Outland Japan

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In Episode 44 we travel to the southwest of Japan’s main island of Honshu and onto Tottori Prefecture to speak with Richard Pearce of Sustainable Daisen – an NPO dedicated to the conservation of the Japanese Giant Salamander and the habitat it is reliant upon. Originally from the United Kingdom, Richard founded and operates Sustainable with his wife and with the support of others in advocating for, researching and educating the public about the plight of the salamander. One of the largest amphibians in the world and relatively unchanged for 23 million years, the Japanese Giant Salamander is under serious threat due to impact of human action. Sustainable Daisen is endeavouring to address that while there is still time.

Richard was an engaging guest with plenty to say about the issues he cares about. In an effort not to edit too much out of our conversation, this episode is split into two parts. In this – the first half of our chat – you’ll hear Richard an I discuss the Japanese Giant Salamander and the work he is doing to converse both the animal and its habitat, while increasing public awareness. In the second half of the interview – available in a week’s time – Richard and I continue onto a broader discussion about environmental and wildlife advocacy in Japan and the challenges of doing so as a foreign voice. 

I hope that my conversation with Richard sparks your interest in what he and Sustainable Daisen are doing and that he and the salamanders act as ambassadors (of sorts) for Tottori, and entice you to visit. For more information, visit Sustainable Daisen's website and follow them on Instagram and Facebook. You can also learn more about experiences led by Richard on his Bushido Japan website. I hope you enjoy!

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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Episode 43 takes us to the beautiful Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture to speak with guest, Lauren Scharf. Lauren and her husband live in a 117 year old ‘kominka’ (farmhouse / folkhouse), a home they have restored themselves and as such, they are part of an enthusiastic community of ‘minka’ owners across Japan. In support of that community, Lauren is also on the board of the Minka Preservation Society, an organisation dedicated to the conservation of Japan’s wonderful heritage and historic homes, backed by a passionate community of like-minded owners. 

Extending 100km into the Sea of Japan, Noto Peninsula is known for its rugged coastline, overall beauty, traditional craft, abundant seafood and slower pace of life. In the first part of the interview, Lauren and I discuss life on Noto Peninsula, how she and her husband came to acquire their home and the renovations they have done. Conversation then moves onto the Minka Preservation Society before discussing the major earthquake that struck Noto on New Years Day 2024, and the ongoing impact of that event.

If this episode is of interest to you, you might also like to listen to earlier episodes including 2, 22 and 31 in which I also spoke with kominka owners about their experience purchasing, renovating and living in their homes. For more information about the Minka Preservation Society, visit their website and you can also find them on Instagram and Facebook. You can also follow Lauren through her personal Instagram.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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Episode 42 of the podcast takes us in the mountains once again as we explore Japan’s mountain religion of Shugendo. My guest leading us in that discussion is Dr Caleb Swift Carter of Kyushu University. Dr Carter specialises in Buddhist Studies and the medieval and early modern religious history of Japan, with a focus on the mountain tradition of Shugendo. As such, he’s ideally-suited to guide us in exploration of what I consider to be one of the more interesting aspects of Japanese culture.

We intentionally spend a lot of time in and on the mountains of Japan on the podcast. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, approximately three-quarters of Japan is designated mountainous or rugged. This is a country of mountains where many peaks are considered sacred and I believe that an understanding of the religious context of mountains in Japan amplifies the enjoyment we take from time spent in such landscapes.

In exploration of Shugendo, we focus on the numinous mountain of Togakushi and surrounding peaks in Nagano. It was the focus of Dr Carter’s book ‘A Path Into the Mountains: Shugendo and Mount Togakushi’ and listeners of the podcast might remember, also the focus of Episode 12 – my travel to Togakushi. For more information, visit Dr Carter’s profile on the Kyushu University website.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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In Episode 41 of the podcast we return to Hokkaido and onto its most famous volcanoes as I chat with Chuck Olbery of Hokkaido Powder Guides. Operating for 20 years, Hokkaido Powder Guides offers backcountry, free and customised tours across Japan’s northern island including touring of its most prominent volcanoes – including Mount Yotei, Mount Tokachi, Mount Asahidake and Mount Rishiri.

