News from Walk Japan

New Tour: East Hokkaido Trek

Responsible Business Award

All of us at Walk Japan are absolutely delighted to have been presented with the Responsible Business award by Julia Longbottom, the UK Ambassador to Japan, at the British Chamber of Commerce’s prestigious British Business Awards in Tokyo last November. We have been running off-the-beaten-track tours in Japan since 1992, helping to revitalise the Japanese countryside through our tours, agricultural enterprise, refurbishing and repurposing akiya vacant property, bringing employment, boosting immigration, and creating a vibrant and inclusive work environment. Walk Japan was shortlisted alongside eight other nominees including Barclays, Standard Chartered and EY Japan. The award only encourages us to raise our game further and do that much more.

A simple open circle, which we like for its sense of continuity, movement and possibility, literally encompasses our refreshed look. We knew that it was a cherished artistic motif in Japan but not its spiritual significance until a more enlightened colleague pointed out that it is, in fact, an ensou; a Zen symbol incorporating a wealth of meaning including a reminder that life is never truly complete, but an ongoing interconnected process.

We like to think the ensou also symbolises our approach to travel: respectful, considered, and focused on the essences of Japan. But regardless of its underlying implicit or implied meanings we just like it, and we hope you do too.