Staff

Hiromi was born and brought up on the Izu Peninsula. A self-confessed tomboy, as a child she was often to be found exploring the beaches and forests around Ito, her home town.

While still an infant Hiromi declared at kindergarten that she wanted to be a nurse and fulfilled her dream when she completed her nursing studies in 1995. A desire to pursue her English studies took her on a working holiday to New Zealand where she was a caregiver providing support to a homebound patient. After returning to Japan, Hiromi used her nursing skills in a Tokyo school where, teamed with teachers and counsellors, she provided support to the student’s academic lives that included at times being an agony aunt, football team mate and friend.

Inspired by the French road movie Saint Jacques La Mecquet, Hiromi determined to set out to walk the Camino de Santiago. In 2013, she completed the Camino Frances route from Saint-Jean Pied de Port and Santiago de Compostela and, in 2014, she returned to Spain to complete the Camino Norte route from San Sebastian. Norway followed in 2015, when Hiromi walked from Oslo to Trondhiem along The Gudbrandsdalen Path section of the St. Olav Ways.

The adventurousness of her childhood has never left Hiromi and it has since taken her to live in Japan’s far north in the winter sports mecca of Hokkaido and also to Japan’s far south in the tropical paradise of the Ogasawara Islands. An outdoor sports and fitness enthusiast, Hiromi likes to go snowboarding, snorkelling, sea fishing and swimming, and to strengthen her Japanese spirit she has begun the practice of Kendo. Her favourite quote is ‘No road is long with good company’ and she has made many friends on her perambulations around the world.