British outdoors/travel writer, consultant and hiker based in Kyoto, Japan.
I grew up in the remote and green hills of North Wales, a quiet and idyllic setting, and still the place I think of as ‘home’. The rugged peaks of Snowdonia were the place where I first developed an interest in mountains, nature and the outdoors – a passion that has only continued to grow.
After graduating from the University of Manchester with a degree in Medieval Studies, in 2007 I moved to the sprawling metropolis of Osaka, a bustling port city in the Kansai region and good base for exploring the country and its many mountains. After well over a decade in the city I longed for a return to the countryside however, and so I now live in a 150-year old renovated farmhouse among the hills of southern Kyoto, where I grow vegetables and fend off wild monkeys in my spare time.
I have written for The Guardian, The Japan Times, Forbes Travel Guide, JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization), Japan Today, Japan Travel, Taiken Japan, Bunkacho (the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan) and Wanderlust Magazine among many others. In between writing, travelling and teaching, I like to climb mountains (with occasional expeditions to the Himalaya) and dabble in photography, and I am a member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild.
I am the main author of Hiking and Trekking in the Japan Alps and Mount Fuji published by Cicerone Press, have written chapters for guidebooks by Lonely Planet and Fodor’s Travel, and I have published a popular guidebook called Must-See Japan. I am currently working on the first dedicated English-language guidebook to Hokkaido, due to be published by Bradt Travel Guides in late 2023.
Tom Fay 