Junko Tabei

Junko Tabei (1939 – 2016) was a Japanese mountaineer. She was well known as the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, located between Nepal and China, and the first woman to ascend all the Seven Summits by climbing the highest peak on every continent.

Google Doodle honors Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Mount Everest

Google Doodle is celebrating Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei on her 80th birthday. Tabei was the first woman to summit Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak, in 1975. Before her death in 2016, Tabei also became the first woman to conquer the "Seven Summits," the highest mountains on all seven continents. That list includes Kilimanjaro in Africa, Denali in North America, Elbrus in Europe, Aconcagua in South America, Carstensz Pyramid in Australia (it's technically in New Guinea), Vinson in Antarctica and Everest in Asia.

Tabei is celebrated for breaking stereotypes about women, both in her culture and internationally. "Most Japanese men of my generation would expect the woman to stay at home and clean house," Tabei said in a 1991 interview, according to the Japan Times. And When asked for advice on her achievements Tabei famously said “Do not give up. Keep on your quest.”

Famous for

 The first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest

Where was Junko Tabei born?

Junko Tabei was born on 22 September 1939 in Miharu, Fukushima, Japan. She holds a Japanese nationality and belongs to Asian ethnicity. She was born as the fifth daughter in a family of 7 children although her family's information is not currently available and is still under evaluation. She began mountain climbing at the age of 10, going on a class climbing trip to Mount Nasu although she was considered a frail, weak child. Regarding her education, she attended high schools and also had a few mountain climbings during high school. She was interested in more climbing but her family did not have enough money for her expensive hobby.  Later from 1958 to 1962, Tabei graduated from the Showa Women's University where she studied English literature and education and was a member of the mountain climbing club.

How tall is Junko Tabei?

Junko Tabei was 5ft tall with a weight of 41 kg. Moreover, she had black eyes and black hair. Further information regarding her body measurements will be added soon.

Career of Junko Tabei

• After graduating, Tabei formed the Ladies Climbing Club: Japan (LCC) in 1969.
• Tabei later stated that she founded the club as a result of how she was treated by male mountaineers of the time.
• During this time, she climbed mountains such as Mount Fuji in Japan and the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps.
• By 1972, Tabei was a recognized mountain climber in Japan.
• Tabei's LCC contained a team known as the Japanese Women's Everest Expedition (JWEE), headed by Eiko Hisano, that would attempt to summit Mount Everest and After Tabei and Hiroko Hirakawa successfully summited Annapurna III on 19 May 1970, LCC decided to tackle Mount Everest.
• Tabei helped to find sponsors for the expedition and she was able to obtain last-minute funding from the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and Nippon Television, however, they still had to pay an amount that was almost equal to Japan's average salary. 
• In 1975, After a long training period, the team began the expedition and traveled to Kathmandu.
• In early May, while climbing Everest Tabei lost consciousness for approximately six minutes until her sherpa guide dug her out.
• On 16 May 1975, Twelve days after the climbing Tabei with her Sherpa guide, Ang Tsering, she became the first woman to reach the summit of Everest.
• As a result of her success, Tabei was showered with attention: she received messages from the King of Nepal and the Japanese government.
• Then, In the 1990–91 season, Tabei reached the summit of Mount Vinson, Antarctica's highest mountain.
• On 28 June 1992, she summited Puncak Jaya in Indonesia and thus became the first woman to complete the Seven Summits.
• Besides, Tabei worked on ecological concerns; in 2000, she completed postgraduate studies at Kyushu University focusing on the environmental degradation of Everest caused by the waste left behind by climbing groups.
• Tabei was also the director of the Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan, an organization working at a global level to preserve mountain environments.

Junko Tabei was married to Masanobu Tabei who is also a mountain climber in 1965. They first met while climbing in Japan. The couple also had two children: a daughter, Noriko Tabei, and a son, Shinya Tabei.

Junko Tabei, First Woman to Conquer Everest, Dies at 77 

Junko Tabei, a Japanese mountaineer who became the first woman to climb Mount Everest and to ascend the highest summit of every continent, died on Oct. 20, 2016, in a hospital in Kawagoe near Tokyo at the age of 77. The cause was stomach cancer as her husband, Masanobu Tabei, wrote on her website. Tabei was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer in 2012 and but she remained a fervent mountaineer, her family said. 

Some of her motivational Quotes

• “Even if it is hard, you can reach Japan’s highest peak if you climb step by step,” 
• “climbing the mountain is its own reward.”
  
• “I never felt like stopping climbing, and I never will.”