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Where To Dine & Sleep
Japan's
Fujiya Hotel
By Rob Goss
© 2004 Bonita Productions Inc.
Hidden away from Kyoto Temples and the bustle of Tokyo is a living monument to the past. The Fujiya Hotel was built in 1878 and is the oldest member of Japan Classic Hotel Association. In its heyday the hotel was home to visiting foreign dignitaries and celebrities, not to mention Japan Imperial Family. Nowadays the hotel is a place where you can retreat back in time to the days when Japan was just beginning to open up to the outside world. The Fujiya was built as Japan's first resort hotel and served as a home from home to westerners in Japan, providing them with almost everything they would expect in their own countries. That included western rooms. Today the rooms have an aged smell reminiscent of old church pews but have retained much of their old charm, despite the occasional modern touch like a seventies style telephone. The halls feel like a museum.
Each guestroom has an individual flower motif. The doors and key holders have matching flowers painted on them. The doors still use the original paintings, but the key holders are replicas of the originals which you can now see displayed in one of the halls - not far from photos of such luminaries as John Lennon, Charlie Chaplin and Prime Minister Nehru of India. As the day progresses into night you will find your way to the high-ceilinged dining hall for dinner. Passing through the entrance hall to the dining area you can see some of the old New Years and Christmas menus and group photos from the early 1900s plus the empty bottles of some of the classic wines that have been consumed here.
Wine at the Fujiya can still be an expensive affair as prices range from Y4000 to Y100,000 a bottle ($35 – 870). However, the less expensive wine is good and available by the glass or half bottle.
After dinner you have the option of retiring to the original bar to recline into the leather upholstery and wonder whether John Lennon played the piano that takes centre stage.
By far the most entertaining way to get to the Fujiya Hotel from Hakone Yumoto is to take the old tram to Miyanoshita station and then walk for about 10 minutes.The tram slowly wheezes up the winding track to an altitude of 1000m. In June the tracks become surrounded with the blues and purples of hydrangeas, whilst in spring the soft green of young leaves breaks into the carriages.
Rates at The Fujiya Hotel start at about Y20,000 ($175) per person per night and include a full course French dinner of a quality akin to Tokyo$B!G(Bs best, and far more expensive, French restaurants. Breakfast is also included.
To get to Hakone Yumoto station from Tokyo you can take the intriguingly named Romance Car service (Odakyu line) from Shinjuku station. It will take about 90 minutes and cost under Y3000 each way ($25). Reservations are recommended if your trip coincides with a holiday weekend and the resultant horde of Tokyoites trying to escape the city.
The choice of retreat is understandable - Hakone is a great place to escape to. And whether you want to find an old temple to sit in and listen to silence or you want to see mount Fuji and take a boat out onto lake Ashino, The Fujiya Hotel is an intriguing place to base yourself.
Rob Goss, 27, British (Devon).
I have lived in Tokyo for about 5 years working at universities, teaching business English and studying Japanese (at times). I am now doing a post-graduate course in Journalism by distance education while working full-time.
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Real Travel Adventures International Magazine
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