NPO法人国際自然大学校

About us

Vision

At NOTS, we believe that outdoor education, especially those with an emphasis on active interactions with nature, help develop valuable interpersonal skills, foster genuine relationships between people nature and society and provide an ideal environment for self discovery. It is our desire to work with people who seek to enrich their lives through developing meaningful relationships with nature and others. At NOTS, we call these people OUTFITTERS.

Who we are

NOTS is a non-profit outdoors education organization founded in 1983.

At present, NOTS has four facilities situated in Tokyo, Yamanashi, Gunma, and Tochigi. Our outdoor environmental programs, specially crafted for children or adults, focus on providing hands-on activities, which facilitate holistic personal growth and development.

What we do

Our aim is to provide a natural outdoor environment for effective learning and training, where challenging programs are conducted in the wondrous beauty of the wilderness and maximum learning opportunities are created for instructors, camp counselors and, most importantly, our clients to acquire profound outdoor knowledge and skills.

Our unique outdoor environmental programs, which combined nature learning with development of outdoor skills, are tailored to suit different age groups - children, youths and adults - with the focus of helping those with a keen interest in the great outdoors obtain fundamental outdoor knowledge and skills, at the same time, instill a sense of appreciation of nature in the individuals. NOTS also specializes in assisting schools and corporate organizations with organizing outdoor activities and trainings.

Programs

For Children

Our programs for children are available all seasons. Each program is specially designed to bring the children through a series of outdoor activities aimed at developing their life skills and deepening their appreciation for nature.

KODOMO TAIKEN COURSE

Since 1984, many elementary school children have participated in, and benefited from, the KODOMO TAIKEN COURSE. The program includes hands-on activities such as making arts & crafts, outdoor cooking and fishing, as well as, nature walks, tide and star watching. The KODOMO TAIKEN COURSE is carried out every month.

MORI no YOUCHIEN PROJECT

The MORI no YOUCHIEN PROJECT is a camping program for young children between age 3-5 years old with a "play in nature" theme.Both one-night camp program and more than one-night camp program are available all seasons.

SEASONAL CAMP

Summer is the best season for camping! NOTS' summer camps are thrived with many exciting and fun filled activities - swimming in the river, building tree house, cycling, climbing and crops harvesting - just to name a few. In winter and spring, NOTS stays active with many equally exciting and fun filled activities like skiing, sledding and snowshoeing.

ITUDOKO

Summer is the best season for camping! NOTS' summer camps are thrived with many exciting and fun filled activities - swimming in the river, building tree house, cycling, climbing and crops harvesting - just to name a few. In winter and spring, NOTS stays active with many equally exciting and fun filled activities like skiing, sledding and snowshoeing.

IKIIKI BOUKENTAI

The IKIIKI BOUKENTAI program, started by NOTS in 2000, has given many children with mental-disabilities a chance to participate in, experience and enjoy outdoor activities. The program, which is designed with the children's special needs in mind, includes activities like boating, horse riding and skiing.

For Adults

NOTS has a vast variety of outdoor environmental programs for adults, ranging from the endurance testing 1day-100km walk to the self-reflective solo sabbatical camp.

Our "Satoyama course" for adults is a "one-of-its-kind" program modeled after the traditional life style of Satoyama, providing urban dwellers with the rare opportunity to live like a Satoyama for a few days.

For camp counselors, instructors and directors

We provide training and development courses for those interested in craving a career in the outdoor and nature-based areas.

Training Course for Nature School Leaders

The Training Course for Nature School Leaders targets at nurturing and training leaders to work in nature schools around Japan.

Training Course for Camp Counselors

NOTS has been running training courses for camp counselors since 1984. Participants in our training courses for camp counselors will be equipped with outdoor and recreational skills and knowledge in outdoor education.

For school

NOTS' Project Adventure School Program is an interactive outdoor program for school children to discover and learn, not only about themselves, but their fellow schoolmates and build bonds and lasting relationships with one another through the process of developing individual's personal skills in a group learning environment. NOTS also offers training seminars for schoolteachers.

For corporation

NOTS' provides corporate adventures trainings, with a soft skills development objective, through programs like Project Adventure Corporate Program to help corporate organizations in honing the communication, interpersonal, personal and other soft skills of their employees to achieve higher productivity and greater efficiency in the work place.We provide some corporate adventures, which aim to foster human skills, communication skills through adventure programs such as Project Adventure.

Facilities & Fields

Nots has the following 4 facilities in Kanto region.

• Tokyo office (in Tokyo)
• Hinoharu school (in Yamanashi)
• Niiharu school (in Gunma)
• Nikko -kirifuri School (in Tochigi)

Tokyo School (office)

NOTS' central office is located in Komae city, about thirty-minutes west of Shinjyuku. The school organizes many programs catered to people living in the urban city, such as day camps in the park, seminars and lectures on nature environment.

Hinoharu School

Hinoharu School is located in Hokuto city in Yamanashi prefecture, which is about two hours west of Tokyo.It is in the Satoyama area, surrounded by Yatsugatake Mountains and Minami Alps. The nearest train station is HINOHARU Station on Chuo line.

The school has a Japanese traditional house-style facility called "Shiseikan", a seminar-house, two campsites, PA(Project Adventure) site, and a field with many organic vegetables.

Niiharu School

Niiharu village in Gunma prefecture is a very rural area, about three hours north of Tokyo.Niiharu School was a vacant wooden schoolhouse, which NOTS took over and refurbished into a campsite.

Nikko-kirifuri School

Nikko is one of Japan most famous sightseeing spots. The shrines and temples of Nikko are listed as World Heritage and the Kirifuri Highland entertains visitors throughout the year. There are restaurants, hotels and facilities for leisure dotted around Nikko and hiking courses to the waterfall are available.

Nikko-kirifuri School is centrally located in Nikko city, close to Kirifuri waterfalls and Toshogu shrine. There are about forty cottages and a playing field.

Contact

E-mail ) info@nots.gr.jp * please write a title name "Inquiry about NOTS website"
Tel) 03-3489-6320　*Japanese only