A large Matsumoto Honbako suite with dark slate tile floors, pale ash bar stools at a black granite kitchen counter, and a low platform bed to the right. Corrugated metal ceilings in two tones mark a change in ceiling height, while timber slatted screens and a shoji partition in the background hold the room's characteristic tension between industrial structure and Japanese craft.

Matsumoto Jujo Revitalises a Historic Hot Spring District in Japan with a Multifaceted Hospitality Proposition

Words by Yatzer

Asama Onsen, Matsumoto, Japan

Asama Onsen, a historic hot spring district in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, has been drawing visitors to its thermal springs in the foothills of Japan's Northern Alps for over a millennium. Like many such areas, it had lost much of its former lustre by the time Matsumoto Jujo, an ambitious hospitality project and Design Hotels member, opened in July 2022. Part of a broader effort to revitalise the area, the project takes over Koyanagi, a historic inn founded in 1686 that had long lost its original character, with not one but two distinct hotels that also include a sprawling bookstore, a bakery, a lifestyle shop, a restaurant, and a hard cider brewery.

Also featuring two off-site cafés, one of which, "Okyaki & Coffee", doubles as the reception desk—a deliberate arrangement that ensures every guest walks through the town before ever reaching their room—Matsumoto Jujo's vision is to draw visitors into the urban fabric as well as serve as a social hub for locals. This ambition is echoed in its design: rather than attempting to recreate the past, it reinvents it through a layered dialogue between an industrial aesthetic and the country's vernacular craft heritage.

The street-facing façade of Okyaki & Coffee, Matsumoto Jujo's off-site café and reception, its dark rendered exterior and traditional tiled roof softened by a young tree in fresh leaf and a linen noren at the entrance. The café's interior — hand-drip equipment, ceramic vessels and plants arranged in the window — is visible through wide panes of glass.

Okyaki & Coffee, the off-site café that doubles as the hotel's reception. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A quiet street in Asama Onsen, with the dark-plastered, timber-framed exterior of one of Matsumoto Jujo's off-site outposts visible on the right. Traditional tiled rooflines, overhead utility wires and a row of lamp posts bearing the neighbourhood's name convey the unhurried, slightly faded character of the hot spring town the project set out to revitalise.

Okyaki & Coffee, the off-site café that doubles as the hotel's reception. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

The upper-floor lounge of Okyaki & Coffee at Matsumoto Jujo, a richly textured space with exposed wattle-and-daub walls, dark timber roof beams against a charcoal ceiling, and teal-framed grid windows flooding the room with diffuse light. Vintage black leather chairs, a Windsor round table and a glass-topped coffee table furnish the interior with an eclectic, lived-in character.

Okyaki & Coffee. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A steamed oyaki dumpling in a blue-and-white porcelain dish alongside an amber glass cup of tea, placed on a polished timber table at Okyaki & Coffee, Matsumoto Jujo's off-site café. The pairing — a local Nagano speciality and a hand-brewed drink — embodies the project's commitment to regional culinary culture as part of the arrival experience.

Okyaki & Coffee. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A close-up of the hand-drip coffee preparation at Okyaki & Coffee, Matsumoto Jujo's off-site café and reception. A black gooseneck kettle pours over paper filters set on ceramic drippers, with glass carafes, branded take-away cups and a menu on a brass clipboard arranged on a dark steel surface below, the ritual of preparation given the same careful attention as the rest of the project.

Okyaki & Coffee. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

The development comprises two distinct hotels. “Matsumoto Honbako” occupies an existing structure and is the project's most arresting space. During demolition, the architectural team—Suppose Design Office, Schemata and Jiyujin Hotels, the hospitality group running the project—discovered that the stripped-back concrete structure possessed a raw beauty of its own. Rather than conceal scars, patched surfaces and structural traces, the renovation amplifies them, allowing old and new layers to remain visibly entangled.

