[KAGA, ISHIKAWA PREF. – When I arrive at @beniyamukayu, a traditional ryokan inn on the outskirts of Kaga, Ishikawa Prefecture, Sachiko Nakamichi leads me from the airy lounge to a quiet room where co-owner and husband, Kazunari, dressed in a traditional yukata kimono and black haori jacket, welcomes me with an abbreviated tea ceremony experience.

After a stroll through the garden, I experience the property’s spa treatment - a therapeutic massage, followed by a personalized herbal therapy based on traditional herbal medicine and a constitutional questionnaire determining the best herbs for a heated compress to soothe body and mind - before a kaiseki dinner of local specialties prepared by chef Hiroaki Kaku.

Yet beneath this luxurious and serene surface lies a more complex mission. Sachiko sees ryokan — both Beniya Mukayu in particular and Japan’s traditional inns as a whole — as a vessel for sustaining an entire cultural ecosystem.

“At ryokan, which are the heart of onsen towns, local residents, farmers, fishermen, sake brewers and artisans collaborate to create a culture where the entire area welcomes travelers,” says Sachiko, 66, of Japan’s traditional omotenashi. “We see it as our responsibility to pass these traditions to the next generation.”

As international hospitality chains expand across Japan at record pace, with recently opened properties including the country’s first Waldorf Astoria in Osaka and an outpost of the Banyan Tree brand in Kyoto, some of the country’s most resilient independent inns and restaurants are proving that a counterintuitive strategy can work: deepening local roots rather than abandoning them. This approach has caught the attention of UNESCO and the Relais & Chateaux hotel association.]

For my latest in @thejapantimes, I visit two properties that encapsulate the ethos behind the new partnership between @relaischateaux and @unesco.

Link to full article:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/08/16/travel/ryokan-unesco-relais-chateau-sustainability/

#relaischateaux #japantravel #beniyamukayu #melindajoeiseatinganddrinking Less