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 ...

Sitting in hot spring water surrounded by a snowy landscape is blissfully bizarre. The ultimate confrontation of hot and cold. Onsen, or hot spring baths and resorts such as this, in Sapporo, are an ...

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 ...

I still remember my first time in a Japanese ‘onsen’ (hot spring), in a little resort town called Echigo Yuzawa. My ‘ryokan’ (Japanese style inn) had a private onsen for guests which comprised of an ...

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 ...

There’s never been a person with a clearer vision than Chef Nobu Matsuhisa. From his distinctly delicious Japanese fusion cuisine to the decor in his restaurants, and now to the design of his ...

Taking a nice, long, hot bath has for eras been an ideal way to unwind, whether it is a soak crammed in the tub at home after a hard day's work, a trip to the local sento (public bath) for a leisurely ...