Ken Noguchi

Ken Noguchi (野口 健, Noguchi Ken, born August 21, 1973 in Boston) is a Japanese mountaineer and environmental activist. His father was a diplomat, so he lived in the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Japan. He was often bullied because he was half-Japanese. In 1999, at the age of 25, he became the youngest person (at that time) to scale the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. He graduated from Asia University in 2000, and studied environmental education at Aomori University. Since then, he has worked on various mountain clean-up projects around the world, including projects at Mount Everest, Mount Fuji and Manaslu. His work has had a notable effect on efforts in Japan, where he has given many lectures to promote better environmental practices.