Guesthouses Are Proliferating in Japan's Countryside

choi

Amy Chavez, Guesthouses Are Proliferating in Japan's Countryside, But at What Cost? Japan Times, Apr 24, 2016.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/comm ... s-countryside-cost/

Note:
(1) "The authentic experience: Guests and hosts share a meal around the hearth at a minshuku in Ayabe, Kyoto Prefecture. Running a minshuku or ryokan — both of which involve looking after guests in the owner's home — is a lot more work than operating a standard guesthouse, where travelers generally take care of themselves."
(a) Ayabe, Kyōto  京都府 綾部市
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayabe,_Kyoto
(in Kyōto Prefecture 京都府)

The capital of Kyōto Prefecture is City of Kyōto 京都市, which is colored purple in this Wiki page and to the southeast of Ayabe.
(b) ゲストハウス
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ゲストハウス
([katakana of] guesthouse, guest house; may refer to
"1. 訪問者のための宿泊施設、母屋とは別に用意された建物。国賓などを迎え入れる設備は迎賓館（The Guesthouse）と呼ばれる。
2. 安価な簡易宿泊施設。簡易宿所、B&B [bed and breakfast] の類。（簡易宿所型ゲストハウス）")

my translation of 2: cheap, simple boarding facility.

(2) "Guesthouses are popping up all over Japan's countryside. Even where I live, on Shiraishi Island (population 542) in the middle of the Seto Inland Sea, a new guesthouse will open in June."

Kasaoka, Okayama  笠岡市
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasaoka,_Okayama

includes Kasaoka Islands 笠岡 諸島 (composed of six inhabited islands an da few uninhabited ones) that extend south into the Inland Sea. The second largest island, northeast of the largest one, is Shira-ishi Island 白石島 (shira 白 is a prefix; shi-ro-i 白い is an adjective).

(3) "At just ¥3,000 per person per night, it [a guesthouse room] also provides budget accommodation for travelers who may find them an attractive alternative to traditional minshuku and higher-class ryokan, both of which typically include extravagant meals."

ryokan (inn)  旅館
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryokan_(inn)
(section 3 Minshuku: "Minshuku 民宿 are a budget version of ryokan, roughly equivalent to a British boarding house or a bed and breakfast")
(4) "Running a minshuku or ryokan really is a lot of work[:] * * * cleaning the rooms, washing the sheets and making up the futons."

make up (vt): "to set in order <rooms are made up daily>"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/make%20up

choi

(5) "We're having a morning cup of joe and a gluten-free muffin while sitting in the restaurant of his recently opened Uno Port Inn, a refurbished minshuku-cum-guesthouse. Uno is the jump-off point for most tourists to Naoshima [香川県]直島[町] and some of the other 'art islands' [an English term; used as such even in Japanese-language articles] of the Seto Inland Sea. The guesthouse is conveniently located near the train station 宇野駅 [駅 is Japanese (simplified) variant of 驛] and across the street from Uno Port, where the ferries leave for the islands."
(a) Uno Port  宇野港 (where "u" and "no" are Chinese and Japanese pronunciations, respectively, of kanji 宇 and 野.
(i) Uno Port is part of Tamano 玉野(市), Okayama 岡山(県).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamano,_Okayama
(Before the Great Seto Bridge was opened, there was a train ferry between Uno Port in Tamano and Takamatsu (香川県)高松(市) on Shikoku 四国)
(A) Great Seto Bridge  瀬戸大橋 (opened 1988; At 13.1 kilometers (8.1 mi), it ranks as the world's longest two-tiered [or double-deck] bridge system")  en.wikipedia.org

Why double-deck?  Automobiles on the top deck and trains on the lower deck. See 瀬戸中央自動車道 (瀬戸大橋). 本州四国連絡高速道路株式会社 (abbreviation: JB本四高速; the "honshi: in the URL is 本四) Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company Ltd, undated.
www.jb-honshi.co.jp/seto-ohashi/shoukai/

