TOKYO (AP) — The first woman to conquer the world's second-highest peak, K2, three times has also summited all 14 of the world's tallest mountains.
But Naoko Watanabe, 44, says climbing is less about piling up records than enjoying an adventure, being happy and experiencing new people, food and culture. She's planning to return in June to her favorite climb, Pakistan's Nanga Parbat, known as the “killer mountain,” with a group of amateur trekkers.
“I’m just an ordinary person who has happened to achieve records while climbing the Himalayas during my vacations,” Watanabe told The Associated Press in a recent interview in Tokyo. “I don’t consider myself a mountaineer.”
In 2006, when she was a student nurse, Watanabe successfully reached the 8,201-meter (26,906-foot) summit of the world's sixth-highest mountain, Cho Oyu, on the Nepal-China border.
It was the first time she climbed one of the world's 14 peaks exceeding 8,000 meters (26,246 feet).
After becoming a full-time university hospital nurse in 2009, she struggled to balance work and climbing, eventually switching to temporary nursing so she could climb more often.
She has since regularly scaled the Himalayas and sees it as a way to regain her peace of mind from Japan's often stressful conformity-bound environment. She now wants to share the joy of mountain climbing with those who need a break.
Watanabe is preparing for a trek in June to Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, the world's ninth-highest peak, which she reached in her second attempt in 2022. This time, she plans to go with a group of amateurs, most of whom will stay at the base camp.
“The Nanga Parbat base camp is extremely scenic and it's my favorite among the 14 peaks," Watanabe said. “I want everyone to see that.” The participants are encouraged to follow at their own pace, freely stop, take photos and talk to the Sherpa guides.
“They are not supposed to be working hard,” Watanabe says. ”I want (the climbers) to be free from the stereotypes and realize that the Himalayas can be fun ... and to know there are more important things than reaching the summit."
Born in Onojo City in southern Japan in 1981, Watanabe was encouraged by her mother to join a kids’ adventure club and started climbing at age 3. She went to an island camp in China, an expedition on the Mongolian grasslands with other children, and climbed a snowy mountain in Pakistan at 12.
Growing up, she said that her passion for adventure and climbing helped her pull through difficult times as she struggled with pressure in Japan to join collective activities and not stand out.
Her medical training has helped during her 31 expeditions over the past 20 years.
“The experience (as a nurse) has become useful in the mountains when I face emergencies and need to make a quick decision on the spot about the weather or my own health conditions."
In her first attempt at Everest in 2011, with the peak just 150 meters (160 yards) away, she decided to turn back when the weather suddenly deteriorated. Her tearful Sherpa protested, saying it was only an hour to the top. But Watanabe said she anticipated a shortage of oxygen in the tank if the weather worsened and slowed them down. On the way back, she lost her sight. They made it back safely, although she came down with pneumonia.
Back at Everest in 2013 on an extremely windy day, the conditions seemed better. Other climbers retreated, but she carefully went on and safely reached the summit.
Watanabe became the first Japanese women to scale the world's 14 highest peaks in October 2024, when she reached the 8,027-meter (26,335-foot) Mount Shishapangma in China.
In July 2024, she also became the first woman to reach the top of the 8,611-meter (28,251-foot) K2, the world's second-highest mountain, three times, an achievement recognized by the Guinness World Records.
Watanabe plans to keep climbing for the joy it brings her.
“I will probably end up climbing (mountains in the Himalayas) about 100 times,” she says. “It would be fun if that eventually becomes a record that I set in my own unique way."
Naoko Watanabe, who has become the first Japanese woman to scale all 14 of the world's mountains that reach 8,000m above sea level, poses for a photo after an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Naoko Watanabe, who has become the first Japanese woman to scale all 14 of the world's mountains that reach 8,000m above sea level, poses for a photo with her climbing clothes and gear after an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Authorities in Southern California on Friday were racing to figure out how to prevent the explosion of a storage tank that has been leaking a hazardous chemical used to make plastic parts, as some 40,000 people were under evacuation orders in the area.
A storage tank holding between 6,000 and 7,000 gallons (22,700 and 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate overheated Thursday and began venting vapors into the air at an aerospace plastics facility in Garden Grove, a city in Orange County, the county’s fire authority said. The tank could fail and crack, releasing the chemical onto the ground, or it could explode, Garden Grove Fire Chief Craig Covey said Friday.
“This thing is going to fail, and we don’t know when,” Covey said. “We’re doing our best to figure out when or how we can prevent it.”
Officials ordered residents in Garden Grove to leave and expanded evacuations orders Friday to some residents of five other Orange County cities — Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster — after being unable to stop the leak overnight on the tank at GKN Aerospace, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft.
No injuries or deaths have been reported, authorities said.
In an update later Friday, Covey said authorities have been able to maintain the tank's temperature, buying time to figure out how to fix it.
Garden Grove is about 38 miles (61 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles and less than a mile from Disneyland's two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders Friday. The city is known for its vibrant Vietnamese community, one of the largest of any U.S. city.
Danny Pham said he was deep in a dream when his roommate banged on his door around 7 a.m. Friday morning and told him he needed to leave immediately. Pham had been working late the night before at a Vietnamese restaurant and had not seen the news.
“It was shocking to me,” said Pham, who lives only a couple blocks from the plastics plant. “I didn’t know how serious it would be. I never knew that a thing like this could happen.”
He left minutes later, grabbing only his wallet and passport, and took shelter at a friend’s restaurant in a neighboring city.
By late Friday afternoon, Pham was still trying to figure out where he would stay the night and worrying that he had only the clothes on his back, possibly for days to come.
Covey said crews have created containment barriers with sandbags in case there is a chemical spill from the tank to prevent the toxic chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean.
Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, the county health officer, said if the chemical heats up, it can release a vapor that is harmful to people’s health. It can cause respiratory issues, itching and burning eyes, nausea and headaches.
Crews were initially successful and were able to neutralize one of two damaged tanks, but Covey said they determined Friday morning that the remaining tank was “in the biggest crisis.”
GKN Aerospace said specialized hazardous material teams are assessing the situation.
“There are no reports of injuries at this time and our priority remains the safety of our employees, responders, and the surrounding community,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We will provide verified updates as soon as more information becomes available.”
Kim Yen, a retiree in Garden Grove, was settling in for the night Thursday when she heard a sirenlike sound coming from her phone. An alert told her she needed to leave her home, which was just two blocks from the chemical leak.
As Yen drove to her daughter’s house in Seal Beach, she worried that others in the local Vietnamese community might ignore or not understand the evacuation alert because it was in English.
“They are family,” she said. “I’m hoping they stay alert and listen to the news and the authorities. This is scary.”
Yen, who is originally from Vietnam and has lived in Orange County since 1980, quickly stopped by her house Friday morning to grab important documents and medications. By then her neighborhood was “a ghost town,” and she was comforted to see police officers going door to door to make sure everyone had evacuated.
“We understand that this is frightening,” Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein said. “But the evacuation orders are in place for your safety.”
Local Vietnamese television stations translated updates from officials and urged residents to take the situation seriously.
Rodriguez reported from San Francisco, Rush from Portland, Oregon, and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City.
Water is sprayed on a tank that overheated at an aerospace plant in Garden Grove, Calif., Friday, May 22, 2026. (Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register via AP)
Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey speaks during a news conference at the Los Alamitos racetrack in Cypress, Calif., Friday, May 22, 2026, about hazmat situation in Garden Grove, Calif. (Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register via AP)
