Oze National Park with Outdoor Guide Iida Taka / Nozawa Onsen Tours
In Episode 30 of the podcast I speak with outdoor guide Iida Taka about Oze National Park. Straddling four prefectures of the snow country – Gunma, Niigata, Fukushima and Tochigi – Oze National Park is relatively small at 373 squared kilometres however its smaller size is in fact one of its attractions. Known for its lakes, wetlands, moors and marshes, the park is ringed by mountains ascending over 2000 metres with areas of dense forest. As such, visitors to Oze can enjoy varied environments including unique flora and fauna within a confined area.
Taka is an experienced outdoor covering many destinations in Central Japan including Oze National Park. Originally from Izu, Taka’s journey to becoming an outdoor guide involves stints in Australia, New Zealand and Canada before pursuing certification as a guide in Oze – a park she is very familiar with and keen to introduce to international visitors. Based in Nagano, Taka operates Nozawa Onsen Tours in the popular ski resort and hot spring town of the same name. Offering tours that reveal the long history and culture of the village, along with the surrounding environment, Taka reveals a side of Nozawa that many if not most international visitors miss.
We discuss the national park in the first half of the interview before moving onto the tours Taka offers at Oze and Nozawa Onsen in the second half of our chat. For more information, visit the Nozawa Onsen Tours website or Instagram and of course you can find information, images and a map showing you where the national park is on the episode page of the Snow Country Stories Japan website.
Oze National Park is 1 of 34 parks in Japan. It is the second national park we have discussed in detail on the podcast – following on from Episode 25 in which I spoke with outdoor guide Richard Smith about Daisetsuzan National Park – and I will be covering more parks in future. Japan is blessed with a wonderful series of parks – many of which are located in the snow country regions – with most easy to access thanks to the country’s fantastic public transport network.
A very big thank you to Taka for agreeing to the interview, making time to speak with me and sharing the photographs used on this page and in promotion of our chat. I hope this episode piques your interest in exploring the parks of Japan. For more information, visit the following:
Nozawa Onsen Tours / Iida Taka
https://www.arukulatoursnozawaonsen.com/
*all images are the property of Iida Taka and cannot be used without her permission.