The Web page for the company in ja.wikipedia.org says JB stands for "Japan Bridge."
(B) train ferry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_ferry
(b) Uno Port INN
unoportinn.com
("12 Rooms of Comfort"; "Cafe, Bar, and Good Coffee"; "All in English")

has no Japanese name.

choi

(6) Max is "proffering some flyers for the Uno Port Art Films series of screenings he heads up every summer. * * * '[T]here was this Japanese house just sitting there empty. * * * That original house is my Art House Project,' he says, drawing an analogy with the Naoshima initiative that involves using previously empty traditional Japanese houses as venues for art projects. * * * There's something of Ichabod Crane about him."
(a) Uno Port Art Films  宇野港芸術映画座
http://unoportartfilms.org/en
(" 'Life, Art, Film' – An Out-Door International Film Screenings Every Summer at Uno Port, the Gateway to Naoshima Island, Japan")
(i) Google 映画座 and you will find the term is almost associated with Uno. 映画 = movie.
(ii) The 座 in 歌舞伎座 (pronounced kabuki-za) means a theater -- the building.  (Broadly 座 is a "seat." Thus in Edo period, there were, both in Edo (now Tokyo), a Kinza 金座 and a Ginza 銀座, that minted gold and silver coins, respectively.
(b) Art House Project  家プロジェクト. Benesse Art Site Naoshima, undated
http://benesse-artsite.jp/art/arthouse.html
(1988- )

The プロジェクト is katakana for the noun "project."
(c)
(i) Ichabod Crane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichabod_Crane
("He * * * ever bore in mind the golden maxim, 'Spare the rod and spoil the child.' Ichabod Crane's scholars certainly were not spoiled")

scholar (n):
(A) "a person who attends a school or studies under a teacher : PUPIL"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scholar
(B) "archaic  a student or pupil"
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/scholar
(ii) Ichabod (proper name): "a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning 'without honor' "
Dictionary.com Unabridged (which means itself)
www.dictionary.com/browse/ichabod
(pronunciation)

(7) "It's a Setouchi International Triennale Art Festival year and the tourists have come in droves. Including me. The town is bustling."

About. Setouchi Triennale (also known as the Setouchi International Art Festival)  瀬戸内国際芸術祭, undated
http://setouchi-artfest.jp/en/
("Location[:] 12 islands of the Seto Inland Sea + Takamatsu and Uno" on the islands of Shikoku and Honshū, respectively; all basically in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea 瀬戸内海, from which the Triennale gets its name)
(a) The "triennale" is an adjective in both French and Italian (but not found in English), whose counterpart (adjective) is "triennial."
(b) The "uchi" and "nai" are Japanese and Chinese pronunciations, respectively, of kanji 内.

choi

(8) "Uno Port Inn has only showers (no Japanese bath) and the toilets are Western-style. [while in your room, or more likely, suite] You can leave your shoes on [no need to take off shoes] all the way down the hallway till you get to the bedroom entrance, and once inside your room, you can sleep on beds. The spacious futon closets are instead used to stash suitcases."
(a) "Japanese bath"
(i) housing in Japan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_in_Japan
(section 3.5 Bathroom)
(ii) furo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furo
(the top of the range models [of furo] fitted with a re-circulation system (oidaki [see (9)]) which filters and re-heats the water; Luxury models are still made out of traditional or expensive woods like hinoki 檜/桧)
(A) "yubune 湯船 * * * specifically refer to the bath[tub] with water"

The "yu" and "tō" (as in the noun sentō 銭湯: bath-house; public bath) are Japanese and Chinese pronunciations, respectively, for kanji 湯 (defined as "(1) hot water; (2) hot bath; hot spring" in Jim Breen's online Japanese-English dictionary).

The "fune" and "sen" are Japanese and Chinese pronunciations, respectively, of kanji 船.  (The "f" in "fune" is softened to "b" when not at the beginning of a word.)
(B) This Wiki page states, "Traditional pot shaped cast iron furo were heated by a wood-burning stove built-in below them."

