Australian Expat Publishes E-book on Hiking, Walking and Biking in Nagano, Japan

Dec. 4, 2011 - PRLog -- When his wife obtained a job as an English teacher in a little known city in the mountains of Nagano, Japan, Peter Ninnes quit his high school science teaching job in Osaka and tagged along. They found themselves living in a beautiful valley along Japan’s longest river. However, after the bright lights and energy of Osaka, there seemed very little to do for those who were not farmers or running a local business. Refusing to stay at home and be bored, Peter set out to climb all of the peaks within the city limits, and to explore on foot all of the old villages and towns which have been amalgamated to form the current Chikuma City. The result is this very useful and detailed E-book., which opens up the area to visitors regardless of the level of their Japanese language skills.

“I was inspired to write it by my own experience of hiking around here,” says Peter. “There are some especially breathtaking vistas and many peaceful forests, and the area has quite a diverse history. But at first, I had no idea where most of the trails started, or what most of the interesting sights around the place were or meant.”

With help from one or two available English language brochures, and a stack of Japanese language brochures and web sites, Peter researched, designed, walked, photographed and documented the 20 tours described here. His reasoning was that providing all that information in English would make life much easier for visitors and help them get a lot more out of their trip. This in turn would enhance the reputation of Chikuma City as a place where tourists could access high quality information and have a positive and valuable stay.

"The fact that Chikuma City is only two hours from Tokyo by train means it really is very accessible for a weekend or even a day trip," Peter says. "Not only that, the city has some excellent onsens for soaking in at the end of a day touring the area."

In addition to easy-to-read maps, high-quality color photographs and detailed English descriptions, the E-book includes kanji for key points on the route, advises when to hike, provides GPS coordinates for the starting points, and has hyperlinks to the relevant Google map. Once users have downloaded the book onto a phone or other portable device, they can use it to find the starting point, and then carry it on their hike and check the route as they go.

The book is available on Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/109305.

The book can be used on a range of platforms, including iPhone; iPad; iPod; Windows phone; Android; Blackberry; Kindle; Sony Reader; Windows and MacOS PCs and laptops. Furthermore, a single purchase gives access to the following formats: HTML; Javascript; Epub; PDF, RTF; LRF; PBD and more, and users can download one of each of these formats for their own personal use.

Book review editors should contact the author for a review copy.

For a limited time (until December 24), buyers can get a discount by using the coupon code MK94M when purchasing.

This original, informative and convenient E-book represents an excellent innovation for visitors to the Nagano area. It should be a boon for anyone interested in exploring in depth another side of Japan.

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About Peter Ninnes:
Peter Ninnes is originally from Adelaide, South Australia. He has lived in a diverse range of countries including the US, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. Resident in Japan for more than four years, Peter has travelled extensively in North America, Southeast Asia, Europe, Australia and the Pacific. A holder of a PhD in Education, he has worked as a science teacher in four different countries, has been a university professor, and he now does educational consultancy work in between writing travel books.
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/PeterNinnes