Even though it's your first time in this area, you'll feel as if you were born and raised there. You can have this experience at NIPPONIA, a facility that uses historical architecture to propose "nostalgic yet new Japanese lifestyles."
In this article, we speak to Mizuki Oguri of NOTE Co., Ltd., the developer of the NIPPONIA facility, about the appeal of the facility, and introduce a travel experience that will make you want to go back there again, rather than just consuming it and then leaving.
It's like coming home. The whole town comes together to give a warm welcome.
About an hour's drive from Itami Airport, "Maruyama Village" in Tanba Sasayama City, Hyogo Prefecture, is a small village with only five households (as of 2009) located deep in a valley. Although it has a history of over 260 years, it is not what you would call a "tourist destination." However, since 2009, a vacant house has been renovated and opened as a lodging facility, run by the villagers.
Travelers stay in traditional Japanese houses that are 150 years old. In the spring, you can enjoy digging bamboo shoots, and in the fall, harvesting black edamame beans. You can fully immerse yourself in the rich nature of the village, but what's best is the warm welcome you receive from the moment you set foot in the village. They decorate your room with flowers, write welcoming tanka poems on the local bulletin board, and talk to you in a friendly manner. Even though it's your first time visiting, you'll be welcomed as if you were a relative returning home.
The catalyst for the revitalization of the Maruyama village was the general incorporated association NOTE. It all started when Takefumi Fujiwara, originally from Tanba Sasayama City, Hyogo Prefecture, returned to his hometown to work on urban development with Yukio Konno, who was the deputy mayor of Sasayama at the time, in an attempt to revitalize the area. In 2016, he founded NOTE Co., Ltd., named his urban development project "NIPPONIA," and expanded it nationwide. As of 2022, NIPPONIA has expanded to 27 regions across Japan.
Oguri: "NIPPONIA aims to revive historical buildings, create businesses based on the local occupations, techniques, and culture that have supported the area, and sustain a lifestyle that is unique to the area. When we first opened, we spent a lot of time discussing with local people what we should focus on to connect this area for the next 10 and 100 years."
A nostalgic old house with traces of leaks and soot, and a new view
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For example, the "Sasayama Castle Town Hotel NIPPONIA" (Tamba Sasayama City, Hyogo Prefecture) is a scattered hotel complex that has been renovated from old houses in the 400-year-old castle town of Sasayama. While the town retains the charming scenery of samurai residences and merchant houses, new establishments have been added, such as Japanese restaurants using local ingredients, gourmet burger shops, and select goods shops, making it a very enjoyable town to stroll around and experience both nostalgia and new encounters.
Oguri explains, "Basically, we don't build new buildings. We don't make major changes to the existing structures unless they are extremely damaged and dangerous, and we've left the hearth and well as they are, as they are, as the inn's distinctive features. The traces of leaks and black soot on the walls are also part of the house's history. 'They're sooty because we used to make fires here,'" he says.
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"NIPPONIA Harima Fukusaki Library" (Fukusaki-cho, Kanzaki-gun, Hyogo Prefecture) is a prefectural designated important tangible cultural property that has been restored to a place where guests can stay and even hold weddings. "NIPPONIA HOTEL Hakodate Minato-cho" (Hakodate City, Hokkaido) utilizes a red brick warehouse. Although it is called "NIPPONIA," each region has its own unique characteristics, and you can imagine the lives of the people who lived there.
The contents published are accurate at the time of publication and are subject to change.
