Fourth Generation Ryokan Owner Bet the Family Business

064-071_Feat-Japan.rev.indd 64 07/12/2017 09:58 COMBINING ANCIENT CUSTOMS WITH MODERN LUXURY, HOSHINO RESORTS HAS REVOLUTIONIZED JAPANESE HOSPITALITY n the bustling Otemachi financial dis- trict of the Japanese capital, the 17-story I Hoshinoya Tokyo stands at the nexus of modernity and tradition. Sleek interiors and panoramic skyline views are expected of a brand-new hotel—not a traditional Japanese inn, known as a ryokan. But following the centuries-old custom of the ryokan, guests take off their shoes upon entering the lobby and encounter the crisp, grassy scent of tatami mats underfoot. Communal spaces are avail- able for watching cultural performances, sip- ping green tea, and even—in the case of the top-floor onsen—for bathing in natural, mineral-rich hot-spring water, pumped up from the ground far below. Though the bare plastered walls, large clay formation and dim lighting in the basement restaurant don’t feel traditional, the menu pays homage to the time-honored multicourse kaiseki dinner. It’s hard to spot at first. When the first dish arrives at my table, it looks more like a model of an intergalactic spaceship than a plate of shrimp mousse and bamboo char- coal-blackened crackers. But a patient server in an intricate gray suit explains that the dinnerware is made from the petrified wood of the pillars of the feudal mansion that once stood here, owned by a samurai and his heirs throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The utensils are reclaimed metal spikes exca- vated as the current property was being built. Rather than throw these pieces out, the CEO of Hoshino Resorts, Yoshiharu Hoshino, used them in his “modern ryokan.” “It should not be fake culture—it has to be real,” insists Hoshino. “We make sure that we WORDS JESS SWANSON PHOTOGRAPHY IRWIN WONG 064-071_Feat-Japan.rev.indd 65 07/12/2017 09:58 incorporate those historical and cultural elements into our ryokans and resorts, but at the same time they have to be used in a way that modern travelers can appreciate.” The phrase “modern ryokan” may seem oxy- moronic, as the traditions embraced by these Japanese inns date back to A.D. 705. But Hoshino’s greatest accomplishment has been reconciling these ancient institutions with the luxurious standards of present-day hospitality. As a fourth-generation innkeeper, he rein- vented his family’s century-old ryokan at a time when chains such as Hilton and Marriott were successfully spreading Western models of hospitality across Japan. Hoshino’s concept took off , expanding from that original property to 37 in the last 27 years, and quickly becoming one of the largest and most well-known luxury brands in Japan. Now, as the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics ignite a mad dash of hotel construction (currently at an 18-year high), oth- ers are also embracing Japanese tradition, trading their swimming pools for onsens, plush carpeting for tatami mats and room-service menus for kaiseki. “Incorporating the elements and charms of a place is not the work of headquarters; it’s the work of the people in the hotels to refl ect that understanding of local culture,” Hoshino says. “I must’ve been six or seven when I knew His philosophy wasn’t drawn up at corpo- that I was going to enter the family business,” rate headquarters, either. In the early 1900s, Hoshino recalls. “When I grew up, my grand- Hoshino’s great-grandfather and his son father would introduce me to people in town operated a humble ryokan in the Nagano as ‘the fourth generation.’” mountains, located at the base of Mount But when Hoshino returned to Japan in Asama, an active volcano. The Hoshinos dug the mid 1980s after graduating from Cornell and discovered the bubbling hot spring on University, new resorts operated by Western the property that soon became the region’s brands were popping up everywhere. This main attraction and namesake of the Hoshino oversupply of rooms put a financial choke Onsen Ryokan. hold on the Hoshino family’s quaint ryokan. When Hoshino’s father took over in the 1950s, In 1991, when Hoshino was 31 years old, he the Japanese economy was booming. Families was tapped to be the new president and started traveling around the country, and more charged with saving the business. “If every- international fl ights brought a new wave of thing was okay, I would’ve never succeeded tourists. By the 1960s, the Nagano region was my father at such a young age,” Hoshino says. considered the most popular destination in the “I was very nervous: We were an old ryokan country; owning a second home there became a and had a small equity base when all our status symbol for the Tokyo elite. competitors had new facilities and a strong financial base.” It was futile to compete