Welcoming the West: Japan's Grand Resort Hotels

Japan’s grand resort hotels, built during the era between the Restoration of the Meiji Emperor in 1868 until the outbreak of war in the late 1930s, are some of the most engaging and enduring examples of the country’s cross-fertilization with the West. As an unprecedented flow of people and ideas entered the country in the late 19th century, Japanese hoteliers began to tailor their businesses and buildings to receive foreign emissaries and adventurous travelers, and provide glamorous settings in which worldly Japanese and curious Westerners could mingle. Eager to champion both its national identity and its status as a modern nation, these business owners looked to adapt Western hotel standards to the cultural demands of the Japanese archipelago. Welcoming the West focuses on six of these grand resort hotels: the Nara, the Fujiya, the Nikko Kanaya, the Fuji View, the Biwako and the Gamagori.