Aliise was born in Latvia and was raised in a bilingual environment. She is a member of the Tendai Buddhist sect and earned her PhD from Tohoku University in 2018 for her study of Jizō statues in modern Buddhist temples. She is now a researcher of modern Japanese Buddhism, and shares her passion of linguistics as a lecturer at Tohoku Gakuin University. Passionate about music, literature, and travel, she prefers to travel on foot or by bicycle. She is the mother of a wonderful child and grateful for the support of her husband, a photographer and devoted bird watcher.

Amalin was born and raised in Malaysia. She is now an undergraduate student at Yamagata University, majoring in political studies. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and traveling.

Anh-Duc is a German exchange student studying at Tohoku University. Since coming to Japan, he really fell in love with the Tohoku region and is trying his best to promote this hidden gem! You can follow him on Instagram and on his YouTube channel where he regularly uploads videos about the region.

Chris was born and raised in New York City. In 2014, he decided to move to Sendai to teach English, where he has since begun a family. In his free time, he likes to spend hours browsing the aisles at Book Off!, catch up on current cinema and draw pictures of Anpanman for his daughter. When he needs to get away from it all you can find him throwing his money away at any of the game centers along Sendai’s Clis Road.

Christina was raised in Oahu, Hawaii. She lived in Tome, Miyagi for 3 years, teaching English at elementary schools and kindergartens through the JET Programme. Active outside school, she played volleyball, danced on a Yosakoi team, participated in international exchange activities with the Tome International Friends Association, cafe hopping, and traveled Japan. Her favorite thing about Miyagi is the people. She says the Tome community is friendly and caring towards everyone, like one big family always happy to welcome more members.

Craig comes from Atlantic Canada. His life has been based in Miyagi since 2002, when he moved here to work as a teacher at one of Sendai’s eikaiwa schools. Since then, his career as a teacher has developed, mainly around universities in Sendai, but he is also a professional editor of academic prose and of web contents. Living happily with a Sendai-born wife-partner, Craig enjoys all the mountain biking he can manage in his spare time, and he takes part with a small crew of close friends who go sailing at weekends around Matsushima Bay.

Davide was born in Rome, Italy. He has always been driven by his passion for Japan and its culture. With a master’s degree in Japanese studies from La Sapienza University of Rome, and one in Japanese intellectual history from Tohoku University, Davide is currently continuing his studies in the city of Sendai while promoting the local area through his YouTube Channel Vivi Giappone.

Evelyn is an Australian currently living in Miyagi, Japan. She enjoys hiking, photography, ramen, and playing the koto. Her favourite things in Miyagi are the beautiful views of the Pacific, and the delicious nihonshu and oysters!

Flavia is an Italian researcher of cultural studies who has been living in Japan since 2011. Her study of the cultural memory of disasters brought her to Tohoku, where she has been researching post-disaster kataribe storytelling. She currently works for Tohoku University as an assistant professor at the International Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS).

Erzsebet (Liz) was born in Hungary. Lived in Sendai and now in Fukuoka. Studied tourism and a certified tour guide. Works with young kids, teaching them English and some gymnastics. In her free time she travels as much as she can and shares it on Instagram. When her time allows she also edits her videos for YouTube. Cooking(baking) for others and sharing Hungarian food is something that makes her happy. And if her time allows she loves lifting some weights and visit specialty cafes to sip on a cappuccino.

Jack worked as an ALT in Ogawara town in southern Miyagi for five years. While there, he learned to play the koto and shamisen, and discovered a love of onsen, skiing, hiking and road tripping around Tohoku. He is from Canberra, Australia and has returned there to earn a master’s degree in teaching.

Originally from Durban, South Africa, Jason moved to Shichikashuku, Miyagi in 2016 to work as an assistant language teacher. He relocated to Tokyo in 2019, where he now works as a recruitment consultant, but still considers Miyagi a home away from home. He enjoys art exhibitions and street photography, and volunteers with language and cultural exchange organizations in his free time.

Jess has been living in northern Japan for close to six years. Although the Australian in her still struggles with the cold winters, the incredible nature, food and people of Sendai and the Tohoku region have become her second home. She currently works as a guide for a local travel company. When not traveling, you will find her sipping sake in one of Sendai’s back-alley bars or hiking a nearby mountain.

Justin is very much at home in Tohoku. Originally from San Francisco, he has studied in Akita, taught English in Miyagi, and worked for the government in Fukushima. Justin currently lives in Tohoku’s largest city, Sendai, where he works as a section manager for the Sendai Experience Program. His hobbies include learning about local history and sipping regional sake.

Luke has lived and worked in Shinchi, Fukushima since 2014. Originally from Chicago, his interest in Japan was sparked by an appreciation of good tea and travel. When he’s not teaching English, he loves taking long bike rides through the Fukushima countryside and playing video games.

Marija, originally from Vancouver, Canada, worked as an ALT in Shiogama through the JET Programme. During her time in Japan, she also volunteered as a trip planner for tours around Miyagi with the Miyagi JET Association. She vividly recalls a recovery tour to Minamisanriku and Rikuzentakata where she was able to hear stories told directly by disaster survivors themselves. That prompted her to reflect that we don’t spend enough time practicing gratitude and being truly happy with what we have. She says, “The beauty of Miyagi is in its people.”

