranges, and stand alone mountains, and it thus houses a lot of unique terrains.
Not only that, there are 11 national parks and is also home to 15 of the 100 most famous Japanese mountains and 22 of the 100 most famous floral mountains of Japan.

My other passion is food. I would love to introduce you to the delicious gourmet of Tohoku.
There are numerous onsen at the base of these mountains and the flat land is very well known for producing high quality rice, vegetables and fruits.
Good rice and water, inevitably means that there is good Sake! There are also a few farmers these days producing wine as well.
Tohoku is a major rice producer and so we also have a lot of great food originating from rice like mocha and kiritampo and other dishes and snacks made from rice.
I would love for you to taste and experience the amazing local food and onsen that the abundant nature of Tohoku brings on your trip here.