TOKYO -- The historic Nikko Kanaya Hotel, the oldest Western-style resort hotel in Japan, is going back to its roots and making a new push to attract foreign guests. Three branches of the original family business are coming together to promote its venerated name.
Established in 1873, the hotel, originally called Kanaya Cottage Inn, was inspired by a chance encounter between local Shinto shrine musician Zenichiro Kanaya and James Curtis Hepburn, an American Christian missionary who visited the town of Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture, an area known for its natural beauty, as a tourist.
