Exteriors by Mother Nature Furnishings by Mount Fuji

Sticking to its roots, the Hoshino Resorts group has opened a new hotel that’s nothing if not stunning. In the foothills of a Japanese icon, it offers its guests an immersive return to nature.

The songs of unseen insects hum in our ears. The air is cool, but not cold. It’s the sort of air you don’t get in Tokyo. A deep, slow breath in is all it takes for the sweetly striking scents of Japanese cedars and red pines to be added to the mix. Where else offers this kind of early-morning, mid-forest mental relaxation? This is surely what people mean when they talk about complete immersion in luxury. Hoshinoya Fuji, which Hoshinoya Resorts opened in October 2015, is a hotel of a radically new kind that offers its guests an unrestricted opportunity to embrace the magic of the woodland. This resort’s unique selling point is the experience of camping among the trees. This is no ordinary campsite, however: it’s Japan’s first glamping site, its cue coming from a new idea that’s taken the world by storm over the last few years. Behind the neologism, two seemingly contradictory notions are fused together, as glamour, prestige and charm are combined with camping. Each stage that accompanies a successful stay at an ordinary campsite, from packing bags to taking down a tent, not to mention finding food, making a fire and cooking, requires technical know-how and significantenergy. The whole experience, in an unfamiliar environment and with the various tools and utensils it brings with it, can prove difficult, though. The difference for anyone glamping at Hoshinoya Fuji is that all this stress has been taken away. The resort boasts air conditioning and top-quality dishes prepared by an on-site chef. The stylish surroundings of the terrace offer guests the chance to enjoy their glasses of champagne or whisky in the warmth of a wood fire. The most important feature that’s worth highlighting, however, is the location: the resort is positioned alongside Mount Fuji, the highest and most spectacular mountain in Japan, and an object of veneration in the country since ancient times. The bedrooms are designed to face the peak of the mountain, with each room providing a clear view of ‘Her Majesty’.

Glamping may well be glamorous, but it also offers the immersion into nature of camping: there’s no escalator to help you climb these slopes, and the journey from cabin to terrace alone takes some effort. When the summer sun hits, of course, it can get hot, just as winters here prove cold. This ‘physical communion’ with nature is camping’s real charm, though. At Hoshinoya Fuji glamping resort, the luxury service that frees visitors of unnecessary hardships enables them to immerse themselves fully in the purest joys of living in the heart of the natural world.

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