THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, October 19 - 20, 2019 |D7
THE 19TH-CENTURY FOREIGNERSwho first ventured
to the Japanese mountain town of Nikko came away en-
chanted by the scenery: ornate Shinto shrines set
among rivers, forests and waterfalls. But those same
visitors were less impressed with the lodging options.
Many griped about the local inns, furnished with futon-
beds set on the floor and paper walls that offered no
privacy. And the food? Overly exotic at best. British
traveler Isabella Bird offered a typical review: “The
fishy and vegetable abominations known as ‘Japanese
food’ can only be swallowed and digested by a few, and
that after long practice.” In 1873, in an attempt to cater
to Western sensibilities, Zenichiro Kanaya, a 21-year-old
temple musician, opened rooms in his family house,
serving guests simply-prepared poultry, rainbow trout
and eggs. Two decades later, Mr. Kanaya established the
first European-style resort hotel nearby, with two sto-
ries, mattress beds and such Western staples as bread,
which guests had taught his chefs to bake. By 1896, the
Kanaya Hotel was turning out 14-course French menus
with beef in Périgueux sauce and champignons au jus—
not a piece of sushi or grain of rice in sight. Through-
out the early 20th century, the hotel drew a parade of
celebrity travelers, including the Japanophile Frank
Lloyd Wright and, later, Albert Einstein and his wife,
Elsa. The hotel gardens, sculpted by temple workers, fit
in with the local aesthetic, while the kitchen continued
to appease American and European palates, with bacon
and eggs for breakfast andmille-feuilleafter dinner.TIME CAPSULE
FINICKY WESTERN EATERSwould still be relieved to
find filet mignon on the French menu of the hotel, now
known as the Nikko Kanaya, a 90-minute drive from To-
kyo. The dining room itself looks much as it did when it
first opened, in 1893 and eagle-eyed diners might notice
that the wooden pillars are decorated with flower carv-
ings that echo those of the nearby Toshogu shrine. The
views from the guest rooms are likewise unchanged—
forest-covered mountains in the background, the same
fastidiously manicured gardens in the foreground that
the Einsteins strolled in 1922. Other parts of the hotel
feel mildly haunted, like a Japanese version of “The
Shining.” The wood-paneled lobby is well worn, stair-
wells creak noticeably and a shadowy cocktail bar fea-
tures fading black-and-white photos of forgotten ’20s
parties, with men in tuxedos and women in frocks smil-
ing at the camera. There have been some updates over
the years. A mazelike passageway leads to a lonely pool,
for example, which doubles as a skating rink in winter.
In the ’60s, a third story and a new wing were added.
And the hotel kitchen now serves a host of Japanese
dishes, catering to both locals and Western visitors
with more contemporary palates. Chances are Ms. Bird
would have been alarmed by the Japanese breakfast—
consisting of tangy pickled vegetables, salted salmon
and nori (dried seasoned seaweed)—but, perhaps, as-
suaged by the restaurant’s house wine, produced by the
nearby Coco vineyard since the 1980s. It pairs espe-
cially well with the filet mignon.—Tony PerrottetTHEN NOW
1600 Under the Tokugawa
shogunate, feudal Japan is
closed off to foreign travelers
and merchants.
1853 U.S. Commodore Mat-
thew Perry sails into Edo har-bor (modern Tokyo) and de-
mands at gunpoint that Japan
open its doors to Western
trade. Travelers remain re-
stricted to areas within a 25
mile radius from treaty ports.
1868 After the so-called Meiji
Restoration, foreign travelers
are allowed to explore Japan
on specified routes.
1873 Zenichiro Kanaya lets out
rooms in his house in Nikko for
2 shillings a day, creating Ka-
naya Cottage Inn.
1878 Travel writer Isabella
Bird visits for 12 days, pro-
nounces the inn a “Japanese
idyll” in her best seller “Offthe Beaten Track in Japan.”
1885 Inn staff member
Shotara Sakamaki travels to
San Francisco to study hotelmanagement.
1893 Kanaya opens a fully-
fledged grand hotel near his
original inn. Rates are 150 Yen
a month, including meals
(roughly $7,000 today, or $230
a night).
1899 Travel restrictions on for-
eigners formally end.
1945 U.S. Army takes over the
hotel as a recreational facility.
1952 Kanaya Hotel resumes
guest operations.
1999 Nikko’s shrines and tem-
ples designated Unesco World
Heritage site.
2015 The 1873 “Cottage Inn” is
restored as a museum.How the
West Was
Won Over
A brief look at Japan’s
transformation from recluse
to tourist magnet, with an
assist from the Kanaya HotelStaying Power
Built during the Victorian age as a Western-style grand hotel, the
Nikko Kanaya Hotelstill eerily evokes the early days of tourism in JapanThe Nikko Kanaya Hotel in
the 1920s.The outside world’s fascination with Japan has hardly
eased. In fact, international tourist arrivals have ex-
ploded in recent years:1964 350,000
1977 1 million
2013 5 million
2018 31 million
2020 40 million
(projected
for the Tokyo
summer
Olympics year)Land of The Rising Visitor Counts
How times have changedThe new Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.NEWYORKCITY26 Varick St | 1625 York Ave WESTCHESTER16 Saw Mill River Rd, Hawthorne
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GROWTH SPURTThe Eastern-style annex, a 1935 addition to the hotel.CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: JOHN S LANDER/GETTY IMAGES; KYODO NEWS/GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY
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