Japan’s First Tea Hotel, Steeped in History and Nature

Concept

Enter the verdant, invigorating world of Japanese tea. Once one of the largest merchant towns on the island of Kyushu, the city of Yame is recognized today as Japan’s premier tea-growing region, particularly for its gyokuro (meaning “jade dew”). Gyokuro tea is nurtured by the shade of Yame’s sloping hills and the gentle mist that envelops the plants every morning, giving the tea its characteristic deep, rich, almost savory flavor. The Nipponia Hotel Yame Fukushima Merchant Town is your guide to this timeless symbol of Japanese culture. Located in the center of the city’s historical district, the hotel occupies a former tea shop and sake brewery surrounded by 130 buildings dating back hundreds of years. Welcome to Japan’s first tea hotel and the start of a journey of discovery into the world of Japanese traditions, architecture, sake, and more.

Discover Yame

Located south of Fukuoka, Kyushu’s biggest city, the city of Yame grew up around Fukushima Castle, built in 1587. The castle was eventually destroyed, but the surrounding castle town with its white-clay walls survived and thrived through the years, allowing Yame to become a center for traditional crafts, such as Japanese paper, stone lanterns, Buddhist altars, and bamboo handicrafts. Yet through all this, the city never lost touch with its soul—tea, which is today regarded as one of the best in Japan and even the world. Exemplified by the Yame Chuo Tea Garden, a seventy-hectare tea plantation, the tea culture of Yame is a link to the eternal spirit of Japanese culture.

Expand Your Itinerary

With easy access to Fukuoka, a major transportation hub, Yame is a convenient base for exploring every corner of Kyushu, one of Japan’s four main islands. First, though, you’ll need to fuel up, so grab a bowl or two of Fukuoka’s famous Hakata ramen. Made from tonkotsu (pork bone) broth and ultra-thin, firm noodles with just a few toppings, Hakata ramen is available all over Japan—but it tastes best in the place of its birth. After that, the sky is the limit. You can visit Kumamoto Castle and soak up four hundred years of history accumulated there or wash away all your troubles in Beppu, Japan’s most popular onsen (hot spring) area. If Beppu’s waters are not hot enough for you, visit Kagoshima, where you can marvel at the awe-inspiring Sakurajima, an active volcano. Let Yame be your gateway to Kyushu.

Our Story

Tea was first produced in Yame during the Muromachi period (1336–1573) after a Buddhist monk returned from Ming-dynasty China and introduced the plant to the region. Centuries later, Yame tea, produced using traditional cultivation methods, is known for its high quality. Thanks to tea and the traditional crafts that sprang up in the town around Fukushima Castle, Yame flourished during the Edo period (1603–1867). Remaining from that time is Yame’s merchant district of preserved historic buildings, two of which Nipponia Hotel Yame Fukushima Merchant Town converted into upscale guesthouses in April 2020: the former Otsubo Tea Shop and the sake brewery Kitaya. Welcome to a historic town that traditional Japanese culture built.

Tangible History

OTUBO TYAHO: The site of the OTUBO TYAHO guesthouse, formerly belonging to a lumber merchant, was occupied by the Otsubo Tea Shop from the early Showa period (1926–89) until the end of the twentieth century. Featuring plastered white walls, a separate tatami (straw mat) room, and storehouses from the Taisho period (1912–26), the site contains an accumulation of more than a century of Japanese history.

KITAYA BETTEI: Housing the hotel’s front desk, dining room, sake bar, and guestrooms, the KITAYA BETTEI is a former sake brewery located in the center of Yame’s historic preservation district. Originally a vast complex of private residences, brewery houses, and distilleries, one of which still makes shochu (distilled liquor), KITAYA BETTEI places guests in the heart of Yame’s centuries-old culture.

Welcome Tea: Upon arrival, guests of Nipponia Hotel Yame Fukushima Merchant Town will be greeted with a cup of sencha, a variety of green tea different from gyokuro, because it is grown in sunlight and has a light, refreshing taste with floral accents. Some might say it tastes of spring and summer. We like to think that it’s one of the essential flavors of Yame itself.

Rooms

We have added modern comforts to our accommodations while keeping as much as possible of their traditional ambience in order to preserve a piece of Japanese history for future generations. Nipponia Hotel Yame Fukushima Merchant Town comprises two buildings, each with four guestrooms of different sizes and degrees of historical touches. For guests who have never stayed in a traditional Japanese house before, we recommend KITAYA BETTEI’s VMG Grand rooms, which feature exposed beams, shoji screens, fusuma sliding panels, low tables, and other classic elements of Japanese interior design and architecture.

Restaurants & Dining

Le Un: We use the bounty of the mountains, rivers, and sea of the Chikugo region, where Yame is located, to bring our guests a moment of tasteful tranquillity through unique gastronomic dishes. The guiding principles of Le Un are “the here” and “the now,” pointing to our focus on seasonal farm-to-table ingredients. Savor such local delicacies as funagoya (boathouse) beef, with its juicy sweetness, and the many gifts of the rivers of Chikugo. We also use tea-leaf extracts in our soup stocks in pursuit of the ultimate culinary experience that connects our guests to the culture of Yame and the natural world.

Before dinner, you will be served a cup of rich gyokuro tea from Yame to start you off on your gourmet journey. You may also enjoy tea before or after dinner in the form of aperitifs or digestifs, which our staff will be happy to recommend. Also on the menu is sake and nonalcoholic drinks to please everyone.

Capacity: 48
Opening Hours:
Lunch: 11:30 a.m.–3:00 p.m. (L.O. 2:00 p.m.)
Dinner: 5:30 p.m.–10:00 p.m. (L.O. 8:00 p.m.)

Cultural Experiences

Yame Chuo Tea Garden Tour: Located just a ten-minute drive from the hotel, the vast Chuo plantation is open 24 hours a day. Here, you can find pleasurable sights from the observation deck any time of the day or night—colorful sunsets in the evening, starry skies at night, and misty tea fields in the early morning.

Tea Baths: Put a hemp bag filled with tea leaves in your bath, and let it soak to fill the bathroom with the fragrant aroma of Yame. It’s said that the tea leaves also have a beautifying effect on the skin.

Craft Workshops: Central Yame is known as a craft town where artisans create Japanese cultural treasures using traditional methods. This is a small-group tour of the city’s leading workshops, which make everything from Buddhist altars to paper lanterns, allowing you to connect with Yame in a fun, immersive environment.

Our Difference

At Nipponia Hotel Yame Fukushima Merchant Town, we want our guests to feel the elemental power of tea. Grown from soil, nourished by water and mist, and prepared with fire, Japan’s famous drink is the very embodiment of the harmony that exists in nature. Our hotel combines a journey into this fascinating, primordial world with historic accommodations overflowing with traditional charm for an experience you can’t find anywhere else. We hope to welcome you with a cup of Yame tea very soon.

Welcome

Our mission is to present our guests with the gift of time. Time that flows endlessly through the nature and culture of Japan. Time set aside to make lifelong memories with your loved ones. Time that you will one day reflect back on with a smile. We strive to give you these experiences through the art of Japanese hospitality, the distinctiveness of accommodations that tell rich stories from Japan’s great past, and the breaking of language barriers by our English-speaking staff. We hope to see you soon.

Number of rooms: 8
Capacity: 1–4 guests per room
Check-in: 3:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
Checkout: until noon
Languages: Japanese and English
Tel: +81 (0)120-210-289