“Sitting in the steaming hot, mineral-rich water, windows open to the cool breezes, the city lights of Takamatsu sparkle in the distance like gemstones against the night’s velvet gown. Because even in darkness, true beauty always shines.”

Client: Setouchi Reflection Trip, the official travel guide to the Setouchi Region of Japan.

Project Description: Write a travel advertorial with photographs.

A Quote

“Sitting in the steaming hot, mineral-rich water, windows open to the cool breezes, the city lights of Takamatsu sparkle in the distance like gemstones against the night’s velvet gown. Because even in darkness, true beauty always shines.”

The Inside Scoop

This was a nice place that managed to blend upscale with chilled out.

Our interview source was awesome, and made us feel right at home. He literally just strolled up into our room at the appointed time, and shot the shit with us for a solid two hours. Like, in the end he was all, “Oh, you guys probably need time to check out our ryokan and stuff,” LOL! We would have loved just as much to keep chatting with him. He had a wealth of information.

I found it particularly interesting that the hotel’s founder had come back from what is now North Korea in 1948. She would have been returning to a postwar Japan under Allied occupation. My guess is that either things were getting hard over there as a Japanese business owner following the collapse of the Empire, or she could see the Korean War coming around the corner and got the eff out of dodge. Our contact, full of info as he was, tip-toed around that subject. In any case, it was tertiary to our purposes.

All that aside, the variety of different onsen configurations, our spacious yet traditional room, and the epic view (which I waxed poetical about more than once in the piece) all hit the spot.

My Favorite Part

The huge, personal onsen in our room with the gorgeous view that became like a rotenburo with the windows open. Totally refreshing.

See the results: 
Hanajyukai – Takamatsu’s Urban Ryokan