hiking guide service in Japan
Mountain Guide
MOTO
(Motohiro Hayashi)
Who I am and how I became a mountain guide
I grew up in Saitama prefecture, Japan. I was not a mountain man originally.
In 2009, I went to Nepal for two weeks and had a chance to see Manaslu, one of the highest mountain in Himalaya.
The view was amazing, sacred and unforgettable. That piece of experience is enough to lead myself where I am now.
I spent most of my time in trail running in my 20's and shifted to skiing later on. At my last 20's, I went to New Zealand and worked for local guiding company, Ultimate Hikes for a season. I have met a lot of people from diffrent countries and knew that so many people have come to Japan. And the most of them said that Japan is awesome!
I didn't realise that until I had conversations with them. I got hints from the comments.
Then, I started guiding mountain in Japan, now as MMGuide (Moto Mountain Guide.)
I have been working with Fuji Mountain Guides after I got back from NZ. In winter season, ski patrol was my main job. My base is currently Matsumoto city in Nagano prefecture which is the best place for mountain enthusiast. I love this place and want you to know Japan has not only Mt. Fuji, but also other beautiful and fun mountains.
The time is never enough! If you want to spend your time on mountains in Japan, let's do it with us! Spending more time in nature, moving your body, breathing deeply and experience new environment enriches your lifetime, I believe.
Our simple policy
-Keep our safe guiding and make it fun
-Respect nature, people and locals
Certified
Japan Mountain Guide Association - Trekking 1
able to guide any mountains on decent trail in Japan, except for winter.
Wilderness Advanced First Aid
Who is this guiding for?
My guiding tour is mainly for experienced people.
There is nothing technical, but you are required to have enough stamina, a bit of management to treat yourself well, and respect to the nature and people. Japan is still not the destination for international tourists to go hiking or trekking (yes for skiing,) but we do have lots of mountains that allows us to hike and see its beauty in depth and learn what the Japanese nature and culture are like in the wild environment.
What is a mountain like?
The destination in our guiding is relatively high (between 2,000m and 3,000m.)
Depending on the destination, we stay at a mountain hut in alpine area which has limited resources only. There is no mountain taxi or anything that you can take to come back. You need to walk all the way up and down on your own. To enjoy these hike, you definitely need some hiking background. But if you are very keen and fit without any mountain experiences, please talk to us.
Where and when is it?
We have day hike and multi-day hike at my main base, Nagano prefecture.
Day hike takes place all in Nagano prefecture at the moment. It is from mid-May to early Nov depending on a mountain. For multi-day hike, we have a few other destinations besides Nagano. Those are Nikko and Chichibu. The mountains in Nagano are high altitude, so the season starts late and finishes earlier, mainly because of snow. For that reason, guiding at Nagano is provided mainly for summer (July to September.) From my experience, Chichibu and Nikko is better place to go in early summer (mid May and June) and autumn season (late September to October.)
