A press conference was held on February 12 at the Global Hall, Surugadai Campus to announce the recipient of the 29th Uemura Naomi Adventure Award. The award, which aims to carry on the spirit of the late adventurer UEMURA Naomi (an Alpine Club member and 1964 graduate of the School of Agriculture) was presented to YOSHIDA Katsuji, a cave explorer.
YOSHIDA was honored for having explored more than 1,000 caves, including previously unexplored ones, across 30 countries in the past 30 years. Between 2018 and 2024, he conducted three expeditions to unexplored caves in northern Laos, Southeast Asia.
Marking its 29th anniversary this year, the Uemura Naomi Adventure Award honors individuals and groups whose creative actions open up unknown worlds and inspire dreams, hopes, and courage. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the award winners were announced every February at a press conference held at Meiji University, UEMURA’s alma mater. After being held at other locations in the following years, the conference returned to Meiji University this year for the first time in four years.
UEMURA is a world-renowned adventurer known for historic achievements, including becoming the first Japanese person to climb Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, summiting the highest peaks on five continents, and accomplishing a solo dog-sled expedition to the North Pole. In February 1984, he went missing after reporting via radio his world-first solo winter ascent of Mount McKinley (now Denali).
At the Ikuta Campus, home to the School of Agriculture, a monument honoring his achievements stands, watching over the students who set out into the world from Meiji University.
