Profile
Born in 1966 in France, I graduated from Lyon National University with a degree in classic Japanese literature.
After working for 18 years as a columnist writing in Japanese for the Shinano Mainichi newspaper, I am working now as a freelance journalist and an inbound tourism consultant giving lectures about tourism to local people, translating guidebooks, and guiding tourists around Nagano.
Also, since 2010 I have been an advisor for the Togakushi Tourism Bureau. I have been living in Nagano for a long time and I am such a big fan of Togakushi, that my husband and I decided to establish our home here.

What brought me here ?
First, I should say that it was the magnificent Togakushi mountain range itself. There is something magnetic about these mountains. When I lived in Nagano city, I came to Togakushi almost every weekend. The landscape was so different every time we visited, that my husband and I simply have not grown tired of it even after all these years. At an altitude of 1,200 meters, our home is surrounded by a deep forest that envelopes the Togakushi Pilgrimage route to Okusha Shrine. The air is pure, the light is transparent, and the area is incredibly rich in flora and fauna. And of course, the local people are very kind. For all of that, I am deeply grateful.
Winter and green season offer a lot of outdoor activities such as snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, bird watching, or hiking. Fill your days with fun or just immerse yourself in the beautiful nature, both are waiting for you here.
Please feel free to contact me at englishinfo@togakushi-21.jp. It would be my pleasure to welcome you at our Tourist Information Center.

For people with disabilities

The Togakushi Tourism Association aims to create a tourist destination that everyone, including people with disabilities can feel comfortable visiting. We therefore decided to establish The Togakushi Universal Tourism Desk in the Tourist Information Center.
We have been discussing how we can welcome people with disabilities to this beautiful rich natural plateau, the Togakushi Highland. In order to welcome people who need more personalized consideration and support, we received dedicated training and opened a specialized consultation desk.

At our consultation desk, we provide travel information and accommodation according to an individual’s physical condition. We rent wheelchairs for outdoor use, dual skis, and welfare equipment, and can dispatch specialized guides and caregivers.
You can enjoy wheelchair trekking or camping in the historic and rich nature of Togakushi. You can also enjoy skiing amid our spectacular winter scenery. The dual ski is operated by a qualified pilot here at Togakushi Ski Resort.

I am Tatsu, a staff member at the tourism desk and a wheelchair user myself. I also enjoy riding an outdoor wheelchair in Togakushi Highland. I recommend wheelchair trekking from Togakushi Botanical Forest Reserve to Zuijinmon gate or from Togakushi Campsite to the Togakushi Bokujo pasture trekking course.
We can bring a wheelchair or welfare equipment up to where you want to use them. I am always grateful when people contact and consult with us.

We will support your special needs as much as possible.
Please feel free to contact us by email at englishinfo@togakushi-21.jp

My husband and I decided to move here because of the beautiful nature. We have always lived in the cities but enjoyed going to the mountains to just get away for the weekend. We could immediately tell the air was fresh and the water tasted so delicious. Before the move, our dog was diagnosed with a liver disease and was not expected to live for more than a month. He had a major surgery and his belly and arms were shaved for his incision area and his IV catheter placement. We fully expected for him to be gone before we settled in. But he lasted for over a year! Our neighbors had no idea he was dying. He was so full of energy. They thought he was a weird breed because of his interesting coat with his shaved hair never growing back. (Normal healthy dogs grow back their hair in couple of weeks.) We believe that it was the air, water and all the nature of the mountains that perked him up for another full year.
We have been living here for 7 years now and to this day, every time I drive back up to our mountains and see the view of the cities below, or being at eye level with the clouds, I thank God for letting us live here in such a place.
I work in a small gift and cafe shop by Kagami Ike (Lake) called Donguri House. I feel so blessed to be able to work here. The view of the lake and the Togakushi Mountains behind it is just amazing. I get to see the slow and peaceful change of the seasons everyday I am working. You can really see, hear and feel the rhythm of the nature. I especially love when a customer comes to the cafe with a book or a sketchbook in hand and ordering a cup of coffee, sits and draws, sketches or reads and taking in the view of the lake and the mountains. You can see their body just relaxing. I am sure they were able to catch that rhythm.
When I am there, late afternoon is my most favorite time of the day to take a peak outside. The sun just hits the trees, Kagami Ike and The Nishi Peak-Togakushi Mountains perfectly and it is beautiful. Everything is sparkling just so. Even when the day has been so busy and you have been running on your feet all day long, it is a nice time to take a deep breath and let it all out and take in that beautiful moment God has provided for you.
If you need a place to get away, then come to the mountains and spend a day being surrounded by the sounds of the birds and other wildlife, trees, wild seasonal flowers, lakes, hills and mountain air and great views. Just do make sure you stop, be still and then take them all in. I am sure you will feel the rhythm of the seasons as well.