SPEAKERS

Yasunaga Ogita

North Pole explorer

Born in Aikawa, Kanagawa Prefecture in 1977 currently living Takasu, Hokkaido Prefecture.

He has deepened interactions with Inuit, who lives in the Arctic Region. He has seen the dramatic change of Pole Ocean, which is remarkable these days, and the actual condition of global warming. He has conducted environment researches with Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and university laboratories. He is a rare Japanese individual who can talk about global warming and sea-ice decline in North Pole through not only science theories but also his experience.

In 2000, he participated in “the Adventure Walk to North Magnetic Pole,” which was hosted by adventurer Mitsuro Oba, succeeding in trekking 700 km from Resolute of Canadian Arctic Region to North Magnetic Pole.

In 2002, he accomplished a 700km unassisted trek from Resolute to Grise Fiord.

Since then, he has done a 2000 km dog sled crossing on the ice sheet from Siorapaluk to Ammassalik in Greenland, a 1000 km solo trek without any supplies from Resolute to Cambridge Bay, a 700 km solo trek without any supplies from Resolute to North Magnetic Pole, and so on. In 2012, he challenged a solo trek with no access to supplies from Resolute to North Pole, which no one in Japan and only two people in the world have ever achieved. However, he retreated along the way. In 2014, he made the second attempt, but he pulled back at the point of 86°21’89.8” N. and 68°38’40.1” W.

Yasunaga Ogita has appeared in many TV and radio programs such as “NHK Special (NHK General)” and “Earth TV El Mundo (NHK BS).”