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HIKE JAPAN
Hike Japan specializes in guided walking holidays and tailor-made tours for individuals and small groups. All the itineraries are meticulously researched and the continuously improved. As well as including most of the natural and cultural properties inscribed on the World Heritage list, our itineraries feature some of the finest mountain and country hiking in Japan.
The tours are for the naturally active and adventurous. Hiking is graded for all abilities, with the emphasis on pleasure rather than pain! Looking to 2011 and beyond, as well as offering exciting mountain tours and trips to remoter parts of Japan, we are currently researching tours for the disabled, supporting ‘tourism for all'. We will offer a new wildlife tour in 2010, as well as a tour along the Japan Sea Coast called ‘Slow Trains to Kyoto', and a luxury tour – both featuring more gentle walking.
The food on the tours is so good, more than a few clients have said that we should call Hike Japan ‘Eat Japan'. Accommodation in the countryside is usually in traditional ryokan, family-run minshuku, Buddhist temples, and mountain lodges. ‘Going Japanese' means being served delicious, freshly prepared, seasonal food, and of course enjoying onsen - amazing natural hot spring baths in some great locations. The aim is to have fun whilst discovering something of the essence of what makes Japan such a wonderful country.
Bob Heffill : Principal
Bob began researching the possibilities for a new outdoor business in Japan in 2002. Hike Japan was then established, and the first Hike Japan tour was in autumn 2003. Bob's connection with Japan goes back 36 years, to 1973, when his parents were diplomats in Tokyo. After nine months living in Japan, he studied Japanese language and literature at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. He then worked in Japan as an English teacher in state schools for three years on the JET program. He has spent much of the last twenty five years working as a Japanese translator and interpreter and is a Member of the Institute of Translators and Interpreters. He has translated Against the Wind, a book by Yasuyuki Ozeki about a bicycle journey Yaz made from Tokyo to Dublin in 1998, and co-translated the recipe book, Nobu Now!, by super-chef Nobu Matsuhisa. His latest non-fiction project is a translation of the bestselling book Miracle Apples, about an organic apple farmer in Aomori Prefecture. Bob did his Mountain Leader training in North Wales in 2001. Based in Japan, he is Principal of Hike Japan and its main guide.
2010 Tours
Imperial Pilgrimage Route · Mountains of Central Japan · Slow Trains to Kyoto ·
Wildlife Japan Hokkaido · Tateyama to Kamikochi Alpine Route
Tokyo office tel: +81 (0)3 5226 1169