Nationality: UK
Time Living in Japan: 12 years
Employer: Cycle Osaka / Studio Escape
Current Job Title: Founder
Areas of Expertise: Inbound tourism, outdoor travel, live entertainment experiences
Education: BA Politics (University of Liverpool) MA Linguistics (University of Leicester)
Language Ability: Native English, conversational Japanese
Favorite Thing About Living in Japan: The sense of safety and security my family are able to enjoy on a daily basis, and the ridiculously good public transport. Simple things!
Favorite Place to Visit in Japan: The snowy mountains of Nozawa Onsen (Nagano) for skiing in winter and the dramatic coastline of the Tango Hanto peninsula (Kyoto) in northern Kyoto for cycling in summer.
BIO: After graduating from the University of Liverpool (UK) in 2006, Sam lived in various parts of Japan and China before settling in Osaka in 2013 and setting up his first bike tour business (Cycle Osaka). The success of Cycle Osaka quickly led Sam to add branches in Kyoto (Cycle Kyoto) and Hiroshima (Cycle Hiroshima) as well as founding cooking schools in Osaka (Eat Osaka) and Kyoto (Eat Kyoto) as the inbound tourism market exploded. After the pandemic closed the border, Sam switched his focus completely and is now involved as a design, web development and marketing at Studio Escape (Studio Escape), an ambitious new entertainment company in Osaka that creates live action mystery experiences existing somewhere between movie sets and escape rooms, and focusses primarily on the domestic market.