Hi, I am Takuya from Japan. Until last year I lived in the Netherlands for five years for my doctoral study. My research was to reveal function of cells and genes in brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Afterwards I had a gap for two years in Japan and traveling in Japan and around the world (China, India, Alaska...). Now I am back to the Netherlands for another research project. My hobbies are wandering in nature, camping, any kinds of sports, especially rock climbing. I like to connect with people, which always makes me happy! I am an open-minded, easy-going person, and I always like to meet new people to exchange experiences :) I also like cooking, so we can cook Japanese food together.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

When I travel somewhere, I prefer meeting people who are there and talking/experiencing their lives there to just visiting some touristic places.

Interests

I do like sports/exercises. I do climbing or bouldering sometimes. In Groningen there is the highest climbing tower in Europe, which is 37 meters high. I did rock climbing outside (lead climbing) in Colombia, too. I like nature, so I sometimes go camping by myself, or just make a small campfire in my neighborhood.

Recently I started to play guitar (still beginner tho, almost two years) so I am more into music now :)

• cooking
• bouldering
• hiking
• camping
• nature
• local food
• climbing
• local life

Music, Movies, and Books

Book author - Michio Hoshino (a Japanese photographer who lived in Alaska)
Movie - Pitch Perfect series, Shoplifters (a Japanese movie)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Traveled to more than 20 countries
Did a 42km full marathon
Got a very friendly middle finger hand sign of a Dutch guy when I practiced driving in the Netherlands and stopped the car in the middle of the street
Climbed the 37-meter high climbing tower in Groningen
Did a volunteer work to teach English in Colombia (workaway)
Did open-water diving course in Colombia
Climbed and reached at the 5000m high summit in Peru
3-day mountain hiking with 14kg backpack in Japan

What I Can Share with Hosts

Cooking Japanese food? Talking a lot? Play music together? My smile for sure :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Italy, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, Netherlands, United States