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Press Release
Out of Eden Walk Continues Global Storytelling Trek Across the World in Japan
National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek to walk across Japan and close out Asia Rim chapter before crossing the Pacific Ocean for North America
Photo by Hidehiro Otake, National Geographic
Fukuoka, Japan APRIL 28, 2025 — The Out of Eden Walk has reached Japan. National Geographic Explorer and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Salopek has begun walking through the Japanese archipelago after crossing the Korea Strait in the Sea of Japan by ferry from Busan, South Korea to Fukuoka, Japan. Since starting the walk, Salopek has walked a total of 26,442 kilometers of the estimated 38,000 kilometers planned from Ethiopia to Tierra del Fuego.
During Salopek’s time in South Korea he crossed dozens of rivers and two mountain ranges on a 90-day walking route that linked the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan (East Sea). He walked 650 kilometers, penned 15 dispatches including milestones every 100 miles, and hosted an exhibition titled Walking Korea: Cut Pieces at the WilloW Art Space in Seoul culminating his time in the country. His walk through the Korean peninsula was accompanied by several walking partners including publisher Junseok Lee and Korean National Geographic Explorers, Yikweon Jang, Youngrae Kim, and Jun Michael Park.
Next, Salopek plans to walk 1,400 kilometers across Japan from Fukuoka through Tokyo before crossing the Pacific Ocean for North America. He plans to share stories about Japan and Japanese people utilizing his “slow journalism” method; reporting on the major stories of our time while intentionally slowing down to walking speed. These dispatches will range from the plight of farmers, the depopulation of the Japanese countryside, local Ryokans (traditional Japanese guesthouses) and their keepers, the significance of Hiroshima today, Japanese Cybercafes, the perspectives of Japanese people who have decided to leave the city for the countryside, and many more topics.
He will be joined by local walking partners Soichi Koriyama, a documentary photographer, and Rip Zinger (Tomonori Tanaka), a professional photographer and media consultant. Walking partners accompany Paul for sections of the walk and occasionally write a contributing story based on their own practice of slow journalism along the path of the Out of Eden Walk.
“Japan has many world-famous, historic, and popular pilgrims' trails to follow. But I'm avoiding those well-worn tourist paths to wander through the modern countryside and cities of Japan,” said Paul Salopek, National Geographic Explorer, the Out of Eden Walk’s Founding Executive Director and Primary Contributor, “My object is to show that pilgrimages in fact unspool everywhere we look, including past overlooked places, like your doorstep. My mission is to meet Japanese people in villages, urban centers, temples and cybercafes.”
“I am looking forward to joining the Out of Eden Walk as one of Paul Salopek’s walking partners and experiencing the place I was born in and have lived all my life with new eyes,” said Soichi Koriyama, documentary photographer and Out of Eden Walk Walking Partner, “It will be a very useful exercise to practice Slow Journalism, taking note of the details around me and giving more time to things like the smells and sounds I’m experiencing in the moment.”
“National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek has dedicated the past decade and more of his life retracing the human migration trails from Africa to South America to bear witness and record the stories of our time. Paul is uniquely observing life on our planet step-by-step through his unique lens of Slow Journalism,” said Kaitlin Yarnall, Chief Storytelling Officer, National Geographic Society, “With the support of his walking partners we are able to glimpse the honest stories of everyday people. At the National Geographic Society, we often say storytelling is one of our superpowers and the Out of Eden Walk is an example of that power to inform, spark curiosity and connect us across cultures.”
Paul Salopek's planned 1,400 mile walk through Japan will conclude a 12 year, 19 country trail through the Eastern Hemisphere. Next, he will travel by sea across the Pacific Ocean to continue the multiyear odyssey in North America, beginning a new phase of the Out of Eden Walk in the Western Hemisphere. After more than a decade of moving northeast, Salopek will begin trekking southward starting in North America towards South America. Salopek plans to finish the Out of Eden Walk in Tierra del Fuego, the Southernmost tip of South America also known as “the end of the world.”
Additionally, a new version of the Out of Eden Walk website has been launched. This site includes a completely new user experience and an interactive map of National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek’s full journey across the globe. Visitors can continue to experience the Walk’s dispatches, milestones, contributor stories and educational resources that all incorporate maps to give readers a sense of place and context following the trail.
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About Out of Eden Walk
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek is retracing our ancestors’ ancient migration on foot out of Africa and across the globe. His 24,000-mile, multiyear odyssey began in Ethiopia—our evolutionary “Eden”—in January 2013 and will end at the tip of South America. Salopek is engaging with the major stories of our time, from climate change and technological innovation to mass migration and cultural survival. As he traverses the globe at the measured pace of his footsteps, he reveals the texture of the lives of the people he encounters—nomads, villagers, traders, farmers, and fishermen who seldom make the news. When this journey ends, this project will have pieced together a global mosaic of stories, faces, sounds, and sights—an unparalleled archive of our shared humanity at the start of a new millennium.
About The National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society is a global nonprofit organization that uses the power of science, exploration, education and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Since 1888, National Geographic has pushed the boundaries of exploration, investing in bold people and transformative ideas, providing more than 15,000 grants for work across all seven continents, reaching 3 million students each year through education offerings, and engaging audiences around the globe through signature experiences, stories and content.
To learn more, visit www.nationalgeographic.org or follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
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