A circle of friends connected by gut touch! The “FIST BUMP” corner of the radio program “GRAND MARQUEE” features people who live and enjoy Tokyo in a relay format.
On August 8, story creator Hiroyuki Hikichi of Mountain States Tokyo introduced Max Mackee, founder of Kammui, an outdoor guide, and asked him about Kammui’s activities and the inspiration that led him to found Kammui.
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Living in a dormitory in England, away from parents
Celeina (MC): Let me start with a profile. Max Mackey is a lawyer and entrepreneur based in Tokyo, Japan, who founded Kammui Inc. in 2021, a multi-sided platform that matches users with top guides offering premium nature experiences. He loves backcountry snowboarding and DJing and is passionate about sharing Japanese culture with the rest of the world.
Takano (MC): That’s an amazing breadth, but I heard that you were born in Kamakura to begin with.
Max: Yes, I was. My mother is Japanese, and I was in Japan from the time I was born in Kamakura until I was 9 years old, when my parents were transferred to Europe.
Takano: Where did you go from the age of 9?
Max: My parents were in Paris, but my father is British, so I went to a dormitory in England. It’s a world like Harry Potter, isn’t it?
Takano: Did you come back to Japan from there?
Max: My parents went back to Japan right away, but I stayed in England for a long time. After graduating from university, I continued to live in England and work as a lawyer.
Celeina: Did you go to a Japanese elementary school in Japan?
Max: It was an international school.
Celeina: I see. So there wasn’t much of a gap there, and you were able to live abroad smoothly?
Max: No, there was quite a gap. I was sent to a country I had never been to without my parents, and it was quite a shock. I was suddenly forced to eat baked beans.
Takano: The eating habits.
Max: I think the eating habits are particularly important. I think Japan’s diet is among the best in the world, but it was especially bad in England at that time.
Celeina: When you came back to Japan from England, were there any gaps again? There were a lot of things that bothered me as mixers (laughs).
Max: There wasn’t much of a gap. Since I was in England, I had been working with Kunichi Nomura on “sputnik : whole life catalogue” (a collection of interviews with 86 creators from around the world) and had continued to work on Japanese projects, so I still had friends back home.
Celeina: That is reassuring.
Max: That part was pretty easy.
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Founding Kammui to Innovate Experiences in Nature
Takano:Kammui was founded in 2021, right?
Max: Yes, it was. We launched it a year ago.
Takano: What kind of platform is Kammui?
Max: Kammui’s mission is to connect more people to nature. Nature is originally Japanese culture, and it is also important in terms of health and spirituality. With the recent increase in digital, mental and many other issues, we are trying through our platform to incorporate a little more nature into one’s lifestyle.
Takano: They match you up with people who can guide you through this.
Max: Yes, Kammui is a platform that matches you with Japan’s top guides in various fields, from monks in Kyoto for meditation to “Olympic” skiers, and allows you to book high quality nature experiences in Japan.
Takano: Looking at the website, there are various genres such as SUP (stand-up paddleboarding) and hiking. Among them, there is a genre called “Escapes,” and when I clicked on that, I found a tea ceremony experience, which I thought was a really wide range of genres.
Celeina: Does that escape mean escape from reality?
Max: It means an escape to nature. Not only guides but also accommodations are participating, so it is an experience in nature that includes lodging. There is adventure tourism that the Japanese government is also pushing now, for example, enjoying local food while enjoying nature in Hokkaido, or touring naturals wineries that are of a world-class level. We are innovating experiences in nature so that more people can enjoy them.
Celeina: Listening to you, I feel a strong connection between Max and outdoor activities, when did it all start?
Max: I had been backcountry snowboarding in Europe, but I really got into it when I returned to Japan. I got hooked on the world-class snow mountains in Japan, and through backcountry snowboarding I was inspired by Kammui.
Celeina: The quality of Japanese powder snow is very high, and it’s popular overseas.
Takano: I didn’t know that. From hobby to work, it sounds very idealistic, though.
Max: Yes, it does. From a financial standpoint, I think it would have been easier to have been a lawyer for a long time.
Celeina: It’s hard to make a job out of what you love, though.
Takano: But you have made connections with many people since starting Kammui, haven’t you?
Max: Yes, I have. This is the second time I’ve started a venture, and I’ve been introduced to people whose mission fits what I personally enjoy, and meeting new people is an inspiration.
Celeina: Meeting people. That’s a key word.
Takano: Now, I would like to do a song here. I asked Max to choose a song that we would all like to listen to together on the radio at this time. What song would it be?
Max: It’s a song that I like to play at the end when I DJ. It’s an upbeat song written by two great artists, Brian Eno, a British artist whom I respect the most, and John Cale, who was a member of The Velvet Underground. “Spinning Away” by John Cale & Brian Eno.
