Newsletter: Summer 2024
31st Jul 2024
Winter Tour
Onsen Gastronomy: Snowy Aizu
Bookings are now open for the Onsen Gastronomy: Snowy Aizu, the latest addition to our popular series of speciality onsen, food and walking experiences. Its introduction has been long delayed by the pandemic but we are very pleased to finally run the first scheduled departure for this tour in the 2024/25 northern hemisphere winter.
From spring to autumn Aizu is a blissfully rural, verdent and fertile region. But with the arrival of winter it is transformed by deep snows into a very different but equally beautiful landscape. Snowshoes, our modus operandi that always provide fun-filled adventures, are the only way to thoroughly enjoy this winter wonderland on foot. Copious onsen hot spring baths, delicious local cuisine and top class sakes add the icing to the top of this tour’s cake!
This 5-day, 4-night tour also explores the samurai history of Aizu, which is epitomised by Tsuruga-jo, a towering period castle. We also visit Ouchi-juku, a charming post-town of traditional thatched buildings on the ancient Shimotsuke Way. We round up the tour in nearby Urabandai, a unique landscape of multiple lakes towered over by Bandaisan, an active volcano. For further details please see our website or contact us.
Summer Seminar 2024
Almost 100 of our staff from all over Japan and from around the world gathered on the Kunisaki Peninsula in Kyushu for Walk Japan’s festive annual Summer Seminar. This five-day event is to reaffirm old friendships and meet new colleagues in person, learn and further raise our game as a team and as individuals, discuss new tours and revise existing ones, share good food and wine, and generally have a good time together. Karaoke night was the only time when we broke into two camps; those who do and those who don’t sing!
Community Project Update
In mid-May we harvested our organic wheat, a time for our office staff and our neighbours to come together for some hard but satisfying work, refreshing drinks and snacks, chit chat and laughter.
Electrifying! We have long had solar panels generating electricity on two of our properties. Recently, we introduced our first electric vehicle (EV), a cute Nissan Sakura, and it joins our growing collection of electric bushwhackers, hedge trimmers, blowers and other equipment.
Our medium-term plan is to replace all our vehicles with EVs, add more solar panels and hitch them up to storage batteries.
In May, Anton and Renee from Climatalist visited us in Kunisaki. Paul sat down at home with them to share how Walk Japan has evolved over the past 30 years for their podcast. They also discussed Walk Japan’s Community Project and the importance of working closely with the locals to reinvigorate communities.
Many who have already seen the podcast have asked about the artwork seen here. The artist is Michael McHugh, who is also Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of MindFood. Michael says his painting was inspired by a trip to Japan.
Sharon, who joined Walk Japan recently as a Tour Leader, and her husband, Colin, spent some of their summer holidays volunteering on our Community Project. Over a week they both lent their brawn to weeding our organic rice fields and Colin also used his impressive skills as a mechanic to service our tractors.
Out & About in Japan
As a company we are found year-round throughout Japan running tours. Meanwhile, Paul, our CEO, is regularly to be seen at the invitation of locals and organisations in the nation’s regions describing our tours, corporate philosophy and success in rural revitalisation through tourism, epitomised by our Community Project.
Recently, he was invited to the geographical origins of Walk Japan; the Nakasendo Way in the Kiso Valley. Although our tours are a very regular feature of this beautiful and intriguing region, Paul had not visited since the early days of the pandemic. So he was delighted to reunite with old friends, some of whom we have been working with for over thirty years and have been staunch supporters of Walk Japan ever since our company’s establishment in 1992. He also made some new alliances to help the region sustainably leverage its attractiveness as a travel destination and help build a more robust community.
Paul followed this up with a trip to the Noto Peninsula, which was hit hard by a massive earthquake on New Year’s Day this year. The locals wanted him to share his thoughts on how to help the region get back on its feet through tourism. It is another very picturesque region of Japan, with great food, culture and enthusiastic residents. We have already started a new project to help out as best we can so please look out for updates in forthcoming newsletters.
This year, Japan’s first ever long trail, the Tokai Shizen Hodo - in English the Tokai Nature Trail - reached its 50th anniversary. Our Michinoku Coastal Trail tour, which makes the most of Japan’s newest long trails, has proved very successful and, beacuse of this, Paul was invited by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment to the celebratory event in central Tokyo to give a keynote address, join a panel discussion and raise a glass or two at the afterparty. Paul’s travels do not end here. He has been booked for more events before the end of this year mostly in Japan but also overseas.
Mirai-no-Mori & KIWL 500 in 2024
This year, we were delighted to sponsor the Knights in White Lycra (KIWL) annual 500km cycle ride from Shizuoka City to Nagano City through mountainous countryside in Japan’s Central Alps region. Our CEO Paul and colleague Nichole also made their debuts as ‘Knights’ joining a multi-national peloton of 44 cyclists on the ride over four days on the last day of May through early June.
Paul commented that ‘It is over thirty years since I was a middling triathlete and last rode a bike for any distance, so I was far from nonchalant about participating… However, all my concerns quickly dissipated once in the saddle and on the ride surrounded by such a welcoming and enthusiastic group of cyclists’.
‘Everyone's camaraderie, enthusiasm, support, humour, and 'Let's do it' continually positive attitude was inspirational. Any aches and pains were always washed away quickly because of this, but also because of knowing our ultimate goal in supporting NPO Mirai no Mori's work with children and young adults navigating difficult life circumstances is so effective and vital’.
Nichole, a consumate triathlete, seemingly effortlessly pedalled her way the whole distance leaving Paul a long way behind in her wake! The pair are scheduled to link up again on their bikes in late August to represent Kitsuki City, where they both live, in the 2024 Oita Prefectural Games.
Donations can still be made to Mirai-no-Mori by clicking on the button below. 100% of all contributions go directly to the organisation.
Climbing Mt. Fuji
A group of Walk Japan colleagues, led by Masaki who is a veteran Mt. Fuji guide and Walk Japan Tour Leader, set out to climb to the peak of Mt. Fuji (3,776m/12,388ft) on the first day of the climbing season in July. However, inclement weather curtailed their ambition and, instead, they climbed up to the Hoei Crater (2,693m/8,835ft) on the south-eastern slopes of this majestic volcano. Created in 1707~08 during the last recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji, this is the most recent of Mt. Fuji’s craters. Later Masaki led the group to the new and fantastic Mt. Fuji World Heritage Centre and along trails through the mystical forests surrounding this potent natural symbol of Japan.
In the World's Press:
SCMP
Peter Neville-Hadley chronicles our newest tour, the Shikoku: Kochi & Ehime Discovery, for the South China Morning Post. He was particularly enthralled by Ryoma Sakamoto, one of Japan’s tragic heroes whose dramatic escape route we follow during this tour.
The Peak
Karen Tee fondly recalls her Kunisaki and Yufuin Walk last year, enjoying the leisurely pace of walking through the charming countryside of the Kunisaki Peninsula.
SMH
The Sydney Morning Herald included the Self-Guided Shikoku Wayfarer tour in their list of six trips to enrich both body and mind.
Tatler Asia
Nathalie Küpfer Henares recounts her experience walking our Self-Guided Nakasendo Wayfarer for Tatler Asia.
