Otaru, a pleasant harbour city near Sapporo famous for its super-fresh sushi, winter snow lantern festival, and well-preserved canal and townscape, is the perfect size to explore in a day.

With the Lunar New Year last Sunday, we have officially ushered in the Year of the Water Rabbit! In celebration, we take a closer look into some rabbit-themed Japan destinations for you to hop over to this year! 

While, like a box of chocolates, we never quite know what the year ahead has in store for us; Japan embraces the thrill of the unknown with its fun, long-standing New Year tradition of ‘fukubukuro’ bags. This month, we’ve partnered with Japan House London for a Facebook giveaway to bring this unique Japanese custom to the UK!

It’s a New Year and with a good chuck of Japan's spectacular fire festivals held in January, we can take a look at 10 of the most famous from across the country and months to come. Permission to fire away!

Jake's first experience with Japan was through football with the 2002 FIFA World Cup. This branched out to cinema as he got older but it wasn’t until starting the Ghibliotheque podcast with Michael Leader that he finally dived into the world of Studio Ghibli and really got to know the country on a deeper level! We talk to Jake about the Ghibliotheque’s second book and his journey on the podcast.