Japan does not need another destination. It has too many already.
What it needs quietly, without banners, is places that absorb travellers rather than process them. Shizuoka Prefecture, sitting politely between Tokyo and Nagoya, appears to have understood this earlier than most.
Only 40 minutes from Tokyo by bullet train, Shizuoka has long been passed through rather than paused in. Australians know it, vaguely, as the place where Mount Fuji behaves itself and green tea tastes the way it should. For decades, that was enough.
Now, without much fuss, Shizuoka is opening hotels. Not many at once. Not loudly. And not in a way that suggests it wants to become Kyoto’s understudy or Hakone’s understaffed cousin.
The timing is deliberate.
Japan’s big-name destinations are tiring locals first, travellers second. Shizuoka, by contrast, still feels lived in. It produces about 40 per cent of the country’s green tea, grows proper wasabi (the kind that doesn’t come in tubes), and still treats onsen bathing as a habit rather than a headline.
The hotel openings reflect that temperament.
Opening in March 2026, Nikengoya Lodge sits deep in the Southern Alps, where silence is not a feature but a condition. This is not countryside as performance. Guests are expected to listen to birds, water, and trees, and to fill their time accordingly. Tokyo remains close enough to escape from, which is the point, and far enough to forget about, which is the luxury.
At the other end of the prefecture, La Vista Atami Terrace, also opening in March, leans into geography rather than novelty. Every room, bath and dining space faces the sea. Dormy Hotels & Resorts has made a career of understanding how Japanese travellers actually relax, and this property continues that tradition without re-inventing it.
Later, in August 2026, Shijima Atami will open with just 26 rooms. Small by design, it plans to serve French cuisine anchored firmly in local seafood. There is nothing revolutionary here, just an insistence that luxury should be tied to place rather than imported wholesale.
Those wanting a city base will see a familiar name return when the Hamamatsu Marriott Hotel reopens in early 2026. Formerly the Grand Hotel Hamamatsu, the renewed property will offer 202 rooms and all-day dining, positioned sensibly for business travellers and visitors who prefer rail timetables to mountain trails. It is international comfort without unnecessary drama.
Shizuoka has not waited for these openings to begin welcoming guests.
In November, Izu Retreat Atami Suiko by Onkochishin opened quietly, with just 16 rooms, all facing the ocean and fitted with open-air baths fed by natural hot springs. It trades in nostalgia—real nostalgia, not themed imitation—and is designed for travellers who understand that memory is the most expensive souvenir.
September brought the edit x seven hotel to the Gotemba area, with uninterrupted views of Mount Fuji and a rare degree of flexibility. Rooms can be adapted to suit different travel styles, from wellness-focused stays with private saunas and a low-oxygen gym to a penthouse terrace that treats Fuji as a daily presence rather than a photo opportunity. It is dog-friendly, which says something about confidence.
Wellness is taken more formally at Gora Kadan Fuji, which began welcoming guests in July. Every room is a suite. Some include open-air baths; all carry a restrained Japanese aesthetic that does not announce itself. Four restaurants, a spa, an indoor pool, a fitness centre and a golf course complete the offering. Views extend across gardens or directly to the mountain, depending on the weather and the mood.
Also opening in July, Ito Hotel New Okabe returned the focus to bathing. Two garden baths, a cold indoor pool and a sauna form the backbone of a traditional stay that does not attempt to modernise what already works.
Away from hotels altogether, Shizuoka is also investing in cultural substance. The Mount Fuji Wooden Toy Museum, scheduled to open in summer 2026, aims to become Japan’s most beautiful toy museum. Built as a centre for wood education, it will explore how wooden toys engage all five senses across generations. It is an unflashy idea, which is why it fits.
For Australian travellers who have visited Japan once or twice and are no longer interested in queues or curated chaos, Shizuoka offers something rare: a sense that tourism has been added carefully, rather than poured on.
It does not shout.
It does not hurry.
And it does not ask to be discovered—only noticed.
More information is available at exploreshizuoka.jp/en/.
by Christine Nguyen – (c) 2025
Read Time: 4 minutes.
About the Writer.
Christine’s journey is one of quiet courage and unmistakable grace. Arriving in Australia as a young refugee from Vietnam, she built a new life in Sydney brick by brick, armed with little more than hope, family, and a fierce curiosity about the wider world. She studied Tourism at TAFE and found her calling in inbound travel, working with one of Sydney’s leading Destination Management Companies—where she delighted in showing visitors the real Australia, the one beyond postcards and clichés.
Years later, when the call of the sea and a gentler pace of life grew stronger, Christine and her family made their own great escape. She turned her creative hand to designing travel brochures and writing blogs, discovering that storytelling was as natural to her as breathing. Today, she brings that same warmth and worldly insight to Global Travel Media, telling stories that remind us why we travel in the first place.
