Who We Are

Really Rural Japan are a licensed travel agency offering guided, self guided, and semi guided tours on the Nakasendo and other parts of the Japanese countryside.We live and operate right here in Nagiso Town of the Kiso Valley. We have published a guidebook to hiking the Nakasendo, and we simply love life here. We specialise in ancient hiking trails and traditional crafts and getting people truly immersed in the Japanese countryside. Get in touch and give us a visit! And scroll down to read my story.

Michael King Really Rural Japan

  • Mike is the founder and head guide of Really Rural Japan. He is a professional bilingual hiking guide from the UK and guides in the Kiso Valley and Ina Valley. He is also the only foreign master craftsman of wara-zaiku, a traditional Japanese craft that makes things out of rice straw, in the world. He loves to tell stories and dive into local myths and legends. A tour with Mike is not just an off-the-shelf scripted experience but more of an exploration of the Japanese countryside/mountainside with a local, one who is enthusiastic to share with you everything that living in Japan has taught him.

    Skills/Certifications:

    • Wilderness First Responder (80 hour)

    • Licensed Tour Conductor

    • Fluent in Japanese and English having lived here since 2012.

Yuta. Really Rural Japan Guide

  • Yuta was born in Nagano Prefecture, in central Japan. He was raised in Ehime Prefecture, in Shikoku on the west side of the country. When Yuta was young he was always attracted to other countries. Visiting new places, meeting new people, and learning about different cultures motivated him and kept him moving forward. He has traveled around the world, experienced temperatures from 40°C to -53°C and elevations from -40m to 5,893m. During Yuta’s travels, he began to feel like he was missing out on the beauty and rich culture of his own country. Now, Yuta is grateful to call Kiso - a place with deep traditional Japanese history and stunning natural scenery - his my home.

    Skills/Certifications:

    • Japanese as the mother tongue, Fluent in English

    • Certified Wim Hoff Method Instructor

Sachi Really Rural Japan Guide

  • Sachi is a local guide of the Kiso Valley and Ina Valley. She was born and raised in Nakatsugawa, the hub town of the Nakasendo. She now lives in Achi Village, nearby to all of the hiking action. Sachi moved to London in 2006 and spent the next 16 years living there (which is why her English is perfect!). She even married a Brit. She missed the Japanese countryside and moved back to Japan to pursue a life in the country. Sachi loves the country life in Japan and is a real people person. And looks forward to showing you around the area she calls home.

    Skills/Qualifications

    • WFA - Wilderness First Aid

    • Native in Japanese and fluent in English

    • Tour Booking Arrangement Certified

    • Sachi makes handmade fireworks in a festival dating back 300 years. She dances underneath the falling embers each year. Look for small scars on her hands.

Yuki Really Rural Japan Guide

  • Yuki is a native of the Kiso Valley, born and raised in Kiso-Fukushima. As a younger man he spent 12 years outside of Japan living and working in Australia and Liberia, during which time he mastered the English language. On his return to Japan, he became a professional translator.

    Yuki has always loved his hometown and returned home, becoming a guide when he did. He has a deep passion to purvey the beautiful place he calls home to visitors in the Kiso Valley. He sometimes goes by his alias, The Nakasendo Monster.

    Skills/Qualifications

    • WAFA (Wilderness Advanced First Aid - 40 hour)

    • Native in Japanese and fluent in English.

Dan Really Rural Japan Guide

  • Really Rural Japan's guide in the Hakone and Fuji region of Japan. Originally from the UK, Dan has been a lifelong outdoor professional. Working in the industry in various positions as a snowboard freestyle coach, bungee instructor, ski patroller and of course as a mountain guide. He has lived in Japan for over 8 years and now resides at the base of Mt.Fuji. Fluent in Japanese and having a love for the country's history, trips with Dan focus on hiking for stunning Fuji views while including interesting details about the local shrines we pass and folklore of the mountains we can see from our view points.

    Dan's passion for the mountains of Japan and the stories they hold has led him to start guiding in the Hakone area and on the iconic Fuji. For those looking to get off the beaten path in Hakone or interested in seeing japan's highest mountain up close and personal, a hike with Dan is a sure way to get your fix.

