A new hotel in a traditional wooden house has been opened in a small village in Yamanashi Prefecture in the hope of revitalizing an area that it is grappling with a declining population.
The village of Kosuge, where the population has fallen by 40 percent to around 700 over the past three decades, is aiming to transform itself by further remodeling vacant dwellings to provide accommodation for tourists.
The new hotel, Nipponia Kosuge Genryu no Mura (Kosuge: Village of the Headstream), which opened in August, has four rooms that are decked out with Nordic furniture and lighting while maintaining the warmth of the wooden structure, constructed out of zelkova and pine trees.