What is Japanese walking?
Three minutes fast, three minutes slow, repeated five times, on four or more days a week. That is interval walking training, developed at Shinshu University in Japan and known there as インターバル速歩. It went round the world in 2025 as “Japanese walking”. The method rests on one randomised trial from 2007, and its numbers are worth reading before you change how you walk.
The trial below measured fitness and blood pressure in healthy adults. Nothing here is medical advice; if you have a heart or blood pressure condition, ask your clinician before adding hard intervals.
The founding trial
Nemoto and colleagues randomised 246 adults, 60 men and 186 women with an average age of 63, into three groups for five months: no walking training, moderate continuous walking, and high-intensity interval walking (Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2007, doi:10.4065/82.7.803). The interval group was asked to repeat five or more sets a day of three minutes fast, above 70 percent of their peak aerobic capacity for walking, followed by three minutes slow at about 40 percent, on four or more days a week, with an accelerometer checking the intensity.
| Measure, interval group after 5 months | Change |
|---|---|
| Isometric knee extension strength | up 13 percent |
| Isometric knee flexion strength | up 17 percent |
| Peak aerobic capacity for walking | up 9 percent |
| Peak aerobic capacity for cycling | up 8 percent |
| Resting systolic blood pressure | fell more than in the continuous-walking group |
Every one of those gains was significantly larger than in the group walking continuously at a moderate pace. One more number matters: fewer than half of the people assigned to the interval programme met its targets. The method works when it is done, and it is hard to keep doing.
How to do it
- Warm up with five minutes of easy walking.
- Walk fast for three minutes. Fast means you could speak a few words but not hold a conversation.
- Walk slowly for three minutes.
- Repeat the pair five times, about thirty minutes in all, then ease off for a few minutes.
- Do it on four or more days a week. The trial ran for five months.
No equipment is needed beyond a way to time three minutes. A watch face that shows a timer is enough.
How it fits a step goal
Japanese walking and a daily step target answer different questions. The interval trial measured fitness, strength and blood pressure over five months. The step-count studies measure mortality risk across hundreds of thousands of people over years, and they reward the total, not the pace: see how many steps a day do you actually need? A thirty-minute interval session is roughly 3,000 to 3,500 steps, since the fast intervals run above 120 steps a minute and the slow ones below 100 (see how long does it take to walk 10,000 steps?). It fits inside a 7,000 or 8,000 step day rather than replacing it.
The name
Manpo Steps takes its name from the manpo-kei, the 1965 pedometer that gave the world the 10,000-step slogan. Japanese walking is the other Japanese contribution to the field, and a better-evidenced one: a specific protocol, tested against a control, with the numbers published. The app counts the steps and shows the time of the reading; if you record the session as a walk, it shows distance and pace as well. The intervals are yours to time.
Questions
How do you do Japanese walking?
After an easy warm-up, walk fast for three minutes, hard enough that talking is difficult, then slowly for three minutes. Repeat the pair five or more times, about thirty minutes, on four or more days a week. That is the whole method from the founding trial.
Is Japanese walking better than 10,000 steps a day?
It answers a different question. The interval method improved fitness, thigh strength and blood pressure more than steady moderate walking over five months in one trial; the step-count studies measure long-term mortality risk across large populations. Both reward walking, and one can be part of the other.
How many steps is a Japanese walking session?
Roughly 3,000 to 3,500 for a thirty-minute session, since the fast intervals run above 120 steps a minute and the slow ones below 100. It fits inside a 7,000 or 8,000 step day rather than replacing it.