In the 24 guest rooms, corrugated metal ceilings and industrial detailing sustain this charged atmosphere, while tatami flooring, sliding shoji screens and finely crafted timber joinery anchor each room in something more intimate. The result is spaces that feel simultaneously austere and deeply tactile. The pared-down interiors allow the expansive views of the surrounding mountains and townscape, framed by large windows, to take centre stage, transforming the changing light and weather into part of the spatial experience. Open-air baths fed by natural springs extend this atmosphere of elemental calm, their rough material palette heightening the sensory immediacy of water, steam and mountain air.

jpg A corner of a Matsumoto Honbako guest room where a modular low sofa in dark grey upholstery meets a pair of full-height shoji screens, their diffused light set directly against a raw concrete column. A dark tile-topped kitchen counter with a black matte tap and timber-framed window occupies the right, the view beyond hinting at the surrounding Matsumoto cityscape.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A Matsumoto Honbako guest room with a low bed, grey woven floor covering and a dark tile-clad kitchen counter running the length of one wall, opening onto a wide window with a view over the rooftops. Scarred concrete walls, corrugated metal ceilings and a shoji screen in the background together hold the room's central tension between industrial structure and Japanese craft tradition.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A Matsumoto Honbako guest room with a low platform bed set against a full-width patched concrete wall bearing the visible marks of past renovations. Paired globe bedside lamps cast a warm glow onto a dark timber headboard panel below, while corrugated metal overhead and a woven floor covering complete an interior where industrial rawness and considered comfort occupy the same space.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A private open-air hot spring bath in a Matsumoto Honbako suite, its dark stone-tiled basin framed between raw concrete walls and open to a wide panoramic view over the Matsumoto basin and distant hills. Corrugated metal overhead and warm ceiling spotlights give the space a measured intimacy, the still water surface reflecting the grey winter sky beyond.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A Matsumoto Honbako suite with a low platform bed centred against bare concrete walls, dark slate tile floors and corrugated metal overhead. Timber-framed shoji screens to the left illuminate a tatami alcove beyond, while a timber-framed opening on the right leads to a dark tile bathroom, the room held together by a quiet interplay of raw and refined surfaces.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A large Matsumoto Honbako suite with dark slate tile floors, pale ash bar stools at a black granite kitchen counter, and a low platform bed to the right. Corrugated metal ceilings in two tones mark a change in ceiling height, while timber slatted screens and a shoji partition in the background hold the room's characteristic tension between industrial structure and Japanese craft.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A private open-air bath terrace in a Matsumoto Honbako suite, with a dark stone-tiled plunge pool, cedar slatted decking and timber-framed glass doors leading to a sauna. Strong diagonal shadows from the corrugated metal roof cut across the raw concrete walls, and a small hinoki wooden pail rests at the bath's edge, the only concession to traditional onsen ritual.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A close-up of a private outdoor hot spring bath at Matsumoto Jujo, its dark stone basin fed by a small hinoki wooden spout, a lidded cedar pail resting on the surround. The still water surface reflects the surrounding greenery, and the patched concrete wall behind speaks quietly to the building's layered history.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A Matsumoto Honbako guest room with a dark walnut table and two woven-seat chairs at its centre, framed against a large picture window overlooking the snow-dusted Matsumoto townscape and Northern Alps beyond. Corrugated metal ceiling panels, raw concrete beams and dark stone tile surfaces give the room its characteristically austere yet considered atmosphere.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A window-side seating area in a Matsumoto Honbako guest room, with a low dark suede bench set against a shoji screen and a timber-framed balcony window overlooking green treetops. An Isamu Noguchi Akari floor lamp glows beside it, its washi paper shade casting soft amber light that bridges the room's industrial concrete shell and its softer Japanese interior elements.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A Matsumoto Honbako suite with a low timber platform bed at its centre, a rough-hewn stone step at its foot and an open-plan bathroom with dark tile walls and rain shower visible behind. A small Isamu Noguchi Akari lamp glows in the depths of the room, the warm light picking out the grain of the oak floor and the understated material richness of the space.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

