Jozankei, Hokkaido ¨C California native , 51, moved to Sappporo at age 19 with his father. He was the first English-speaking radio DJ for FM Hokkaido (now ) and was instrumental in cultivating the snowboarding scene there through DIY videos in the 1990s. He and his wife, Erina, now run a pop-up cafe and soft-serve ice cream business called located at the summit of in the town of Jozankei.
1. When did you first come to Japan? My family had a connection with some friends in Sapporo, and we came together when I was 13. We did a homestay here. I got into skiing and snowboarding.
2. That¡¯s a rare experience. Were your parents previously interested in Japan? My parents were kind of hippies ¡ª not in appearance maybe, but I was home-schooled, and we traveled a lot. So when they ended up separating, my father came back to Japan, and I got to have the best of both worlds.
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