Straddling the Pacific Ring of Fire, - the 40,000 km / 25,000 mi long tectonic belt rings the Pacific Ocean – Japan is the world’s most seismically-active country while also home to many active volcanoes. Volcanoes have long played an important role in Japan’s history and cultural fabric, and for that reason, I see real value in experiences that take us into those living landscapes. Chuck advocates wonderfully that experience.

For more information, visit the Hokkaido Powder Guides website and you can follow them on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube - you’ll find images and videos across those platforms including some very nice videos featuring Chuck on the HPG YouTube channel. You might also be interested in previous episodes related to Hokkaido including: EP40. Iwanai, Hokkaido: Japan’s Best Cat Skiing & Snowboarding Mountain, EP25. Daisetsuzan: Japan’s Largest National Park and EP23. The God Bears of Northern Japan. I hope you enjoy.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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Episode 40 takes us to Japan’s northern island of Japan to speak with John Greiner, founder of Iwanai Resort. Blessed with Hokkaido’s legendary powder and without the crowds of nearby Niseko, Iwanai is regarded as Japan’s best cat skiing and snowboarding mountain. 

While the lower resort is open to the public, it is Iwanai’s cat operation which has put it on the map as Japan’s best. Mount Iwanai stands 1086 metres / 3562 feet above sea level and offers a diverse range of terrain including open bowls, old growth trees and retired courses of a consistent pitch of 20° to 40°. The cat operation is limited to 24 seats per day with the option of renting out a cat for private use. Delivering guests an average of around 4700 metres vertical of untracked powder each day, their goal is to give skiers and boarders the best day of their lives. 

John and I discuss the resort and cat operation in detail along with why Hokkaido’s powder is rated so highly in the first half of the interview, before discussing the village and accommodation, reasons to visit Iwanai in green season and more in the second half of our chat. For more information, visit Iwanai’s website or follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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In Episode 39 of the podcast we travel to the deep snow country of Minami-Uonuma to speak with Kuwakino Keiko. Keiko is the head chef of Sanaburi, the Michelin-starred restaurant within the renowned hotel, Satoyama Jujo. Awarded that Michelin-star in 2020, Keiko has since gone on to receive a Terroir Award and a score of 15.5 by Gault Millau in 2022 while also nominated as one of Japan’s 100 Best Chefs. Keiko’s acclaimed cuisine draws on the traditional plants and methods local to the Minami-Uonuma area, with ‘sansai’ (mountain / wild vegetables) and ‘tsukemono’ (pickled / preserved vegetables) being fundamental to the seasonal menus she serves to guests.

In the first half of our chat we explore Keiko’s own story and her journey to becoming head chef at Satoyama Jujo before delving more fully into the principles and methods which underpin her cooking and the cuisine she serves in the second half of our chat. In telling Keiko’s story and exploring the principles which underpin her cooking, I hope to promote the fact that some of Japan’s best gastronomic experiences lies outside the cities.

Minami-Uonuma has long been renowned rice and sake – indeed, we have already travelled here on the podcast in Episode 24, Hakkaisan Brewery: Snow-Aged Sake & Beer from Powder Mountain – along with its heavy snow and abundant natural landscape. For more information, follow Keiko via her Instagram or visit the official Satoyama Jujo website. I hope you enjoy.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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In Episode 38 of the podcast we travel just outside of Nagano City to speak with Osaka Gaku, the owner of Solashima. Solashima is a vintage and antique store selling furniture and other items. As Gaku explains during the interview, the furniture and other pieces he acquires and sells range in age, design and condition. In collecting items for the store, Gaku seeks out pieces that are beautiful, unique and bear witness to the struggle of craftsperson that created it. The process of acquiring and valuing that stock takes him in to peoples’ homes and unoccupied houses, and in doing so, into the stories of life and the memory many of these items carry with them. 