jpg A spacious guest room in Matsumoto Honbako at Matsumoto Jujo, with a low bed in the foreground, dark tile floors and bare concrete beams overhead. A raised platform along the window wall holds two lounge chairs and a small bookshelf, while large timber-framed windows frame an expansive view over the Matsumoto townscape and the wooded hills beyond.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A detail of a Matsumoto Honbako guest room, with four pale ash bar stools lined up at a dark stone-topped kitchen counter beside a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the city. A small timber bookshelf with a curated selection of titles sits to the left, the view softened by linen curtains, the composition spare and considered throughout.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A low-slung dark upholstered sitting mat in a Matsumoto Honbako guest room, with two books resting on it and an Isamu paper lantern lamp casting a warm glow to one side. The large timber-framed window behind frames a sweeping view over the Matsumoto basin and the distant silhouette of the Northern Alps, the room deliberately stripped back to let the landscape do the work.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A small walnut shelving unit in a Matsumoto Honbako guest room, holding a curated selection of Japanese food and cookery titles displayed face-forward. Positioned against a scarred concrete wall and flanked by linen curtains, the arrangement distils the hotel's philosophy of placing books not as decoration but as an active part of the guest experience.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A private open-air hot spring bath in a Matsumoto Honbako suite, its large cracked stone tiles flush with the terrace level and open to a wide panoramic view of Matsumoto city and the Northern Alps beyond. Raw concrete columns and corrugated metal overhead frame the bath, with a reflection of the room's interior visible in the glass sliding door behind.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A close-up of a private outdoor hot spring bath at Matsumoto Jujo, its dark stone basin fed by a small hinoki wooden spout, a lidded cedar pail resting on the surround. The still water surface reflects the surrounding greenery, and the patched concrete wall behind speaks quietly to the building's layered history.

Hotel Koyanagi. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

Large windows and open-air baths can also be found in “Koyanagi”, which occupies a newly built structure, yet the atmosphere is quite different. Gone are the exposed concrete and metal surfaces; in their place, walls finished in diatomaceous earth and a generous use of natural timber imbue the rooms with a warmer, family-oriented character. Tatami floors, shoji screens and carved timber transom panels make these spaces more recognisably Japanese in feel, as do folk art prints by Samiro Yunoki and Umetaro Azechi.

A tatami room in the Koyanagi hotel at Matsumoto Jujo, with pale green rush-mat flooring, a coffered cedar ceiling and full-height shoji screens on either side. A finely carved timber transom panel depicting a windswept pine spans the doorway, while two low timber-framed lounge chairs face a balcony overlooking the Asama Onsen rooftops, an Isamu Noguchi Akari floor lamp glowing beside them.

Hotel Koyanagi. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A detail of a Koyanagi hotel guest room, with two curved spindle-back armchairs in warm toned timber set on pale tatami flooring beside a shoji screen. The pared-back composition — no excess, no ornamentation beyond the chairs' own crafted form — captures the quietly refined character of Koyanagi's more recognisably Japanese interior language.

Hotel Koyanagi. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A Koyanagi hotel guest room with matte black walls and ceiling, a low platform bed and wide timber-framed windows looking out onto a dense stand of winter trees. A geometric timber lantern to the right and a small floor cushion by the window give the spare, intimate room a quiet contemplative quality, the natural light doing most of the work.

Hotel Koyanagi. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A corner detail of a Koyanagi hotel guest room, with a walnut chest of drawers, wall-mounted cabinet and open rail beneath a matte black ceiling. Strong raking light from the timber-framed corner window picks out the wood grain against the dark walls, the tiled rooftops and bare winter trees of Asama Onsen visible outside.

Hotel Koyanagi. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A private bath in a Koyanagi hotel guest room, its deep square tub filled with steaming onsen water and enclosed entirely in pale vertical-grain cedar. A slatted timber louvre window above diffuses soft light into the compact, fragrant space, a lidded cedar pail resting on the tub surround in the only gesture toward ornament.

Koyanagi. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

The landscaped courtyard of Matsumoto Jujo at dusk, with slender trees, mossy groundcover and scattered rocks framing a covered walkway hung with printed linen noren curtains. Warm accent lighting catches the fabric and the dark steel columns, setting a quietly ceremonial mood against the traditional tiled roofline of the original inn beyond.

Courtesy of Design Hotels.

