私たちがご案内します！
YES!YAKUSHIMAは経験豊富なガイドがそれぞれの良さを活かしながら屋久島の良さをご案内しております。
スタッフ一同、皆様のご来島をこころよりお待ちしております！
Steve comes from England and he arrived to Japan (Tottori Prefecture) in 1999. After visiting Yakushima in 2008, Steve & his wife moved to the island in 2010. He is the proud father of two daughters. Steve`s outdoor lifestyle began when he was 11 when his science teacher (Mr Linn) would regularly take students out hiking in Northumberland, UK. From then on, hiking and camping became an obsession and it finally led him to fulfill his dream by living in Nepal and undertaking numerous Himalayan adventures. Steve considers the less strenuous life as a Yakushima guide as a privilege and he enjoys explaining the beauties of his home – Yakushima. Steve`s interests are things historical and botanical. When not guiding on Yakushima he makes furniture in his workshop using the local sugi and tends to his chickens! He will be mainly in charge of Forest Guided Tours and Guided Tours of the Island. .
Hiroko moved from Kanagawa to Yakushima with her partner and golden retriever in November of 2011. After her children had left the home, Hiroko decided to pursue an idyllic life in a southern island – Yakushima. She soon fell in love with Yakushima. The idea of co-existing with the beauty of nature, while being environmentally conscious, was a passionate dream since childhood. Having an educational background in tourism in the USA, Hiroko worked in various occupations after moving to Yakushima. She worked in a local hotel for a year; then at a regional vitalization project lead by the Yakushima Town Authority for a little over two years; and finally at the Yakushima Tourism Association for four and a half years. Hiroko now enjoys working with inbound tourists by utilizing the knowledge she has gained through her work experience on Yakushima. Hiroko wants to help maximize the tourists’ travel experience by introducing Yakushima’s most scenic places, the local souvenir shops, explaining the history, geology and culture of Yakushima. She hopes to do so with the utmost hospitality, care and respect for visitors’ needs. When Hiroko is not working then she enjoys playing ukulele, working in fields surrounded by seasonal crops, fishing on tranquil waters and immersing herself in activities related to nature and animals.
Takashi was born in 1991 in Kobe. After visiting Yakushima in 2020, Takashi & his wife moved to the island in 2021. He is the father of one daughter and a cat. As a student, Takashi was engaged in educational support for street children at an NGO in Bangladesh. After graduation, he worked as a social worker for 5 years supporting the social re-integration of young people with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses, including those who had not attended school and NEETs in Japan. Through social worker,Takashi questioned how people can improve their work/lifestyle balance. He began to explore yoga, mindfulness, non-violent-communication, and U-theory, which promotes the personal transformation of consciousness. After leaving the social work company, Takashi participated in a plant medicine ceremony in the Amazon forest of Peru on a journey of inner integration. He experienced that he was living with the consciousness of the earth through the plants, animals, and spirits evident in the forest. After this experience he set out to find a place where he could better integrate with the earth and this is how he arrived to Yakushima. Takashi is currently a nature guide and he organizes retreats and nature camps for kids to visit Yakushima. He hopes to create time for guests to forget their daily routines, breathe slowly, feel the ancient forest through the five senses, and re-connect with nature so as to allow the pure self a little time to come to the surface.
Kouki san comes from Aichi Prefecture in central Honshu (the main island of Japan). He moved to Yakushima with his wife in 2019 and they live with their two cats in the south west of Yakushima in a quiet village called Nakama. Kouki`s hobby is hiking and so he combines both work and hobby. He also has a passion for off-grid lifestyle and he can offer a lot of advice on how to achieve a lower carbon footprint in daily life. Spending time with Kouki san is a therapeutic experience! Going into the forest with him just adds to the aura of calmness. Stress is a concept that he appears not to understand! Kouki san is an accomplished hiker and the safety of his guests is paramount.
Tomio was born and raised in the Kanto region of Japan. He has lived on Yakushima since 1995 and he began guiding on Yakushima in 1997. When he started guiding on Yakushima there were only a few thousand visitors a year. Legend has it that he lived in a barn for the first few years when a friend jokingly said that he could sleep in the barn and Tomio took the offer seriously! He is a highly respected veteran guide on the island. Tomio possesses a great botanical knowledge of Yakushima. He lives with his family in the Anbo area. Tomio lived in Chad (Africa) for a few years before moving to Yakushima and he is able to converse in French using a very distinctive sub-Saharan dialect which always amuses French-speaking visitors! During his time in Chad he was working for an NGO to finds ways of reversing arid landscapes for agricultural purposes. One of his projects in Saharan Africa was to develop a longer-burning wood stove which would help reduce the number of trees to be cut down. He has also spent time in both the USA and China. The environment of Chad is the polar opposite to the precipitous island of Yakushima.
Yukari was born and raised in Chiba in the Kanto region. Chiba is famous for peanuts! After graduating from university in Tokyo, Yukari joined the police force, initially as a uniformed officer and later she joined the criminal investigations department – solving crimes and crime prevention guidance. After six years in the police force, Yukari took a trip to New York which then ignited her interest in foreign countries and culture. Yukari decided to study abroad in the US to acquire language skills and broaden the horizons. Yukari spent two years in Oregon State, USA. Upon returning to Japan, she became a bilingual customer support worker at an IT company and later visited Yakushima on vacation. Fascinated by the wild nature of the island, Yukari decided to move away from city life and seek the idyllic lifestyle and a career where she could fully utilize her language skills. The move to Yakushima was inevitable and she started working as a Yakushima tour guide in 2024. Among Yukari`s passions is a love of singing! Yukari aims (and often achieves) to bring song and joy to her guests – past, present and future.
Born and raised in Chiba Prefecture near Toyko, Miho spent a long time living as a city girl. In 2015, she studied abroad in Melbourne, Australia for a year and thereafter joined an international cooperation organization travelling to Asia, including India, Thailand, and Cambodia. After finally concluding that city life would never improve her well-being, Miho moved from Tokyo to Yakushima in 2022 in order to live a more fulfilling life rather than to merely exist as she had done in the city. Miho is currently active as a dancer upon Yakushima, giving regular performances and now she gives dance and choreographing classes. Along with a passion for wildlife, Miho also has an interest in mediation and spices (usually not enjoyed at the same time).
Born and raised in Chiba Prefecture near Toyko, Miho spent a long time living as a city girl. In 2015, she studied abroad in Melbourne, Australia for a year and thereafter joined an international cooperation organization travelling to Asia, including India, Thailand, and Cambodia. After finally concluding that city life would never improve her well-being, Miho moved from Tokyo to Yakushima in 2022 in order to live a more fulfilling life rather than to merely exist as she had done in the city. Miho is currently active as a dancer upon Yakushima, giving regular performances and now she gives dance and choreographing classes. Along with a passion for wildlife, Miho also has an interest in mediation and spices (usually not enjoyed at the same time).