The Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts Hakone-Sengokuhara -New Local Experience Package: Includes Local Sake Brewery Tour and Tasting Plus Yosegi Marquetry Workshop Tour

(TRAVPR.COM) JAPAN - July 12th, 2019 - Starting this July, The Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts Hakone-Sengokuhara offer guests the opportunity to experience only-in-Hakone traditional culture with packages with options include a tour and tasting at a local sake brewery along with a sake pairing dinner, and a tour of a famous Hakone Yosegi Marquetry workshop.

Experience: Local Sake Brewery

Sake brewer Inoue Shuzô was founded in 1789. Participants in the tour of this historic brewery will be shown brewing processes and approaches to sake tasting not revealed to casual visitors. The tour will end with a tasting in which they sample and compare the complete lineup of Inoue Shuzô sakes, including its top-of-the-line  Hakoneyama.

The Japanese sake pairing dinner offers guests the opportunity to enjoy a variety of Inoue Shuzô sakes with original Italian cuisine influenced by Japanese cooking techniques, made with local, Hakone-only seasonal ingredients.

Recommended Plan: Overnight stay with tour and tasting at Inoue Shuzô, one of Hakone’s leading sake brewers with Japanese Sake pairing dinner

* The best season is during November and March when the brewing is actually done, but the brewery can still be observed during April and October.

* Total required time for this tour is approximately 3 hours: including sake brewery tour and tasting (60min) and transportation (120min).

* Reservation required 30 days in advance.

Experience: Yosegi Marquetry

This tour visits a workshop that specializes in Yosegi Marquetry, a traditional handicraft born in the Edo period. The workshop Hakone Maruyama Bussan, is located in front of the Hakone checkpoint on the old Tokaido, the main route connecting Edo and Kyoto during the Edo period. There visitors will have the opportunity not only to see skilled craftsmen at work close-up but also to make their own secret-box puzzles.

What is Yosegi Marquetry?

Hakone’s mountains have long been famous for the diversity of their forests. One outcome is Hakone Yosegi Marquetry, a traditional craft whose history begins in the Edo period. Its art lies in combining many different types of wood, taking advantages of their different colors to produce items decorated with finely detailed geometric patterns. Complex wooden puzzles are one especially attractive form of Yosegi Marquetry.

Recommended Plan: Overnight stay with Hakone tour and a visit to Yosegi Marquetry workshop. Includes demonstration by Yosegi Marquetry master craftsmen, workshop, and a visit to the Sekisho Karakuri Museum.  

*Total time required for this tour is approximately 3 hours: including Yosegi Marquetry workshop (60min), Hakone tour (60min) and transportation (60min).

*After the workshop, an English speaking driver will take you to a Hakone sightseeing tour to Ashinoko Lake and either Hakone Shrine or Owakudani area.

*Reservation required 14 days in advance.  

About: The Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts Hakone-Sengokuhara

Sengokuhara is a part of Hakone poetically described as “Japan’s quintessential Shangri-la ”. Here you will find The Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts Hakone-Sengokuhara, a boutique hotel and restaurant with only eleven rooms. Each room has its own hot spring-fed bath where visitors can relax and enjoy the majestic panorama of the mountains surrounding Hakone. Full-course meals include a luxurious selection of seasonal local ingredients, and the warmth of the hospitality is unsurpassed. New facilities scheduled to open on the same site in September 2019 include a four-story residence with nine additional rooms, four of which are Presidential Suites. 

HP: http://www.hiramatsuhotels.com/eng/sengokuhara/

About: HIRAMATSU HOTELS

Founded in 1982, The Hiramatsu started as Restaurant Hiramatsu, a French restaurant in the grande maison tradition. Founder Hiroyuki Hiramatsu was the first Japanese owner-chef in France specializing in French cuisine to win a Michelin star and create a solid foundation for French cuisine in Japan. In 2015, he entered the hotel business and in 2016 opened The Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts Kashikojima(Ise-Shima). All of his hotels and restaurants embody the same ideal, the perfection of personal service that offers visitors a truly memorable stay. Drawing a wealth of experience, these hotel-restaurants are exceptional in Japan in being fully prepared to satisfy the needs of customers with vegetarian, sugar-free, or gluten-free diets. There are currently five The Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts in Ise-Shima, Hakone, Atami, Okinawa and Nara. A sixth, in Kyoto, is scheduled to open in 2020.

＜Our Hotels＞

・THE HIRAMATSU HOTELS & RESORTS KASHIKOJIMA (ISE-SHIMA)
・THE HIRAMATSU HOTELS & RESORTS ATAMI
・THE HIRAMATSU HOTELS & RESORTS SENGOKUHARA (HAKONE)
・THE HIRAMATSU HOTELS & RESORTS GINOZA (OKINAWA)
・L’AUBERGE DE PLAISANCE SAKURAI (NARA)

A new luxury hotel to open in Kyoto in spring 2020, and in Miyota-cho, Karuizawa, in the summer.

L’Auberge de Plaisance Sakurai stands in the grounds of the Nara Agriculture and Food International College and is operated by Hiramatsu Inc.

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