Monder is a travel blogger and video maker from Algeria. He’s been living in Miyagi since 2015, sharing different stories and trips from northern Japan in both English and Arabic.

Najwa came to Japan ten years ago from Malaysia, when he got the chance to further his studies in engineering thanks to a scholarship from Yamagata University. But his true passion was Japanese culture and of course, manga and anime. Though he worked in Tokyo as an engineer for a while, he soon returned to Yamagata as he felt no other place in the world made him feel more at home. Passionate about promoting Tohoku to the world, he is now charge of Iaido Original Experience promotion and guidance for inbound tourists. In his free time, he loves to do snow sports.

Natasha is a PhD Candidate https://esd.sites.olt.ubc.ca/people/natasha-fox/ at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada where she studies gender and sexuality in the context of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. She called Japan home for ten years and has lived in Kanagawa, Nagano and Miyagi prefectures with her wife Akiko and their two sons, Jasper and Julian.

Nishant is an American who worked at the Tourism Bureau in Kesennuma. He originally came to Japan on the JET Programme in 2014, and transitioned into the travel industry in 2017. Nishant says “If you’re interested in doing a real, local food tour in Miyagi, please feel free to reach out to me anytime!”
Stay up to date through his blog or Instagram.

Parimah was born in Tehran, Iran. She graduated from Tehran University. She has always been fascinated by Japanese culture and language. Her interest in Japan brought her to Japan as an exchange student. Now, she is continuing her studies at Tohoku University as a PhD student. She loves traveling—her wanderlust makes her pack her bag and hit the road whenever she has the chance.

Originally from North Carolina in the United States, Rebecca currently lives and works as a JET Programme ALT in Kesennuma. There, she enjoys local cuisine made from the freshest seafood and the stunning ocean views.

Raised in Pennsylvania in the United States, Roger moved to Miyagi in 2014 to help with the post-tsunami recovery effort. He worked for the Town of Matsushima for three years in the tourism division as their first JET Coordinator for International Relations, and was named Matsushima Global Ambassador at the end of his term. In 2018, Roger became the first editor for Visit Miyagi as part of his work to promote Tohoku working with Communa, Inc. Today he resides in the Tokyo area and works to support Japan’s transition from coal to clean energy. In his free time, he enjoys photography and making videos about the people and landscapes of Japan.

Sarah comes from Texas, USA and has been living in Japan since 2007. She loves that there is always something new to learn and experience in Japan and that every season offers something interesting. She enjoys traveling, volunteering, and snowboarding.

Sat has travelled back and forth between his hometown of Montreal, Canada and the Philippines throughout his life. Now, he calls Japan his third home, working as an ALT in Shiogama through the JET Programme. Sat has restlessly dabbled in every possible form of art since childhood—as an illustrator, designer, photographer, writer, even a radio DJ—all before finally discovering his true joy: helping and supporting kids and grown-ups as a teacher. Whenever he finds free time, Sat enjoys travelling, drawing, and enjoying delicious local coffee.

Surie Vixaysakd is from Seattle, Washington and worked as an ALT in Tome City from 2015 to 2018. There, she enjoyed practicing kyudo (traditional Japanese archery), volunteering with Tome International Friends Association, and eating all the local delicacies Miyagi had to offer. Her fondest memory from her time in Miyagi was participating in the Tome City Dontosai Festival.

Tito is an amatuer landscape gardener and scientist with a teaching gig from the US of A. As the self-proclaimed “Ramen Guy of Kitakata”, he dreams of tasting every ramen from the supposed 100 ramen shops of Kitakata and has been working on said dream since 2012.

Tyler hails from southern California and currently resides in the seaside town of Shichigahama, where he works as a Coordinator for International Relations at the Shichigahama Kokusaimura International Event Center. While Tyler’s work is largely comprised of coordinating Shichigahama’s sister city relationship with Plymouth, Massachusetts, his other responsibilities include graphic design work and the implementation of the town’s plan to develop a globalized community. Tyler enjoys exploring Miyagi’s great outdoors through his love of hiking and snowboarding.

The Visit Miyagi team consists of English-speaking staff members from the Miyagi Prefectural Government. The VM team also runs the official Visit Miyagi Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Wesley was raised in rural southern Oregon in the United States. She first moved to Japan in 2012 to teach English and help with recovery efforts related to the Fukushima Daiichi partial nuclear meltdown. In 2016 she moved to Miyagi, where she worked for Communa Inc. and ran Sendai Motions (Instagram @sendai_motions), an online magazine about Sendai City and Tohoku travel. Spending time in the Japanese countryside feels like a return to her country roots. She spends as much of her free time as possible outdoors hiking, camping, snowboarding, and cycle touring.  All that exercise gives her an excuse to pursue her other passion: food and cooking.

Xander is a photographer and writer from Somerset, UK. He lived in Murata town in the south of Miyagi for five years, working as an English teacher through the JET programme. During this time he often had the opportunity to travel and photograph Miyagi and the wider Tohoku region. He was an active member of a suzume odori (traditional sparrow dancing) group, taking part in Sendai’s Aoba Matsuri festival. His favourite things about Miyagi are the food, the people, all the colours of each season and snowboarding in the winter.