Departures of note

Born in Higashikurume, Tokyo, Ikuo Oshima climbed extensively as a member of Nihon University's mountain club. Through that background, he traveled in 1972 to the remote Thule region of northwest Greenland, where he joined the preparations for a North Pole expedition and learned dog-sledding techniques from the local Inuit alongside the adventurer Naomi Uemura. In April 1978, as a member of the Nihon University expedition team, he became the first Japanese to reach the North Pole by dog sled, a feat matched days later by Uemura as the first solo crossing. After the expedition, Oshima chose to remain in the village of Siorapaluk, said to be the northernmost inhabited settlement in the world, where he spent more than half a century as a dogsled hunter pursuing polar bears and walruses, crafting boots from seal skins and rabbit furs, and sustaining a self-sufficient traditional way of life. He married a local woman and was blessed with children and grandchildren. During his final visit to Japan in spring 2025, he reflected on his life while speaking about the Arctic's changing landscape under climate change and great-power pressures. Oshima died of cancer on 8 September 2026 at the age of 79.