John Daub: So here we are at the world's oldest hotel;
the second oldest business in the world,
established in the year 705 A.D.
Here's the documentation to prove it from Guinness.
This is Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan
in the hills of Mount Fuji.
1300 years of history.
Of course I'm going to take you inside
and show you the stay experience,
the hot spring baths, the food.
But this oldest hotel had a huge problem.
After 52 generations of the same
families running it, they hit a wall.
They didn't have a successor.
In this episode, I'm going to be sharing with you
the story of the world's oldest hotel.
And how they survived for 1300 years!!
[Intro music]
Irrashaimase! (Welcome!)
Peter von Gomm: ONLY in JAPAN
John: The world's oldest hotel is deep in a
valley on the Nishiyama river in Yamanashi.
Time has a different speed here.
The philosophy for success is simple:
focus on the day-to-day operation.
Be the best at running at ryokan, or Japanese Inn.
Evolve to make guests comfortable
through the changing times.
Slippers for larger feet.
Allow guest with tattoos in its baths.
Cater to many different diets.
Not something you'll find easily
at traditional Japanese Inns.
And surprising in a place so far away
from tourist centers.
Forget the trends, the advertising.
It's all about the water,
the food, the service.
It's not surprising that on its 1300th
anniversary in 2005, they had no idea
they were the oldest hotel in the world.
Keiunkan CEO: (We didn't know.)
John: (Even your predecessor did not talk about this?)
Keiunkan CEO: (Right.)
(He only said we had a long history.)
(We only knew it was open to the public in 705.)
John: This is the Kenjiro Kawano,
the 53rd owner of Keiunkan and current
keeper of the hotel's history.
It wasn't until 2008 that the Japanese media
and scholars researched and proved
this was the oldest,
displacing another ancient Japanese ryokan.
They got a letter from Guinness in 2011,
just before the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami
devastated Japan.
The 2011 disaster silencing any promotion
on the achievement.
Kawano: (So, we lost the opportunity to share the news.)
(There were a lot of natural disasters.)
(There must have been a lot of)
(challenges in the past.)
John: The only road leading up to the ryokan,
a lot of S-curves, old tunnels.
It's hard to drive in winter.
Kawano: (One time, the nearby tunnel was destroyed.)
(The local road was shut down)
(for about one month.)
(When something like that happened,)
(we were isolated here.)
John: As a business, Keiunkan has lasted
by sticking to the same philosophy
since it started.
Kawano: (Focus only on the hotel business.)
(Do not get distracted by anything else.)
(I believe that's why Keiunkan)
(became a long-lasting business.)
John: The philosophy to focus just on the
ryokan business is just one element.
You need to have good water.
This hotel has no hot water boilers at all.
It's all hot springs, natural geothermally heated
water from the ground.
[Water sprays]
Kawano-san shows the natural water
pressure which is like a geyser.
It sprays up 10 to 15 meters, 30 or 40 feet,
coming out at 52 degrees Celsius,
125 Fahrenheit.
Kawano: (Because we have this hot water source)
(we can supply the whole hotel with this water.)
(It's very rare to find ryokan)
(with so much hot spring water like this.)
John: Each time an earthquake, avalanche,
flood, or fire destroyed the hotel,
they moved to a safer area.
This is Keiunkan in the
Meiji period over a century ago.
500 meters away from the current spot.
It was destroyed in the early Showa period.
Thirteen hundred years ago it was next
to the water source behind the hotel.
Kawano-san walked me over as far
as we could go in winter.
The drone did the rest of the work.
This is the spot.
There's a shrine dedicated to the hot spring gods.
Pipes bringing water to the hotel in view.
In the middle is a boarded up cave.
People used to bathe in the cave.
The original water source has gotten a
little bit weaker, thus the need for the
new one next to the hotel.
John: (What's the most important ...)
Kawano: (This.)
(The Onsen, hot spring water)
(This water is the most important thing.)
(The bath in the room you're staying in today)
(the water to wash up and shower with)
(comes straight from here.)
John: Before we hear about how this hotel ran
a thousand years ago and its history,
let's look at what staying here is like today.
Traditional Japanese inns, the ryokan.
It's the experience you're looking for
when you're coming to Japan.
It's the time when I most feel like I am
in the country because of all the culture
that goes on inside of here.
From the moment you enter a Japanese ryokan,
the service is second to none and it is all
about making you feel relaxed and
feeling very special.
This was my room for the night:
one of the largest in the hotel
with private outdoor bath.
The advantage of this is obvious:
24 hours a day, tattoo and family friendly,
the view and sound of the river.
So relaxing.
Onsen, this is one of the great pleasures in life.
The air temperature is minus
five degrees right now.
The water temperature is 42 degrees Celsius.
It's so comfortable and this isn't
the only bath here.
The roof has a bath too.
This might be my favorite one.
On the first floor are private baths
that can be reserved by guests.