The availability of such items, often beautiful yet unwanted timber furniture, ceramics, glassware and more, reflects the reality of regional Japan which is suffering from an ageing and decreasing population. There is often no one to pass these items onto with many unoccupied or soon to be abandoned or demolished homes, full of unwanted furnishings and items that would in almost any other circumstances be coveted and highly priced. I hope my chat with Gaku sparks your interest in the vintage furniture and craft of Japan’s recent past – which is at risk of being tossed out before it’s properly appreciated – and visiting the wonderful, Solashima. Should you need to furnish a home or perhaps clear a home of furniture and items, Gaku is the ideal person to speak with.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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Episode 37 of the podcast takes us to Minakami in Gunma Prefecture to speak with Zack Berman of Momi-no-Ki Lodge. Originally from the United States, Zack and his wife Amanda own and operate the large self-contained lodge in the heart of Minakami – a hot spring town now well-established as one of Japan’s best outdoor destinations. We discuss the skiing and snowboarding available at the multiple resorts in the area – including the celebrated backcountry of Tanigawadake Tenjindaira and more – along with the fantastic rafting and canyoning, hiking and hot springs all within easy reach of the lodge. Minakami remains somewhat off the radar for international visitors but it shouldn’t and I doubt it will for long.

You can get in touch with Zack and Amanda via the lodge website, their listing on AirBnb or Momi-no-Ki’s Instagram or Facebook. As Zack mentions toward the end of our chat, when booking via the official website, enter the code POWDER for a discount. 

This is the first episode of the podcast under the new name 'Outland Japan'. Under the new name, I’ll be expanding the focus of the podcast from just the ‘yukiguni’ or snow country to all of rural, regional and the wilds of Japan. I will continue to focus on the snow country, as I’m based here and want others to discover it, while also exploring those rural, regional and wild areas across the country as we travel outside the big cities to discover a different side of Japan. 

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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I am pleased to announce that the podcast will be returning with the first episode of Season 4 on Tuesday 22nd October, under the new name of 'Outland Japan'. The podcast has now been running around a year-and-a-half, and during that time, I've discovered more and more stories I’d like to bring you, that lie outside of the snow country, in other areas of regional and rural Japan. Under the new name of 'Outland Japan', I’ll start to do just that as I extend the focus of the pod to all of rural, regional and the wilds of Japan. But based in the snow country myself, exploring Japan's legendary 'yukiguni' will remain a large part of my focus as we head into winter 2024-2025.

With that change, I won’t continue updating the Snow Country Stories Japan website. It will remain online for the time being but from Season 4 onward, you can find the podcast at the new website - outlandjapan.com. You'll also find the pod on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube by searching 'Outland Japan'. I look forward to exploring more of the snow country and beyond as we head deeper in the Japanese outlands in the season to come!

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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The podcast remains on a break between seasons but as promised, here’s another shorter, edited version of one of the most popular episodes to date - Finding, Fixing & Furnishing a Home in the Snow Country with Gianpaolo Camplese. This was Episode 22 of the podcast, in which I speak with woodworker and musician Gianpaolo Camplese about living in the snow country and his acquisition and refurbishment of an old ‘kominka’ – a traditional farmhouse – into his family home. 

Important to note that this is an edited version of the longer original episode, in which Gianpaolo and I went into more detailed discussion about how he came to be living in the snow country, finding and purchasing a house, restoring it and his career as a woodworker and musician. You will hear short clips of his music during our chat. If you haven’t already, make sure to listen to the full episode. This edit provides a taste of the longer conversation I had with Gianpaolo, but I think it interesting in its own right while it might also prompt you to go back and listen to the longer, original version. 

Finally, I’ll be making an important announcement soon about the podcast including a change of name and changes to the website. Basically, the scope and name of the podcast will be expanding to all of regional Japan rather than just the snow country. The focus of the podcast will remain largely on this region but we’ll start exploring some other curious corners of rural and regional Japan that lie elsewhere. I’ll make a full announcement soon. 

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.