Kei Ito, who runs a mountain villa in Toyama Prefecture, has been toiling to restore a legendary hiking trail celebrated for providing access to "hellish" landscapes that are on many adventure-seekers' dream lists.
The Ito Shindo trail is dubbed "the last frontier of the Northern Alps" and links Toyama and Nagano prefectures. Committing to fulfill the dying wish of his late father, Shoichi, after whom the trail is named, Ito, 46, has tried to re-establish the path on which "people can experience nature directly."
Roughly 10 kilometers long, the Ito Shindo connects Yumata hot springs in Omachi, Nagano Prefecture, at the bottom of the trail and Mitsumata-sanso, the villa run by Ito, which was privately funded, built and maintained by his father until 2016.