It's a perfect place for a family visit
for an hour or so.
Our son, Leo, can move around without
disturbing other bathers.
There's an indoor public bath here as well.
The free-flowing water coming from the
source near the hotel.
The food always in courses.
Seasonal, mostly local.
Soft tofu sparkling with gold.
Walnuts and salted grilled sweet fish.
Which may not be for everyone
like my friend, Joe, here.
I mean how exactly do you eat it, right?
Can you eat the head and tail?
Yes, everything.
It's an acquired taste.
There are so many dishes:
vegetables wrapped in fried tofu skin.
So many different flavors
to make your palette dance.
Rice and miso soup of course.
This is dongurimen, aka acorn noodles.
I didn't know you could make noodles from acorn.
It's a local specialty quite good with the dipping sauce.
Wagyu beef, different cuts with
vegetables to grill at the table.
It doesn't take long to cook.
[Wagyu beef sizzles]
I like to add a little bit of salt and yuzukosho.
And.... it's wow every time.
This turnip with miso and simmered
vegetables is a crowd pleaser.
Joe: Wow.
John: Gochisousama deshita. (Thank you for the meal.)
How do you feel?
Joe: I feel I want to like stay here for more.
Can we extend?
(John laughs)
At night the river is lit up.
And it's one more dip in the
outdoor bath before bed.
While away the staff has set up my futon
for the night.
Breakfast, another full table of various
foods to try.
The zosui heated at the table,
salmon and silky soft tofu.
Let's turn to the history.
The story goes that Mahito Fujiwara discovered the
natural hot spring bubbling to the
surface while he was hunting deer in 705 A.D.
He created a bathing space.
Word of mouth spread and neighbors came
bringing food as payment.
He had himself a business.
There weren't a lot of doctors
in the area so over the centuries
it became a place people would go
for medicinal purposes.
Jisui-toji, which is a place
people would go for an extended
period of time to soak and recover.
Kawano: (It's called "jusui-toji" in Japan.)
(When people finished busy seasons)
(at their farms and rice fields,)
(they did not have much to do during winter.)
(So they brought vegetables and rice)
(to the hot springs here and)
(stayed for several weeks for hot springs.)
(They cooked for themselves)
(with food they brought during their stay.)
(They healed their bodies)
(by soaking in hot springs.)
(That's how hot springs served the local community.)
(That tradition handed down from generation to generation.)
John: During the Sengoku period,
a time of great way in Japan,
a lot of famous Samurai stayed at Keiunkan,
including Baisetsu Anayama who presented the family
with a gong which is in the hotel lobby today,
a family heirloom.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japan's first Shogun,
is said to have also stayed at Keiunkan.
During the Edo period it turned into a hatago,
a traveler's lodge, where a lot of the
ryokan traditions of today started.
Kawano: (When travelers first arrived,)
(they were exhausted.)
(First thing they would do is)
(take off their shoes at the entrance.)
(We don't have this culture elsewhere, right?)
(At our ryokan,)
(that's an important welcome moment.)
(Old people used to wear waraji shoes.)
(The hatago host washed their dirty feet)
(before they entered the premises.)
(Although we use slippers these days,)
(we welcome our guests in the same way.)
John: And today it is a tourist ryokan.
A place where you can get two meals a day.
The evolution from then to now is pretty
incredible, but you can see they just
focused on the ryokan business and that
is a recipe for success.
The hotel's greatest challenges seem to
have come in the last 10 years.
The 52nd owner needed a successor and had none so
he asked his best employee one day.
Kawano: (It was out of the blue, suddenly.)
(I was like ...)
WHY?
("What? Why me?")
John: He wasn't family, like the last 52 generations.
He was a general manager.
Kawano-san considered the request
for six months.
Kawano: (Well, I've never said no to the last CEO.)
(Not a single time.)
(Even if he ordered something challenging,)
(I always made it happen.)
(I think he expected that)
(I would say yes at the end.)
(When I actually told him "Yes")
(he just said "Oh, okay")
John: (He really had a lot of confidence.)
Kawano: (He really did.)
(But at the same time,)
(he did everything to fully support me.)
The 51st Fukazawa CEO had run the ryokan
with the community up until the 1980s.
But with Japan's declining population even then,
it wasn't a successful business plan anymore.
In order to turn it into a tourist ryokan,
they needed more staff.
That's when Kawano-san came.
Here's Kawano-san with the 52nd CEO
in the early years.
Kawano: (The previous CEO trusted me)
(to responsibly pass on this business.)
(I need to choose the right person)
(as my successor.)
John: Like in the past, Keiunkan still changes with the times.
Now the hotel has many foreign tourists.
Repeaters from Japan from all over the country.
Despite the end of the original family ownership,
the ryokan keeps those traditions
alive in everything it does
and Kawano-san will pass along the torch
to an employee like himself.
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Mata ne! (See you again!)
Subtitles by Toby Production Services