Meet the SCCIJ Members

Meet the SCCIJ Members #22 – Mari Nozu, Founder, Luxury Travel Japan

Meet the SCCIJ Members #22 – Mari Nozu, Founder, Luxury Travel Japan

A circuitous route involving DJing in Yokohama and London, an Italian detour, an OL disaster and a mid-life rethink, all led Mari Nozu to launch Luxury Travel Japan.

Meet the SCCIJ Members #22 – Mari Nozu, Founder, Luxury Travel Japan

Nozu’s determination to learn English properly was ignited by a mistake during a homestay in America as a highschooler. Her host mother had arranged to take her on a trip with workmates to Lake Tahoe and told her not to join an afterschool excursion and come straight home.

Not fully understanding the meaning or its importance, she replied “Yes, yes,” and went on the excursion. Realising her mistake and the trouble caused on her return home, Nozu spent the delayed journey to Lake Tahoe mostly in tears, but also resolved to master English.

Following two years at a junior college in Tokyo, where she majored in English, Nozu began working at an advertising agency.

On the wheels of steel

“I was dispatched from the ad agency to work in a DJ box they operated in a shopping mall under Yokohama Station. There I played music and sometimes interviewed new groups and artists for a kind of radio programme that was broadcast to about 100 shops.”

Aiming to further improve her language skills, after three years, Nozu decamped to London in the mid-90s. In a small basement nightclub near her new home and English school in the west of the city, she learned a different style of DJing. When not studying, spinning records or enjoying London, she wrote occasional articles for a locally produced publication aimed at Japanese people living in the city.

“London was so much fun. There were people from so many countries, it was so cosmopolitan. Tourists would ask me, a foreigner, for directions on the street. It was a very different feeling from being in Tokyo.”

Though Nozu was frequently asked about Japan, she was disappointed to realise that many people knew little of the country, thinking of it only as an expensive destination for business travel.

After four years in London, romance took Nozu to the north of Italy, very close to the Swiss border. From there she would often make the short trip to Lugano, attending piano recitals and concerts. Nozu again found some DJ work, but few other opportunities, and returned to Japan after a year.

A very long email

Registering with an employment agency, Nozu’s complete lack of office experience proved to be something of an issue in carrying out OL duties. “I was sent to a trading company and there told to print out an email that had arrived. I should have just printed the new email, but didn’t know any better, so I just pressed print. Dozens and dozens of pages came out of the printer, the whole email thread going back months. I was told not to come back the next day.”

At her next interview, Nozu confessed her lack of experience to the manager, who was understanding and designated an experienced worker to show her the ropes.

Years later, returning to her hometown of Machida, on the edge of Tokyo, to take care of her mother, Nozu took stock and thought about what she wanted to with her life. Making a list of what she was adept at and not, what she enjoyed and was bored by, the conclusion leapt out at her: use her English and organise travel. Through her long involvement with playing the shamisen and koto, Nozu had also realised she realised how much she enjoyed sharing Japanese culture with those from overseas, who were often more interested than her compatriots.

New journeys

In 2014, she founded Luxury Travel Japan, arranging bespoke tours for foreign visitors. “Every trip is different. For example, at year-end I have two families who love Studio Ghibli and want a Ghibli tour, visiting locations that inspired scenes from the anime movies, and also the newly-opened Ghibli Park.”

Among the more unusual tours has been accompanying a Russian family and their entourage for a month on their superyacht as they sailed around Japan.

The interest shown in Japan by her clients is a source of joy. “I’ve had children of around seven or eight years old from the US who have learned to read hiragana and katakana. I was amazed to see them read and understand it. When I was in London all those years ago, I could never have imagined Japanese culture would become so popular overseas.”

Meet the SCCIJ Members #22 – Mari Nozu, Founder, Luxury Travel Japan

Text: Gavin Blair for SCCIJ.

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