Japan’s outdoor adventure developer and one of the newest ATTA members, MENEX Company Limited, is pleased to announce that it opened Japan’s first expedition hotel Zenagi in the Kiso Valley where hundreds of thousands of tourists visit from all over the world in search of the scenic post-town landscape of the Nakasendo trail and the great untouched nature.
Being founded and operated by a group of Olympic athletes and world champions in various fields including canoeing, rafting, paragliding, snowboarding and mountain biking, MENEX has decided to offer a tailor-made outdoor adventure tour in the unexplored state-owned forests that are not open to the public but only to Zenagi’s guests who will be escorted by professional guides. All expedition tours will be exclusively designed to the needs of the guests ranging from outdoor beginners to families with children to professional athletes; some examples include shower climbing in crystal-clear waters and electric mountain biking combined with cultural experiences such as Japanese papermaking and green tea harvesting in Nagiso Town, which is designated as one of Japan’s most beautiful villages.
Over recent years, Nagiso Town has increasingly gained in popularity amongst inbound tourists, with more than half a million people annually visiting the tourist spot Tsumago Juku. The Tsumago Juku is one of the best-preserved post-towns where samurai warriors from only 150 years ago had stayed when they traveled to Edo, currently known as Tokyo, via the Nakasendo Trail. With the ambiance of the Edo period, the landscape is often said to be better than Kyoto by overseas guests.
Likewise, the feel of Edo can be experienced at Zenagi whose building was originally a farmhouse from a few hundred years ago and was renovated in a modern Japanese style. Furniture and bathtubs are made by hand from local craftsmen using Hinoki cypress trees that are still dedicated to the Ise Shrine where ancestral deities of Japan’s Imperial family have been enshrined.
At Zenagi, all accommodation packages include at least one expedition tour and three meals, which are produced by two Michelin-Starred chefs, Hidehito Uchiyama of Ginza Uchiyama and Patrizia Di Benedetto from Bye Bye Blues in Sicily, Italy. Both Japanese and Western Slow Food meals are prepared using local ingredients such as Kiso beef, Shinshu salmon, catfish, edible wild plants and vegetables, all of which are the benefits of natural rivers and mountains in the Kiso Valley.
MENEX is committed to promote adventure tourism in Japan and revitalize the rural areas in collaboration with the national and local governments through adding up to ten properties like Zenagi over the next decade.
To find out more, please visit the Zenagi website.