Continuing the Journey: Walk Japan Joins as Sapphire Partner for the British Business Awards 2026
We are truly delighted to welcome another BBA2025 Winner as Partner to the British Business Awards 2026 - The Nineteenth Evening.
Less than twelve months after CEO Paul Christie stepped onto the BBA stage to accept the 2025 Responsible Business Award, Walk Japan returns to the British Business Awards in a new capacity: as a Sapphire Partner for 2026, marking the company’s first-ever partnership with the Awards.
Established in 1992, Walk Japan pioneered multi-day tours for overseas visitors in Japan with its original Nakasendo Way itinerary, introducing travellers to a side of the country found beyond its major cities and conventional tourism routes. Today, its guided and self-guided journeys extend across the archipelago, while the company remains independently owned and managed, and focused exclusively on Japan. That approach has always been about considerably more than walking.
At the British Business Awards 2025, Walk Japan was recognised for the way responsible business has been embedded across its operations, from supporting rural economies and working with locally owned suppliers to agriculture, forestry, heritage restoration and the creation of employment in communities facing long-term demographic decline. Its tours are small-scale and predominantly work with family-run businesses, helping ensure that the economic value generated is at its maximum for the local community.
The judges also recognised the company’s long-running work on the Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita Prefecture. Formally established in 2007, its Community Initiatives has encompassed farming and forestry, the restoration and reuse of akiya vacant properties, the maintenance of communal land and the creation of local employment. By 2026, Walk Japan employs over 200 people, including nearly 50 in Kunisaki, with the company pointing to wider effects including increased spending in the local economy and growing enrolment at the local schools.
Accepting the Responsible Business Award last November, Christie described the recognition as ‘a lovely badge of honour for the whole team’.
The work has continued to evolve. Earlier this year, Walk Japan change the name from Community Project to Community Initiatives, reflecting regenerative activities that reaches well beyond one part of Oita. The company has noted that, since its beginnings, its tours have worked with predominantly rural communities across Japan, using tourism to generate local economic activity, employment and wider visibility for places that otherwise have little profile as a tourist destination.
Against that background, 2026 has become another important year in the company’s development.
Walk Japan opened a new Tokyo front office this autumn, strengthening its presence in the capital while continuing a business model deliberately rooted in the regions of Japan. It is an interesting next chapter for a company whose growth has historically been closely connected with the countryside. It is making the most of the large, skilled workforce found in the Kanto region while continuing to direct visitors, investment and attention outwards to communities across the country.
Its inaugural Sapphire Partnership with the British Business Awards sits naturally within that period of growth. Speaking with CEO Paul Christie, we inquired:
ーWhat does partnership mean to Walk Japan coming off such another incredible year of success and growth?
‘Walk Japan is all about community and deepening friendships. The BCCJ has allowed us to be part of a much wider Japanese and international group of entrepreneurs, businesses and social enterprises. Because of these connections we can have a much greater impact now and into the future.’ ー Paul Christie
As we approach The Nineteenth Evening, we are once again delighted to welcome Walk Japan as a Sapphire Partner of the British Business Awards 2026.
