Visiting Japan - off the beaten track
I’m planning a trip to Japan next year and here are some amazing and alternative places I would like to stay.
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I’m planning a trip to Japan next year for my 60th birthday. While my kids want to go to Tokyo and check out the Akihabara district I’m seeking something quieter, slower and softer. I may go on my own as it will be costly to take everyone and if I do, I have some ideas of where I would like to stay.
In Japan there is a saying, "Nihon no kokoro, asoko ni naru," or Japan's heart is in the countryside and it is to the countryside I would like to go. I want to go beyond the big cities to explore Japan’s rural treasures and her less hurried life.
Off the beaten track
Situated along the winding mountain road that is the historic village of Omori, Takyo Abeke is hidden behind a rustic bamboo fence covered in climbing roses and shielded from the road by a deep courtyard garden. The 228-year-old building was once the home of the Abe family (Abeke), who were administrative officials for the Iwami Ginzan silver mine dug deep into the mountains at the top of the old village.
The beautiful renovation is due to the vision and efforts of Tomi Matsuba and her husband Daikichi who moved to Omori in 1980. Coming to the village to escape the increasing challenges of life in Japan's big cities and to raise a family they were inspired by the beauty and way of life they found and launched ‘Gugendo’ a company whose aim is to preserve Japan's rural heritage and make it relevant to modern living. It makes clothes, household items, and food products with natural materials sourced sustainably, artisanal skills embedded in tradition, and designs inspired by rural aesthetics yet are contemporary and functionally modern.
Tomi and Daikichi also bought the old Abeke family house, and restored and updated it to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing, physically comforting, and spiritually enriching places to stay in Japan. By applying shibusa to country life, the Matsubas have brought the concept back to its roots. They have also enriched it by infusing it with the rural values of omotenashi, or selfless hospitality, shimatsu, or the respectful use of nature, and community.
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