It has been just over nine years now that we have lived in our Canadian log home at the base of the Japanese Northern Alps. Time has passed by so quickly as we have worked to grow and flourish our business and watched our two children grow during those same nine years. Hakuba has proven to be a fine place to live and raise a family in genuine safety and good health.
With a small-town community spirit that has been more and more open to overseas visitors and foreign residents over the last couple of decades, it is becoming easier for international and foreign families to become part of what was, in the past, a relatively strong locals-oriented community culture. That local pride still survives today and why shouldn’t it with the great accomplishments that the local people have had over the last century? Accomplishments like building one of Japan’s earliest mountain huts on Mount Shirouma (Hakuba), creating one of Japan’s first ski fields, and bringing the 1998 Winter Olympic Games to these mountains, as well as preserving a great deal of natural and cultural heritage — that may be the local people’s greatest accomplishment of all.
Because the wonderful natural spaces and cultural treasures in this area have been preserved, it has become a national and international destination for visitors as well as people like myself who have made this northern gateway to the Japanese Alps home. The local elementary schools allow for creative learning and strong academic study, and are great avenues for sports. During the winter, my son spends about six hours a week skiing, and the local community offers multiple after-school clubs and teams to join that allow the local children to be active and healthy.
I like to think that Evergreen offers local and outside children opportunities to get active in the outdoors and learn more about themselves, each other, and the natural world and cultural treasures around them.
Like many of you I am a proud parent and so happy to see my son and daughter enjoying life and gaining confidence through the activities and opportunities that we have created here in the mountains of Japan. I have been excited to see the leadership that my son has started to show in teaching other children his age and older certain outdoor skills that he has become competent in. Just recently he received his CPR license through Wilderness Alert Japan and is well on his way to being a Jr. Guide at only nine years of age.
Hopefully your children will be able to join him at summer camp here in the Japanese Alps — or maybe with your whole family if you can make the journey up into the mountains this summer.
Dave Enright, Director / Chief Guide
Evergreen Outdoor Center
Hakuba, Nagano, Japan
