TOMOE (Japanese style hotel)

TOMOE

Deluxe contemporary ryokan (Japanese style hotel) in a historic location.

Rate: From \25000 w/2meals.
Credit Cards: AMEX,DC,VISA.
Rooms: 25 Japanese style (w/bath). Communal Baths: 2-men's women's.
Check-in: 15:00 Check-out: 10:30
Language: English spoken.

Phone: 0838-22-0150 Fax: 0838-22-0152 (Call in Japan)
e-mail:info@tomoehagi.jp
Adress: 608-53 Kobo-ji, Hijiwara, Hagi-shi, Yamaguchi-ken Japan 758-0025

Until 1989 the Tomoe was a much-loved, two-history wooden inn dating from the 1920s.
It was built to welcome home distinguished personnel (*) who had moved from Hagi to the new capital to built the modern Japanese state.
* The start of modern Japan, Meiji Restoration (1968) was quickend at Hagi.
As the most distinguished inn at Hagi, the Tomoe accommodated some of the most illustrious figures of the new era, including prime ministers Eisaku Sato (1901-75) and Nobusuke Kisi (1896-1987), and even the Emperor Showa (previously known as Emperor Hirohito ; 1901-89).
In 1989, the year of the Emperor Showa's demise, the old Tomoe closed and a new one opened by the Matsumoto River, not far from waterfront where the boathouses of the Lord once stood, the passing of the old inn coinciding with that of its most illustrious guest.

The new Tomoe has the white and gray plaster walls of a castle, with the gate and facade of a high-ranking samurai mansion. Inside, it is a haven of wide open spaces and uncompromising luxury.

No suite has less than one 10-mat rooms plus one 4 1/2-mat room; if you are in the VIP league, there are bigger rooms available. You could look even a replica of the Kao, the room where the Emperor Showa stayed.
The rooms are well spread out, so there is a feeling of total privacy.
Appointments, food, and tableware are the choice of the third-generation okami (the mistress of the ryokan).
She is a woman of taste who is obsessed with the finer details of service.

The tableware, for example, comprises the best Hagi ware, and also handpicked ceramics from all over Japan.
The windows in your room will be kept wide open to let in fresh air until just before your arrival; the yukata waiting for you will be a miraculously perfect fit.

And if you return to the inn several years later, you will not be served the same things as during your previous visit, because records are kept of every meal that each guest eats.
Unfortunately, when the Tomoe raised its act, it also increased its prices; this is not an inn for the budget traveler.

Nevertheless, the crumbling walls of Hagi's samurai mansions are very well complemented by such contemporary comfort.

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