Guiding

5 years of designing and leading custom-made tours as Kii Monogatari

  • In 1919 Anne-Marie Brest from Designing Your Life brought a group of women from the US and France on a pilgrimage to Kumano and Koyasan.
  • In June 2017 two teachers from Muhlenberg College, USA, brought a group of students to Kumano to study the flora & fauna of this region and to gain an experience of Shugendo.
  • In 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 a group of Taiwanese from enjoyed my “spiritual guiding” in Kumano, Koyasan and Yoshinoyama.

5 years on city roads and back country trails of Japan as a full-time Tour Guide at Venture Japan

Standard tours

On behalf of large travel agencies, including Intrepid Travel and World Expeditions, I executed 50 long-haul (14 days) and shorter (5 to 7 days) tours.

  • Intrepid’s Land of the Rising Sun: Tokyo, Nikko, Hakone, Takayama, Hiroshima, Kyoto.

  • World Expeditions’ Backroads Japan: Tokyo, Kawaguchiko, Nakasendo, Kyoto, Asuka, Yoshino, Dorogawa, Osaka.
  • World Expeditions’ Northern Explorer: Tokyo, Nikko, Sado Island, Sapporo, Hakodate, Hirosaki, Matsushima, Kawaguchiko.

I will never forget an Intrepid Land of the Rising Sun FAM tour for South African travel agents. I never laughed so much before. And another Land of the Rising Sun FAM tour for Swiss travel agents, the only time ever I guided in German.

Very memorable are also those tours when I trained new guides and colleagues: Kimi, Misa, Kenji, Ayaka, Yuko and Shizuka. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

Hiking and trekking tours

I loved to guide the Japan hiking tours for outdoor adventure specialists Hvitserk (Norway). The tour schedule included Kumano Kodo, Japanese Alps and Mount Fuji.

It was my pleasure to guide a women-only hiking tour for the Wild Women on Top (Australia). They came for trekking along the Kumano Kodo and then climb Mount Fuji.

Another trail I love guiding is the Nakasendo trail in the Kiso Valley. I guided a number of private, tailor-made tours in different seasons.

The 2015 Scouts Jamboree took place in Japan, and on this occasion I guided a group of Scouts Leaders from the UK. The tour took us from Tokyo to Mount Fuji, followed by Kamikochi, Matsumoto, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi where the Jamboree took place.

In the 2019 Charity Challenge of the Epworth Medical Foundation I guided participants along the Kumano Kodo. All participants completed the challenge!

Pilgrimages

The Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage walking tours for Wandering the World (Australia) have become my favorite spiritual walking tour.

Since I live in Kumano, the Kumano Kodo trails are my home ground. I love guiding the Kohechi, Nakahechi and everywhere in-between.

Photo tours

I had the good fortune to guide the winner of the World Nomads Travel Photography Scholarship 2016. The winner was mentored by professional travel photographer Richard I’Anson.

In the same year I guided a team from Kathmandu, the Australasian outdoors gear maker, and their film crew, who came to Japan to shoot for their next summer collection. Locations included: Tokyo, Osaka, the Nakasendo and the Japanese Alps.

Along the same line was an exciting tour for the Photography Studies College (Melbourne). They brought a group of students to Japan who were mentored by professional photographer Michael Coyne.

Supporting film-makers and writers

  • Mathieu Le Lay, an independent filmmaker based in the French Alps, sought my guidance and introductions in Kumano in April 2015. His work is inspired by spiritual connections to nature and he wanted to learn more about Shugendo in order to shot for a documentary. Here is his trailer about Kumano.
  • Julia Plevin, Founder of the Forest Bathing Club, and Author of the book “The Healing Magic of Forest Bathing”, researched and experienced Shugendo in Kumano in August 2017.
  • Also in 2017, a crew from VICE came to Japan to shot a documentary about Shugendo under the title “Hunting Natural Highs in the Mountains of Japan“. I set up all meetings and locations and introduced them to my two Shugendo teachers who feature in this documentary.
  • In March 2020 Italian journalist Lorenzo Colantoni asked me to facilitate his environmental research on the Kii Peninsula and coordinate interviews with local stakeholders. He published his findings as a book in 2021: “Ritorno alle Foreste Sacre” (Return to the Sacred Forest).

Credentials

JNTO, Jun 2020