Ojigatake, Okayama Pref. ¨C Fifty or so people, from adults to young children, are gathered around large, orange granite boulders ¡ª some up to seven or eight meters high ¡ª that rise above the hillside¡¯s low-lying evergreen shrubs.

It¡¯s a crisp early November evening in Ojigatake, a small mountainous area overlooking the Seto Inland Sea in the Setonaikai National Park, Okayama Prefecture. Against the backdrop of the setting sun shimmering off the sea below, Nanami Nobe, an 18-year-old student from Saitama Prefecture, slowly makes her way up one of the boulders, gracefully placing each foot and hand on the rock with meticulous precision. Standing below her with outstretched hands in case she should slip and fall are Yuji Hirayama and Sachi Ama, two former climbing World Cup winners ¡ª both widely regarded as the greatest Japanese rock climbers of all time.

¡°The two legends couldn¡¯t climb that boulder on their first try,¡± laughs Masatoshi Hashimoto, a veteran climber from Saitama Prefecture. ¡°And now Nanami-chan just did.¡±

Nobe has been climbing since the age of 10 and has been part of Japan¡¯s Youth National Climbing Team since 2021, where she focuses on indoor climbing and competitions. However, climbing outdoors is a very different challenge, and Hashimoto has been mentoring her in this process, taking her to climbing spots like Ojigatake where she can test her skills with new challenges.

Known as one of the birthplaces of Japanese bouldering, a form of climbing that involves ascending boulders without ropes or harnesses for safety, Ojigatake has been a popular spot for climbers in Japan since the early 1980s. Today, the area is undergoing a second burst of popularity. Athletes like Nobe, Hirayama and Ama, as well as amateur climbers from across Japan, gather here for the Setouchi Jam, a climbing and music festival that last took place between Nov. 5 and 6.

Gou Kitahara is the founder and CEO of Sunborn Inc., an IT company that specializes in helping businesses grow by providing web services, design and content. Somewhat uncharacteristically for a tech company, Sunborn has also organized the Setouchi Jam since 2018. Many of Kitahara¡¯s employees are climbers ¡ª their open-plan office in central Tokyo even has a small climbing wall where employees can train during their lunch breaks ¡ª and it was one of these employees who first approached Kitahara with the idea of starting a music and climbing festival in her hometown, just a stones throw from Ojigatake, in an effort to inject new life into local businesses.

Professional climber and coach of the Japanese National Team, Hidekazu Ito helps a young child up one of the granite boulders on her first ever experience climbing outdoors during the Setouchi Jam in...