Hideki

I am a JMGA certified Mountain guide, a nationally certified English tour guide, and a licensed weather forecaster living in Nara, near Osaka. My first mountaineering experience started on Mt. Fuji when I was 10-years-old. After that, I was always fascinated by mountain activities and joined the Mountain Climbing Club at junior high school and in 1977, I enjoyed my first ski mountaineering descent from a 3,000m peak in the Japan Alps. I like all outdoor sports, but my earlier passion was in hang-gliding, where I came first / second in local and regional championships and became a certified instructor in 1983. I also combined my passions and flew from the summit of Mt. Fuji with a hang-glider.

When I younger, I travelled to many places to climb and hike, including India, Nepal and China. I turned my passion into a career when I started working as a mountain guide in 2007 and have been guiding since then. What makes me love this profession is the feeling of awe when I encounter the greatness of the nature; the sublime beauty, detailed structures, mysteries and the wisdom of the living things, magnificent landscapes, brilliance of ephemeral moments, the overwhelming power, unimaginable size of the universe… Every time I encounter such world beyond imagination, my heart pounds with excitement.

I believe that emotions and experiences in the mountains can bring power to people - An adventure that pushes yourself both physically and mentally at your own limits will build courage and confidence, and you find the respect for the nature when you feel the awe. I want to be the interface between the nature and people by guiding you through the mountains and sharing the experiences.

My current guiding area is centred around the Japan Alps but also cover the Himalayas, and in Japan from Hokkaido to Yakushima Island. In the summer, I seek virgin forests to share a nature immersion experiences, and in the winter I pursue the heavy snow dump by assessing and forecasting the timing of the Arctic cold fronts so as not to miss “The Day” of powder skiing.

Get in touch with me if you’re also interested in hitting a big powder skiing day or enjoy immersing yourself in the Japanese nature!