Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Some time when I was 10 or 11, my English teacher asked the class to write a haiku around the theme of ...

A cornerstone of Japanese culture, onsen runs the gamut—but these destinations in Kyoto, Tokyo, and across the countryside ...

Located on the western side of the often overlooked island of Shikoku is the ancient bathhouse town of Matsuyama. The small city is steeped in history and is perhaps most famously known as the place ...

When you think of Japan, two things may come to mind: beautiful onsen and delicious green tea. You can easily experience each of them around the country, but there’s a ryokan in Saga prefecture that’s ...

An onsen is a traditional Japanese hot spring, featuring baths that are fuelled by geothermal activity beneath the Earth's surface. These baths, which can be found all over Japan due to the country's ...

We’re nearing the time of year when we might have started planning our winter getaway – ‘might have’ being the operative word, of course. While there’s no real substitute for a hot spring soak with ...

It comes as no surprise that visitors to onsen (hot springs) and other bathing facilities like public baths, spas, and saunas, have dramatically decreased during the past year of the pandemic. Even as ...