Alena Eckelmann

Originally from East of the Wall and south of Berlin, Alena lived in London for 9 years and in Tokyo for 6 years before in 2011 settling by choice in a small village in the southern part of the Kii Peninsula. She enjoys the great outdoors and gardening, guiding Forest Therapy walks and Kumano Kodo pilgrimages, bathing in a different hot spring on each day of the week and going on road trips riding her vintage Suzuki motorbike or driving her vintage Daihatsu Mira along the traffic-light free curvy roads of this remote part of Japan. She has written for Metropolis since 2008.