Rosewood Miyakojima Opens, the Brand’s First Resort in Japan

Rosewood Miyakojima opened on 5 March 2025 on a peninsula of Miyako, one of the Ryukyu Islands in Okinawa prefecture, some 300 kilometres south-west of the main island of Okinawa. It is Rosewood’s first hotel in Japan, and it chose neither Tokyo nor Kyoto for its debut but a subtropical island of coral reefs and sugar cane.

The resort has 55 villas and houses, almost all with private pools, designed by the Dutch practice Studio Piet Boon in low buildings of pale stone and timber that follow the shoreline. They are grouped in zones named in the local Miyako language, from the cliffside to the beach and the tip of the peninsula, and three large houses come with their own butler.

Dining at opening comprised Nagi, an all-day restaurant combining Italian and Japanese cooking, Maas, a seafood restaurant by the ocean, and Yukuu, a bar by the pool, with a Japanese washoku restaurant, Choma, announced for later in the year. Asaya, Rosewood’s wellness concept, has six treatment rooms, a yoga studio and a fitness centre, and draws on Okinawan healing traditions, in a prefecture known for the longevity of its inhabitants.

The programme makes use of the island. Guests can snorkel over the reefs and watch sea turtles, and on land there is karate, which originated in Okinawa, as well as pottery and the traditional weaving of Miyako. The resort’s managing director at opening, Noriko Nakayama, trained in environmental science and is a specialist in sea turtles.

Miyako is reached by direct flights from Tokyo and other Japanese cities, and the resort is close to the bridges that link it to neighbouring islets. For Rosewood, whose flagship in Asia is Rosewood Hong Kong, the opening adds a resort that can be combined with a city stay. For Japan, it confirms the arrival of the Okinawan islands on the international luxury map, alongside the ski resorts of Hokkaido and the ryokan of the main islands.