The project's most defining gesture can be found in Matsumoto Honbako's ground-floor public areas, where towering bookshelves unfold through the bookstore, lounge and restaurant, dissolving the boundaries between hospitality, culture and everyday life. Housing around 10,000 titles selected by renowned book director Yoshitaka Haba and the team at Japanese publisher Nippan, the collection spans photography, art, essays and introductory texts intended to spark curiosity and unexpected encounters. Rather than treating books as static props, the project encourages guests to browse freely as they move between reading, dining and lingering, creating an atmosphere that feels closer to a contemporary cultural centre than a conventional hotel lobby.

A long perspective through the ground-floor corridor of Matsumoto Honbako, with floor-to-ceiling dark timber bookshelves and a flat magazine display table to the left, and a glimpse of the garden terrace beyond. Exposed pipework runs overhead, a deep red ceiling panel marks the transition toward the bookstore's inner depths, and a small velvet sofa offers a spot to settle in.

Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A ground-level view along the bookstore corridor of Matsumoto Honbako, where dark walnut shelving runs the full length of the space, broken at intervals by raw concrete columns bearing the visible patina of past repairs. The warm glow of spotlights picks out colourful spines and cover-forward displays, creating a sense of depth and quiet invitation.

Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A deep red zone within the Matsumoto Honbako bookstore, where a burgundy noren curtain embroidered with the hotel's name marks the entrance to a reading alcove. Scarred concrete columns rise through the crimson-ceilinged space, and books are laid flat on a tiled surface at floor level, encouraging an unhurried, floor-bound browsing experience.

Courtesy of Design Hotels.

The central hall of the Matsumoto Honbako bookstore seen head-on, with a towering walnut shelving grid rising the full height of the double-volume space, densely layered with art and photography titles. A crimson carpet, a recessed tiled bath and a deep red ceiling beam compose a bold chromatic counterpoint to the raw concrete walls on either side.

Courtesy of Design Hotels.

The children's bookstore section at Matsumoto Honbako, with low stepped timber shelving units displaying illustrated books at a child's eye level, lit by warm globe pendant lamps. A young child runs across the red-carpeted floor between the shelves, while a ball pool visible in the foreground signals the family-oriented character of the Koyanagi hotel next door.

Courtesy of Design Hotels.

Two children play in a large ball pool filled with white spheres at Matsumoto Jujo's family-oriented Koyanagi hotel. Seen from above, the image captures the unguarded delight of the space, its sea of uniform white balls offering an unexpectedly playful counterpoint to the project's otherwise considered, material-led aesthetic.

Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A wide view of the Matsumoto Honbako bookstore and lounge, looking toward the restaurant beyond through red-framed shelving bays. In the foreground, low modular sofas in dark grey flank a vivid red reception counter, while an illuminated shoji-style ceiling panel above introduces a note of Japanese craft into the otherwise industrial concrete and metal interior.

Courtesy of Design Hotels.

The 367 restaurant at Matsumoto Honbako, centred on a large stone-topped counter surrounding an open wood-fired hearth, flanked by stacked logs and book-lined shelving framed in dark red steel. Bare concrete beams and corrugated metal ceilings overhang the space, while round timber tables and wooden chairs with black leather seats complete the austere, warmly lit dining room.

367 restaurant. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

Sharing the ground floor, “367”, the hotel’s restaurant, carries the same curatorial spirit into the dining room. Named for the 367-kilometre length of the Shinano River, it is anchored by an open wood-fired hearth, its menu rooted in the Shinshu region's landscape and seasons, tracing the river's full journey, from its source in the Southern Alps to where it finally meets the Sea of Japan.

Meanwhile, the restored “Koyanagi no Yu” bathhouse reconnects guests to the social history of Asama Onsen itself. Once used by lower-ranking samurai, it sits alongside neighbouring baths historically reserved for high-ranking samurai and the feudal lord of Matsumoto, preserving the spatial memory of a deeply stratified bathing culture while opening it to contemporary visitors.

The 367 restaurant at Matsumoto Honbako during evening service, with diners seated at round timber tables and along the stone counter facing the open wood-fired hearth. Stacked logs flank the fire on either side, book-lined shelving fills the walls in red-framed bays, and corrugated metal overhead absorbs the warm, flickering light of the kitchen in full service.

