Tag - ryokan

 
Menu
Search
 
October 13, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

RYOKAN

Between traditional examples of fine art and sleek, modern exhibitions that blend with nature, Hakone offers a unique escape from Tokyo's urban sprawl.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 13, 2025
An aesthetic escape to Hakone’s art-drenched hills
Well known for its views of Mount Fuji, the mountainous community also holds a growing collection of world-class art.
Nipponia Hotel Ise Kawasaki Merchant Town in Ise, Mie Prefecture
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Sep 8, 2025
Why more hotels in Japan are offering room-only service
Hotels hit by labor shortage hope to reduce their burden, while restaurants and the local community aim to attract more visitors.
Beniya Mukayu, a traditional "ryokan" inn located in Ishikawa Prefecture, considers itself at "the heart of onsen towns, local residents, farmers, fishermen, sake brewers and artisans" — all of which need new, sustainable methods of serving visitors to survive into the future.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 16, 2025
In preserving Japanese hospitality, ‘details are everything’
As part of a new UNESCO initiative, the elite Relais & Chateau hospitality group will empower its Japan-based members to preserve the country’s “omotenashi” culture.
Descendents of the original "Gonin Byakushō" families are the only vendors allowed inside the gates of Kotohira Shrine, where they sell "kamiyoame," a golden-hued, yuzu-flavored candy meant for good fortune.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 7, 2025
At a mountainside shrine, yuzu candy made by imperial decree
Located in the mountains of western Kagawa Prefecture, Kotohira has yet to suffer — or benefit — from Japan’s overtourism rush.
While Unzen Onsen's "hells" can be visually striking, locals describe them and their effects as "a source of emotional healing."
LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2025
Heaven from hells: The sulfuric pleasure of Unzen Onsen
Located deep within Kyushu’s Shimabara Peninsula, this hot spring town offers dramatic scenery worth the effort it takes to get there.
Washing stations at a hot spring bath at Hoshinoya Tokyo, operated by Hoshino Resorts, in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 18, 2024
Luxury Japan hot springs brand to open first U.S. location in New York state
The president of Hoshino Resorts had made it his personal goal to bring Japanese hot spring resorts to North America.
To be the best of the best, according to the exclusive Relais & Chateaux group, Japan's 'ryokan' inns need to leave guests with "a transcendental feeling."
LIFE / Travel
Jun 29, 2024
To Relais & Chateaux, not all ‘ryokan’ inns are created equal
In Japan, this exclusive association has partnered with just 13 hotels and traditional 'ryokan' inns and seven stand-alone restaurants spread across the country.
A statue of Santoku Taneda stands at Hofu Station in Hofu, Yamagata Prefecture, where the Zen monk was born in 1882.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jun 14, 2024
The joy of Zen — Part 2: Poetry
Ryokan and Santoka lived in different times, connected by a knack for words but polar opposites when it came to the monk's life they both chose.
Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture will host one of three ryokan Hyatt is set to launch with Kyoto-based developer Kiraku in 2026.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 2, 2024
Hyatt doubles down on Japan with line of luxury ryokan
The first three locations are scheduled to start opening in 2026 in Kanagawa, Oita and Kagoshima prefectures.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 19, 2022
How the Jewish community found a home in Japan
A bestseller from 1970 compares and contrasts two peoples more different than alike, and yet both sharing a sense of uniqueness.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Feb 12, 2022
Tour Japan's luxury ryokan without stepping a foot outside of Tokyo
The 'Essence of Japan' series brings several 'okami,' the female proprietor of a traditional inn, from across the country to act as guides to regional specialties.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jun 12, 2020
Pandemic-hit temple in Gifu's Takayama opens doors to teleworkers
The facility, which belongs to the Jodoshu sect, was built in 1896, and now offers overnight stays for Gifu residents.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 31, 2019
Rock gardens, ryokan and rafting in Tokyo's Mitake
From the historic Kajikaen to kimono dyeing studios and the Gyokudo Art Museum, numerous institutions of traditional art and culture line the banks of the Tama River as it runs through Mitake.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 26, 2018
Kurokawa Onsen: Eat, sleep, bathe, repeat
Despite its rapid growth in the 1960s, Kurokawa Onsen maintains a charm that effuses throughout the buildings and the narrow alleyways that run down the steep banks to the Kuro River. It feels old, and has escaped much of the overenthusiastic concrete landscaping that is present elsewhere in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 19, 2017
Wabi lies at the heart of Japanese history
You could spend your entire life in modern Japan without ever hearing the term wabi, though no overview of Japanese history or art is complete without it. It's a beautiful word, hard to define like most beautiful words. Poverty is the heart of it, which sounds dispiriting, but there's the Zen phrase...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 30, 2016
New inn style: Tokyo's first luxury ryokan
There are seasonal ikebana arrangements, tatami-mat flooring, kimono-style outfits for guests and a steaming hot onsen spring water bath.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jul 16, 2016
'Zen's sudden awakening to the truth beyond reason, beyond language'
Rabbi Zusia tramped through his native Poland — this admittedly is an odd way of introducing a story about Zen — collecting money to ransom Jews unjustly imprisoned, victims of the rampant anti-Semitism then prevailing. At a wayside inn he saw birds in a cage. Zusia, simple soul that he was, promptly...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2016
Japan hotels group calls for more restrictions on Airbnb-style operations
The industry group representing ryokan inns and hotels nationwide says short-stay accommodation is gaining popularity.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 23, 2016
Exploring Niigata's snow country
Marred though the view is with power lines and other trappings of modernity, the rainbow that appears at the far end of Tsubame-Sanjo Station seems a rather auspicious beginning. The initial impression that greeted us in front of this largely unpopular station just south of Niigata on the Joetsu Shinkansen...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 8, 2008
Atami's Kiunkaku ryokan: The art of a great garden
You enter Kiunkaku through a beautiful, tile-roofed wooden gate flanked by tall trees, reminiscent of some temple gates, which gives a hint of the purpose:historical grandeur you will find within.
University of Tokyo lands its highest spot ever in global higher education ranking
The University of Tokyo in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
After ruling bloc breakup, CDP and Komeito eye unified PM candidate
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda speaks to reporters at the Diet in Tokyo on Friday.
As the Osaka Expo comes to a close, what will its legacy be?
After a run-up marked by apathy, organizers soon found they had the opposite problem as crowd control became a concern.
Why Japan's coalition collapsed — and what's next
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi enters party headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
At Osaka Expo, gas giants promote a greener future. But is it a lot of hot air?
The Gas Pavilion had welcomed around 500,000 visitors by the end of August, making it one of the most popular exhibits at the Osaka Expo.
‘Takaichi trade’ starts unwinding as political calculus upended by Komeito exit
Less than a week ago, Sanae Takaichi seemed set to become Japan's first female prime minister.
‘Save the Ring’ calls intensify as Osaka Expo’s end nears
Visitors lounge on the grassy hill on the top of the Grand Ring during the 2025 Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka in May.
A Japanese comedian walks into an Aussie bar … and stays there
Takashi “Waka” Wakasugi stopped by the Tokyo Comedy Bar in Shibuya Ward last month following his stint at Edinburgh Festival Fringe performing his show “Comedy Samurai.”

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER