General view of the Nikko Hotel, Nikko, c. 1910.

See also:
Nikko, Japan, c. 1910
Kanaya Hotel, Nikko, c. 1920
A View of Lake Chuzenji, Nikko, c. 1910

“At the Nikko Hotel in Nikko we gained our first experience of a Japanese hotel owned and managed by a Japanese: and a very pleasing experience it was. The proprietor caters to both foreigners and his own countrymen; and in one portion of the hotel the rooms are Japanese fashion, and in the other European fashion, both being spick-and-span and as clean as a thrifty housemaid can make them. As we approach, a hurry and bustle about the portico is visible, and when we reach it two rows of merry little ladies all bows and smiles, and a sprinkling of men, with the proprietor, all help us to alight, who fuss about as if one of the most important events in history was just happening.

“The charge is 2-1/2 to 3 dollars a head per day, or 90 dollars a month. This includes everything. Hot baths all day and every day, lights, attendants, boots, three square meals, besides early breakfast (the chota-hazri of the East), also afternoon tea. The cuisine at this hotel was excellent only when compared to what one would expect in a small country inn, but really first-rate. The cook had evidently been highly trained by a European in all the more delicate minutia of his art, whilst the solid joys of the table were amply represented by the best salmon and salmon-trout, admirable beef, and first-class poultry. The beers and wines were very good, and the prices lower than we pay at a hotel in England.”

– On Short Leave to Japan, George John Younghusband, 1894

Nikko Hotel, Nikko, c. 1920.

“The Nikko Hotel at Nikko, managed by Mr. Arai, is one of the finest in the Far East. Mr. Arai is a prince of hosts and a man who never grudges going out of his way to oblige a guest. This hotel is in a magnificent location surrounded by spacious grounds.”

– “The Hotels of Japan”, The Overland Monthly, January, 1910

Map: Nikko, 1907, depicting the area surrounding Nikko village including the Nikko Hotel (at lower-center, across from ‘Iri-machi’) and the Kanaya Hotel (lower-right).