Setting foot in the 150-year-old ink shop in Nara, I expected to get my hands dirty. Instead, I learned that my ink stick could outlive me by more than a thousand years.

Frogs playing the shamisen, skeletons in top hats, and a painter jailed for his jokes. Meet Kawanabe Kyosai, the eccentric 19th-century master whose humour still makes us laugh.

Born in India and travelled eastward with Buddhism, Siddham found an unexpected home in the temples of Japan, where this distinctive script has survived and continues to be practiced today.

Tucked away in Gion is Kahitsukan, a museum currently exhibiting works by 20th-century artists, none of them trained calligraphers, who brought their own sensibilities to the art of ink and brush.

Somewhere between 25,000 pieces of calligraphy, I find myself hit by an epiphany that calligraphy is nothing but the traces of the soul. A calligrapher explains why.

The Nara National Museum celebrates its 130th anniversary with a rare and reverent gathering of National Treasures — sacred objects of devotion drawn from across Japan.

The final part of the Wanderer’s Guide to Expo 2025 Osaka brings us to Europe — our last stop.

Our journey continues westward to the Arabian Gulf, where desert kingdoms and coastal medinas whisper the legacy of a civilisation that is long overshadowed, yet integral to the making of the modern world.

At Expo 2025 in Osaka, wanderers are invited on a global journey of culture, creativity, and connection — no passport needed. Our first stop: Asia.

Otome Bunraku is a rare Japanese puppetry tradition that features a solo female puppeteer. Through her skilled performance, stories and myths come to life through a uniquely feminine lens.