A little about George at The Gentleman Backpacker:
George was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and Canadian father. The family traveled extensively in Asia until moving to Canada when he was 11. Upon graduating from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, with an Honours Degree in History with International Relations, George moved back to Tokyo to work in the financial services industry.
It was during his time living alone in Tokyo that George really began to test the limits of his traveling much more. His seminal traveling “moment” was a two-month, fourteen-country, six-continent, around-the-world journey in 2008. He has kept on traveling since and is up to 44 countries visited now, many of them numerous times.
After 14 years working as a stock trader in Tokyo, Toronto, and New York City, George set out on the road, unsure of his next stage in life. A fateful visit to Santa Fe, New Mexico to take a photography workshop with Nebraska’s Brett L. Erickson opened up an unimaginable path in photography that has taken George from student to intern to tour leader and photography instructor for the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops in less than two years. George has learned photography from great mentors like Arthur Meyerson, Sam Abell, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Eddie Soloway, Amy Toensing, and Kate Breakey.
Why is the site called “The Gentleman Backpacker?”
George’s maternal grandfather was a teacher for 45 years in Hokkaido, Japan and was a great influence on George’s life: as an educator, a mentor, and a role model. Yasuzo lived his life as a true, well-rounded gentleman: respectful of others and appreciative of the arts and sciences and athletics; he was also always very dapper and well-dressed. George has tried to live his life in a similar manner, though in many respects he falls far short of his grandfather’s sterling model.
Although the term “backpacker” conjures many images, both good and bad, this site’s focus is on the pure freedom and love for travel that the term implies. Very few trips mentioned here will be about how to sip your tropical cocktail at a 5-star hotel beach on an island, although George has done plenty of that, too; likewise, very few trips will be about “true” backpacking in crowded hostels, although, again, George has done that as well. Instead, it may be best to think of this site as a hybrid of approaches, for people looking for a certain standard of experience, but are willing to look outside the “cookie-cutter” box for their travels. We’ll talk about adventure and active holidays, destination weddings, food, arts and culture, people, travel tips, top travel stories, etc., with that overarching context in mind.
Feedback and comments are encouraged. Please tell George about your experiences and suggestions, and if you have a blog as well with a post relevant to one of George’s, please make mention of it, and he’d be happy to link to it. In the meantime, this post about George’s Round-The-World Trip is a good place to start reading. Happy travels!
Disclaimer (Apologies for the legalese): All the content on this website is original and created or photographed by George unless otherwise marked. All rights are reserved. George is not sponsored or paid by anyone to give his opinions so he is giving you his honest thoughts always.
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Wow, amazing blog structure! How long have you been blogging for?
you made blogging glance easy. The overall look of your
website is magnificent, let alone the content material!
Hi there. Thank you. We’ve been up and running for about 2 and a half years now. Cheers.