Tom Takano - Professional mountain guide

Born 9 April 1972. I started climbing in 1980, and in middle school and university was interested in the decathlon. I have done several first ascents in Japan. I have also done some big wall climbing in North America and Europe. As well as working as a guide throughout Japan, I am now regularly leading groups in the USA, the European Alps, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, and Nepal. My aim is to climb in the Himalaya. I have a good knowledge of mountain flora and fauna, and consider myself a trustworthy hiking guide.

I have worked with Hike Japan for five years.

Sam Yokobori - Mountain leader and professional tour conductor

Born in Tokyo in 1978. After school I moved to Canada where I went to university and majored in Environmental Studies. I have a deep interest in Japanese culture, and served two terms as president of my university's Japanese Culture Club. After graduation I did my mountaineering skills training in the Canadian Rockies, spending a 90-day period in the Canadian wilderness.

I subsequently worked for an eco-tour company based near Mt. Fuji, guiding in both in English and Japanese. I guided a range of tours, from caving to treks on and around Mt.Fuji. I effectively developed my nature interpreter skills whilst working there.

Since 2008, I have been travelling between Canada and Japan. In Canada I look after Japanese clients in the Rockies, whilst in Japan I introduce overseas visitors to various aspects of Japanese culture and our mountains.

I love the Japanese mountains and their cultural history. I look forward to meeting you and taking you there.

Tomo Akiyama - Freelance wildlife researcher, photographer, and guide

Born in Hamamatsu, Japan, in 1973, I have had a great interest in wildlife since childhood. After studying biology at ICU in Tokyo, in 1994 I won a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship to New Mexico State University, USA, to study wildlife management.

I moved to Kyoto in 1996, and lived there for 5 years. During that time I studied the behaviour and ecology of the masked palm civet for a masters degree at Kyoto University.

Since 2000, I have worked as a freelance wildlife researcher, mainly analyzing the environmental impact of public construction projects, travelling throughout Japan researching wildlife.

I have been fortunate enough to encounter wildlife in many countries other than Japan. I have had great sightings, for example, of lions, cheetahs, and a leopard in Kenya, clouded leopards in Malaysia, jaguars in Costa Rica, and tigers in India.

In 2005 I guided a tour - during an International Mammal Conference - of the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture in the far north of Honshu Island, where the group studied snow monkeys and Japanese serow.

In the winter of 2009-10 I will travel to Pakistan on a photography project in search of snow-leopards.