People: Junko Tabei
9/22/1939 - 10/20/2016
“Do not give up, keep on your quest.” Junko Tabei
When I first heard of this extraordinary woman I knew I had to share her remarkable story. On May 16th, 1975 Junko Tabei was the first woman and the 36th person to summit Mt. Everest. She was a Japanese woman, the fifth of seven children from a family of modest means raised in Miharu, Fukushima. Junko was introduced to climbing at the age of 10 while on a class trip to Mount Nasu and this was the moment when she fell hopelessly in love with climbing. The seed firmly planted. However it wasn’t until many years later that she began the process to become a devoted mountaineer.
Graduating from Showa Womens’ University in 1962 with a degree in English and a plan to become a teacher she returned to climbing and began her gradual ascent to master climber and mountaineer. She climbed all the major mountains in Japan and in 1969 established an all women’s mountaineering club, the Joshi-Tohan Club. On the Club’s first expedition in 1970 she and one other woman were the first females to have summited Annapurna III from a new south side ascent. She then went on to her successful ascent of Mt. Everest in May of 1975 and following that she climbed the Seven Summits, the highest mountain peaks on every continent. A deep breath, because if that isn’t enough she then went on to work toward realizing her personal goal to summit the highest mountains in every country on earth. At the time of her death in 2016 she had completed 70 summits in all. Junko died of stomach cancer at the age of 77 in Kawagoe, Japan. In July of that same year she led a climbing expedition of Japanese youth to the summit of Mount Fuji.
To say she is an inspiration is just not nearly enough, she is so much more than that. Simply put, a brillant light, a beacon for all of us as we march toward our personal mountains to climb. Her remarkable story helps to remind me that every single dream begins with a deep felt passion that pulls toward something and a first step.
