MARUKUYAMA
(Marc) マルク MARUKU + (Mountain) 山 YAMA, Get it?
Sometimes going off to wander is the best thing you can do. When I first began going out on little adventures here I would stay pretty close to the tourist areas, hike only the most common mountains, but bit by bit I started wandering a bit further off the beaten path and found some locations full of history, peril, and a real sense of accomplishment. Although safety should still come first, I recommend anyone to "smartly" get out of their comfort zone and take some calculated challenges. Who knows, you just might surpise yourself.
PURPOSE
So what is the purpose of this blog site?
What am I here to promote?
To put things simply, I made this site as a means to create and share my mountain adventure stories. Japan is unique in that mountain courses, even the most rugged trails are generally much more easily accessible and well maintained. So ultimately, I am promoting travel to Japan's lesser known hiking areas. I'm definitely not the only foreigner writing about hiking in Japan. There are probably a hundred other "adventure bloggers", so instead of writing generic trail reviews, I hope to tell stories that can hopefully encourage others to go out and have an adventure of their own.
MY STORY
Who is this Canadian guy talking about hiking adventures in Japan?
I did a year of study at Toronto University, and after realizing their film course was mostly just "film theory & appreciation", I started looking elsewhere, and somehow stumbled upon a University program to study film production & marketing in Tokyo. I didn't have any real preconceptions of Japan and simply came here on a whim thinking, "this will be an interesting experience". Although I haven't cracked into the film industry yet, I have been doing marketing work here for about 6 years as my main job, while making small film projects & writing on the side. I think I've stayed for several reasons; the food, scenery, hot springs, mild winter (but brutal summer), and the general convenience of things. (not needing a car is a real help for a broke post-grad). It's far from a perfect country, but here I've been able to really improve myself and pursue many personal goals. As I finished my twenties and made my way into the early thirties I noticed a sad trend of many friends giving up on their personal goals to put everything into a career job they didn't enjoy. I almost slipped into that route, but the pandemic really shook things up for me, and I decided to dedicate more time to the things I love, such as going on these mountain hikes and telling stories. Ever since I was a kid I have been writing fiction, thinking it was the only place for a truly epic adventure, but lately I realized that reality can be just as wild.