2008 – Today: Travel Writer and Inbound Consultant
Media: Kansai Scene, Metropolis, Japan Digest, Japan Today, Japan Travel, Tokyo Weekender, Being A Broad (BAB), Tokyo Journal, EURObiz, Japan Markt, Japan Times, Eye Ai, VIA, Buddhist Door.
Clients: Tanabe Tourism Board, Shingu Tourism Board, Wakayama Tourism, Yamagata Tourism, Nara Tourism, JNTO UK, Nankai Railway, JR West, JR East.
2013 – Today: Travel Designer and Tour Guide
Clients: Venture Japan, Wandering the World (Australia), Heliosphere (Taiwan), Designing Your Life (USA).
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Press interviews/media appearances
JNTO UK (Feb 2021) Postcards from Japan: Alena Eckelmann (read here)
EURObiz (Nov 2013) Have questions – will travel (read here, pp. 34/35)
Being A Broad – BAB (March 2010) We profile Writer Alena Eckelmann (read here)
Japan Times (Nov 2009) From East Berlin to the Far East and vice versa (read here)
Global Manager (2006) Harnessing Global Opportunitie – Riding the Wind of Change
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Work Experience and Education (after the Fall of the Berlin Wall)
Germany/Vietnam
MA in Southeast Asian Studies, focus on Vietnamese language, Vietnamese studies, Passau University, Germany, 1991-1997.
One-year scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for Vietnamese Studies in Hanoi, 1994-1995.
Participant of the ASA Programme – Engagement Global, 1996.
London, UK
MA in Asia Pacific Area Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University, 1997-1998.
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Fundraising Research Manager, 1999-2000
Diploma in Development Studies at Birkbeck University 2000.
Europe Japan Center (EJC) in London, International Research Manager and Business Analyst, 2000-2006.
Diploma in Market Research from the Market Research Society (MRS), 2005; Member of ESOMAR.
Tokyo, Japan
Executive Training Program Japan (ETP), a Japan business training program supported by the European Commission, 2005/2006. Japanese language training at Tokyo’s Naganuma Japanese Language School.
International Internship Programs (IIP), Internship Coordinator, 2007-2008.
Caroline Pover Inc. (CPI) Editorial Internship at the Tokyo Weekender, 2008.
AIP Corporation, Team Leader, 2009.
Japan Market Expansion Competition (JMEC), a mini MBA program in Tokyo) Assistant Director, 2011/2012.
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Senshusei Training at Yoshinkan Aikido Hombu Dojo, 2007-2008.
Finisher of the 1st and 3rd Tokyo Marathon, 2007/2009.
Monkasei Student at Oedo Sukeroku Taiko, 2008-2011.
Kii Peninsula, Japan
Moved out of Tokyo by choice and settled in a small village in the mountains of Kumano in Wakayama Prefecture on the Kii Peninsula, 2011.
Venture Japan, Full-time Guide, 2013-2018.
Wakayama Interpreter/Guide for the Kumano Kodo and Koyasan.
Forest Therapy Guide.
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Apprenticeship with a Shugendo monk, 2011-ongoing.
The Kii Peninsula chapter of my life is best described in Kii Monogatari.
Alena Eckelmann 