A person standing on a dirt path in a rural area with traditional wooden buildings, trees, and power lines in the background on a sunny day.

  • Tommy (Tomofumi) worked for three years as a rural revitaliser in the sustainable and adventure tourism field in Nagiso Town from 2021 to 2024. As a result he knows the Kiso Valley extremely well! He now works as a guide and in the Kiso Valley and Ina Valley and lives in Kiso Fukushima.

    Tommy also runs his own coffee roasting business and is a connoisseur of wine and a beer enthusiast. He studied and worked in Germany for several years and is fluent in Japanese, English, and German.

    Skills/Certifications:

    • Wilderness Advanced First Aid (WAFA)

    • Leave No Trace (LNT) Trainer

    • Japan Cycling Guide Association (JCGA) Assistant

    • Japanese as the mother tongue, Fluent in English, German

A middle-aged man with graying hair and glasses smiling outdoors wearing a black jacket.

  • Chris has lived in Nagano since 2004, and has led regional walking tours since 2017. The cross-cultural outlook of his anthropology degree, extensive travels throughout Japan and internationally, and long familiarity with the local culture all inform his tours. Inspiration also comes from his years of Japan-related writing, which ranges from travel articles to a novel.

    Before moving to his current base of Matsumoto, he spent seven years in Kiso’s Otaki Village, at the foot of sacred Mt. Ontake. He also lived in the Suwa area for 12 years, and is one of the few non-Japanese people to have had a role in Onbashira, the region’s wild pillar riding festival (which also forms the backdrop of his novel). Chris specializes in encounters with the region’s natural landscapes and spiritual traditions.

    In 2014 he co-founded Sangha Shinshu, a monthly meditation group at Matsumoto’s historic Tokoji Temple, which continues to this day. Some of his tours incorporate experiences like mindful walking, shinrinyoku (forest bathing), and takigyo (waterfall meditation).

    Chris currently leads tours on the Ontake Pilgrimage Trail in Otaki Village, throughout the Kiso Valley, and in the Suwa and Matsumoto areas.

My Story

Founded in 2023 by me, Michael, Really Rural Japan is my attempt to do tourism the right way.

I noticed, when I moved to the region in 2020, that there was a demand for hiking tours in Kiso, but there were almost no local guides. My friend, sensei, and legendary veteran guide, Yuki, was the only one. But by that time, it was covid, and there were no tourists to guide. So (while working a full time job) I set about writing a guidebook to the Nakasendo. I thought that, if I did that, I would learn so much about the area, become a great local guide and it would surely springboard me to success. But writing a book would be much harder than I imagined …

A few years later covid faded and the borders reopened, I set about creating my own guided tours to sell. Slowly at first, it worked. I met other locals interested in guiding too, and we bonded in friendship over a common love of hiking and place. As our group grew we worked together. To me, Really Rural Japan became about supporting myself and my friends. Together we were making a living. Making a better life for ourselves in a countryside with few opportunities for us.

In the off seasons though, I returned to my book. In 2025, finally, after 4 long years, and far too many iterations, I self published it using a local print shop. The final product is, dare I say so myself, fantastic. Much to the credit of said print shop!

As inquiries came in, I started to realised that many people wanted my advice, my help with the bookings, the planning, but not always a guide. Also, around that time, I injured my back and became father to a second child. I needed to make a change. So I created a travel agency. The idea now was try to keep the money spent on travel in the Japanese countryside, from leaving the Japanese countryside. We could create tours that no one else could dream of because they don’t live here. We could use our fantastic group of local guides to build semi guided itineraries that would blow you away! There are some large companies making vast sums of money off of hiking tours of the Nakasendo. And a lot of that money leaves this small rural area, to cities in foreign countries. My plan was to do it local and make decent, enjoyable jobs right here. And though we are still an absolutely tiny business, we have just about started doing that. It has never been easy or plain sailing. But here we are.

Looking to the future, Really Rural Japan will endeavour to be a business that is good to its guests, good to its staff, good to its guides. I am slowly writing more books to get my guests further still off of the beaten track. And I am still booking tours, guiding tours, writing books, growing fruit and veg, making things out of straw and raising a family in Really Rural Japan.