On a small Japanese island is a new ryokan from the founder of Aman. That might be all you need to hear — but you should also know the story of salt, from the fortune that built this splendid house to the ocean breeze that lashes its windows and wood.
Sometimes you just want to see amazing hotels atop incredible cliffs, perched high above the water below. We’re happy to oblige.
The Japanese ryokan might be the highest form of hospitality, but it’s not a hotel. For the owners of Beniya Mukayu, it’s important that you understand why.
Kyoto’s historic machiya houses are being repurposed as galleries, cafes, hotels, and more. It’s a symbol of a timeless city struggling to balance tradition against tourism.
As a whole, Japan’s hotels have long been thought of as restrained and innocuous. But there are emotions to be found. You just need to know where to look.
Thirteen hundred years after the first ryokan opened, the formula for these Japanese country inns remains as appealing as ever, and plenty ripe for reinventing. Not that it needs any.