I founded Technical Visits International in 2004 after having helped grow and develop the Technical Visits Department of a major Japanese tour operator for nearly 8 years. Looking back, however, I believe the seeds for TVi were planted many years earlier during my college days at the University of California at Berkeley, where I majored in two interesting, but very disparate subjects: Integrative Biology and Russian Language & Literature.  

Always open to new experiences and with a strong desire to see the world, after graduation I took advantage of an opportunity to live and work as a teacher in Japan for three years, immersing myself in a culture quite new to me. This was my first time overseas and afforded me numerous real-life, hands-on opportunities to learn (and to teach) in a foreign setting.  

Following this incredibly valuable experience, my wife Joyce and I spent nearly 5 months traveling the globe learning so much about ourselves and the world in the process, and meeting so many wonderful people along the way.