Hoshino Resorts: How a Karuizawa Ryokan Became a Hotel Group
Hoshino Resorts began as a forestry business and a hot-spring inn in Karuizawa in 1914. Its fourth-generation head turned it into Hoshinoya, Kai, Omo and a string of other brands.
Hoshino Resorts began in Karuizawa, in Nagano. The family business started in forestry around 1904, and in 1914 Kuniji Hoshino opened the first Hoshino Onsen Ryokan. The company built its first hydroelectric plant in 1929, and in 1974 established Japan’s first National Wild Bird Forest.
A fourth-generation head
Yoshiharu Hoshino, born in Karuizawa in 1960, studied at Keio University and at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration. He became president of Hoshino Onsen in 1991, was removed about six months later, and was recalled in 1995, since when he has led the group. It was renamed Hoshino Resorts in 1995 and, from 1999, set itself the goal of zero-emission resorts.
The original site
The old ryokan site closed in 1995 and reopened in 2005 as Hoshinoya Karuizawa, described as Japan’s first eco-resort. It stands on the bank of the Yukawa river beneath Mount Asama, heated by geothermal energy and powered partly by mountain-stream hydroelectricity. It has 77 rooms, two hot-spring baths and a tea room.
The brands
From that base the group built a set of brands. Hoshinoya is the luxury line, with properties in Kyoto (2009), Taketomi (2012), Fuji (2015), Tokyo (2016), Bali (2017), Taiwan (2019) and Okinawa (2022). Kai runs traditional onsen resorts with kaiseki dining, from 2011; Risonare is for families; Omo, from 2018, is for city hotels. The group now runs some eighty facilities.
The Bali property is Hoshinoya Bali. To see what the Hoshinoya idea refers back to, read our guide to how a ryokan stay works.