with these newer, larger resorts. But the young CEO noticed that they seemed to care more about property values than service. Whereas Western chains promised standardization—so that a person visiting a Hilton in Tokyo or Las Vegas will always be guaranteed a clock, television and other staples—Hoshino made the revolution- ary decision to ban such amenities from his. Above: Exterior of Hoshinoya Tokyo. Right: “We wanted to create a very different environ- Tea ceremony at ment so that guests can feel that they are away Hoshinoya Tokyo from the stresses of their life,” Hoshino says. 66 – CELEBRATED LIVING 064-071_Feat-Japan.rev.indd 66 07/12/2017 09:58 064-071_Feat-Japan.rev.indd 67 07/12/2017 09:58 “IT SHOULD NOT BE FAKE CULTURE—IT HAS TO BE REAL.” “We want the real background noise to be the sounds of the birds, river and wind. All of these important elements are usually blocked by TV noise.” Hoshino spent the next decade cultivating local talent and creating incentives to retain promising recruits. It wasn’t easy. Hospitality jobs required staff to work long hours. They certainly didn’t carry the same prestige as working for technology giants like Panasonic. But while other businesses had a strict hierar- chy, Hoshino encouraged workers to question procedures and make suggestions, regardless of seniority. Employees weren’t limited to housekeeping or cooking; they learned the entire workings of the ryokan, from checking in guests to running the restaurant. Hoshino also advocated a work-life balance—he still carves 60 days annually out of his busy sched- ule to ski—and the company’s insurance plan was updated to cover workers if they wished to take one- or two-year sabbaticals to travel the world or finish school. “It took me 10 years to find the right people to work for me,” Hoshino says. “I learned it’s very important to value the people who do the XXXXXXXXX CREDIT 064-071_Feat-Japan.rev.indd 68 07/12/2017 09:59 cooking, housekeeping and marketing of the ryokan and to maintain their motivation.” Whereas other small properties were los- ing money in the late ’90s and early 2000s, Hoshino Onsen Ryokan started turning a profit. The inn began selling out in summer. Then in September and October. Occupancy soared on weekdays and winter months. In vision of his hometown property to life. “I 2001, just as Hoshino felt he had revived grew up here,” he says. “I knew the history the family business, he was asked by an and the shapes of the trees and the flow of the investor to turn around a failing property in river—it wasn’t very difficult to come up with Kobuchizawa, an hour away at the base of a local vision.” Mount Yatsugatake. “Everyone thought it The Hoshino Onsen Ryokan reopened in was impossible,” Hoshino says. “Again, I was 2005 as Hoshinoya Karuizawa, the first in a nervous to take this on. We just had enough rebranded line of resorts that celebrate the people to run our own ryokan profitably.” environment, history and culture of the desti- Hoshino accepted the challenge and applied nation. The property embraces its natural set- the “ryokan method” of combining excellent ting in the nation’s first wild-bird sanctuary, service with an authentic local experience. with Ural owls and rare copper pheasants. In three years, he turned that property The Yukawa River winds throughout the around, too. Hoshino then began acquiring resort, carrying illuminated lanterns at night. and renovating one or two properties per year, In addition to the Hoshino Onsen that’s open typically in rural settings. He started with to the public, the property has a private “med- his family’s own hotel, then a $100-to-$150- itation bath” filled with mineral-rich hot- per-night ryokan. They shuttered for sweep- spring water. The spa offers thermal mud ing renovations meant to bring Hoshino’s packs and shiatsu massages, and the hotel restaurant, Kasuke, is named after Hoshino’s Clockwise from left: grandfather who helped start it all. Hoshinoya Kyoto; top-ﬂ oor With each new resort, Hoshino implements onsen at Hoshinoya Tokyo; a rigorous planning period before construc- incense ceremony; hot pot tion. This typically lasts one or two years, or breakfast at Hoshinoya Kyoto; dinnerware made however long it takes Hoshino and a trusted from ancient wood landscape architect to understand how the CELEBRATED LIVING – 69 064-071_Feat-Japan.rev.indd 69 07/12/2017 09:59 Right: Etenraku urban—a high-rise surrounded by more high- performance at rises and scurrying pedestrians. Still, Hoshino Hoshinoya Tokyo. Below: Hoshinoya believed that once the initial surprise of Karuizawa taking off one’s shoes in the lobby wore off, the property’s penthouse onsen, breathtaking views and elaborate dinners would appeal to anyone.

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