Junko Ishibashi was born in 1939, the fifth daughter in a family of seven children in the small town of Miharumachi, in northern Japan. In 1958 she enrolled in Tokyo's Showa Women's University, graduating in 1962
She founded the Ladies Climbing Club in 1969 and reached the summit of Everest on May 16, 1975, as the leader of the climbing party of an all-female Japanese team.
In 1992, she also conquered the so-called "Seven Summits" becoming the first woman to scale the highest mountains on seven continents. The seven summits comprise Kilimanjaro, Denali, Elbrus, Aconcagua, Carstensz Pyramid, Vinson and Everest.