367 restaurant. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A traditional Japanese meal arrangement on a lacquered red tray at Matsumoto Jujo, with four hand-painted porcelain vessels holding seasonal ingredients — thinly sliced raw fish, a sesame-dressed green vegetable, pickled daikon and a braised root — each piece of tableware distinct in pattern and period, underscoring the project's deep engagement with local craft and culinary heritage.

367 restaurant. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

Three chefs in dark aprons work in focused concentration at the open counter kitchen of the 367 restaurant, plating dishes by the light of the wood-fired hearth behind them. Raw concrete walls, red-framed shelving and a bare bulb pendant lamp frame the scene in the characteristic industrial atmosphere of Matsumoto Honbako.

367 restaurant. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

The 367 restaurant at Matsumoto Jujo, where dark walnut shelving lines raw concrete walls beneath a corrugated metal ceiling. Round timber dining tables and a large perforated drum pendant lamp occupy the foreground, the warm pooled light creating an intimate atmosphere within the industrial shell.

367 restaurant. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

The exterior of the bathhouse at Matsumoto Jujo at dusk, a compact structure clad in pale timber with a copper roof and white noren curtains marking the entrance. A granite-paved forecourt, mature trees and a composed rock garden setting evoke the unhurried atmosphere of a traditional onsen town.

Koyanagi no Yu - hot spring bathhouse. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

An aerial view of the bathhouse roof, clad entirely in standing-seam copper that glows warm amber in the daylight. The structure sits within a dense canopy of trees and flowering shrubs, with a gravel garden path and granite stepping stones visible below, the copper surface already beginning its slow patination.

Koyanagi no Yu - hot spring bathhouse. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

The interior of the bathhouse at Matsumoto Jujo, lined floor to ceiling in pale vertical-grain cedar with an exposed timber beam ceiling above. A shallow stone-tiled hot spring bath occupies the centre, a single river rock placed at its edge, with a framed opening at the far end drawing the gaze directly into the garden beyond.

Koyanagi no Yu - hot spring bathhouse. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A close view of the bathhouse entrance, with plain white noren curtains bearing Japanese characters hanging from pale cedar cladding. The lush garden beyond — rocks, broad-leaved trees and a gravel path — frames the scene in layered greenery, the overall mood quietly ceremonial.

In a country where the relationship between tradition and modernity is rarely simple, Matsumoto Jujo makes no attempt to resolve the tension, only to inhabit it with conviction. That the town's oldest inn now ranks among its most forward-looking addresses feels less like a paradox than a very Japanese kind of logic.

A Matsumoto Honbako guest room at dusk, its bare concrete walls and corrugated metal ceiling receding into near-darkness as the view through large timber-framed windows commands the room entirely. The Northern Alps and a dramatic evening sky fill the aperture, while two low timber-framed chairs with dark cushions and an Isamu Noguchi Akari lamp provide the only interior accent.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A long Matsumoto Honbako guest room seen from the sleeping area, with a low platform bed, a row of modular dark suede seating and a floating desk with bentwood chair receding toward a floor-to-ceiling window framing a night view of the Matsumoto cityscape. Corrugated metal ceilings and patinated concrete and tile surfaces run the full length of the room.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A detail of a Matsumoto Honbako guest room, with a modular dark suede bench on an aluminium frame running along a raw concrete wall. An Isamu Noguchi Akari table lamp glows amber on a low timber surface beside it, its washi paper shade casting warm light that softens the industrial severity of the setting and underlines the project's recurring dialogue between Japanese craft and bare structure.

Matsumoto Honbako. Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A darkened Matsumoto Jujo guest room at dusk, framing a balcony through floor-to-ceiling glass doors where a woven chair and small round table sit in silhouette. Beyond the railing, the Matsumoto basin and a blue-hour panorama of the Northern Alps recede into the distance — the view given full presence by the near-total darkness of the room around it.

Courtesy of Design Hotels.

A night-time façade at Matsumoto Jujo, its illuminated interior revealed through a large grid window divided into orderly panes. Warm light picks out layered timber screens, potted plants and lifestyle objects arranged on the sill, while rocks and a shallow water feature in the foreground underscore the Japanese vernacular character.

Asama Onsen Shoten - lifestyle shop. Courtesy of Design Hotels.