When I arrive at Beniya Mukayu, 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 which herbs were bundled into a heated compress) before a kaiseki (haute Japanese cuisine) dinner of local specialties prepared by chef Hiroaki Kaku.