japan – Julian Worker Travel – A few ideas for your next trip in every direction

In the footsteps of Hokusai on Mount Fuji

Katherine Rundell explores the scenes immortalised in the artist’s masterpieces, from the chestnut fields of Nagano to Fuji itself

San Francisco’s Japantown: vibrant, on-trend and fighting for its future

Japanese people started moving to J-Town after the city’s 1906 earthquake and the area still reflects its roots with festivals, food stops and arty stores but its small businesses face a battle against a real-estate boom

Getting the full Japanese experience – in Bangkok

Thailand’s capital, especially the central area of Sukhumvit, is home to a large Japanese community and has some fantastic Japanese bars and restaurants

Stairway to heaven: hiking ancient pilgrimage trails in southern Japan

Mountainous Kumano is the holy ground of Japan and pilgrims have been trekking there for centuries. Shrines, mist, forests and waterfalls combine to create an entrancing hike

Make it a Muji holiday: lifestyle brand to open two hotels in China

Japanese homeware company Muji plans to extend its minimal design concept into the hospitality sector with the launch of hotels in Beijing and Shenzhen

Vegging out: why eating Okinawa-style is the healthy option

Okinawa in Japan is fabled for its residents’ longevity. A fact attributed to a diet of ‘major on vegetables, minor on meat’. Now the island’s restaurants are making it available to visitors, too

Get a kick out of karate at Okinawa’s new fight club

With karate now included in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, here’s a new complex dedicated to the martial art on Japan’s most southerly islands

We’re going on a bear hunt … in Hokkaido, Japan

Hokkaido is Japan’s most northerly main island, an otherworldly volcanic land with eastern Asia’s highest concentration of brown bears. One family are on their trail … in a campervan

Japan’s food halls: the perfect place to pick up presents and picnics

Japanese department stores are places of wonder, where staff greet customers with low bows and the basements are temples to elaborately packaged delights

In the pink: Osaka and Kyoto’s cherry blossom beauty – in pictures

Japan’s sakura (cherry blossom) season gave photographer Will Fearon plenty to contemplate and capture on his travels through the country