The statement refers to 五右衛門風呂 (see next). But there was/is also 木桶風呂（also known as 鉄砲風呂).
(iii) 風呂
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/風呂
(section 3.4 五右衛門風呂; section 3.5 木桶風呂（鉄砲風呂) )
(A) This Wiki page says the origin of the word 風呂 is not settled.
(B) Section 3.4 says that in 五右衛門風呂, a wooden board at the bottom of bathtub -- other sources say sometimes mortar or plaster 漆食 is set in between the iron cover and wood bottom of a bathtub -- PLUS the wearing of geta (wooden clog) inside bathtub [while taking bath] is needed to guard against foot burn. It also says the name came from a thief ISHIKAWA Go-e-mon 石川 五右衛門 (year of birth unknown; died on Oct 8, 1594) who was executed by immersion in a kettle heated from under. See 石川五右衛門
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E ... 3%E8%A1%9B%E9%96%80
(処刑の際に詠んだとされる辞世の歌は有名)

my translation of the quotation: famous for singing swan songs while being put to death
(C) Section 3.5 says "ヒノキで造った大型の小判型木桶に、火を焚くため鋳物製の釜と煙突が付いた形状をしている。鋳物のついた釜の形状が鉄砲に似ているため、「鉄砲風呂」と呼ばれることもある。江戸時代から存在したが、一般に普及したのは明治時代から大正時代にかけてと言われている。右の写真のものは二重構造の釜に浴槽内の水を対流循環させる、現在の追い焚き型の風呂沸かし器と同じ構造になっている比較的新しいタイプのもの"

my translation: made of 檜, it was/is a big, oblong/oval 小判型 wooden tub, attached with a cast metal kettle to be heated with fire, plus a chimney 鋳物. The combination of the kettle and chimney looks like a canon, thus. Though extant in Edo period, the device was popularized in Meiji and Taishō eras [the latter 1912-1926]. The right photo shows a relatively new, two-layer kettle whose [between layers] water circulates through convection, similar to modern re-heating bath

小判
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/小判
(photos)
is a small coin. Compare 大判 (of a bigger size). Both coins (小 and 大) were of oval shape, circulated in Edo period, made of gold and issued by the government.
(iv) お風呂の歴史. Nasluck Co, Ltd ナスラック株式会社 (a maker of kitchen and bath equipment based in Nagoya, undated
http://www.nasluck.co.jp/useful/bath/history/

, whose section 3 家風呂の普及 has a sketch of both 鉄砲風呂 and 五右衛門風呂.
(a) 鉄砲風呂 shows a cast iron pipe, into which burning firewood 薪 is placed. Hence a barricade around the pipe to prevent accidental contact and burn.
(b) 五右衛門風呂 has underneath a stove 竃 (whose Japanese pronunciation is kamado).
(iv) The Japanese word "furo" has various, but related, meanings. See (9).
(b) "toilets are Western-style"
(i) There are Japanese-Style?  Indeed. See Jodie Mitchell, How to Use Japanese Style Toilet. Apr 26. 2009.
https://jodiemichele.wordpress.c ... anese-style-toilet/
(ii) An Australian, Ms Mitchell had another blog
Bathing Like a Local. May 5, 2009
https://jodiemichele.wordpress.c ... thing-like-a-local/

Quote: "Last July I came to Tokyo alone to find us [my family] a home, a sofa, a dining table, that sort of thing, and I stayed in a nice self-contained studio apartment. I got in late and only then noticed the lack of soap, towels and hot water. Actually that's not true, there was hot water, but no English explanation of the hot water service. So I washed with shampoo in cold water, dried myself with a T-shirt and wondered why I was such a loser.  I felt better the next day when my Japanese friend came over and explained the plumbing. The control panel was in the kitchen (aha!) and, rather than a simple on/off switch, there were several options including one button where the bath fills up and turns itself off automatically.

(c) "you can sleep on beds"
(i) In Japan, one sleeps in between a set of futon. But in Uno Port INN, one gets to sleep in a bed. That is why the next sentence (not show) says the closet reserved for futonis is instead a storage space for luggage.
(ii) housing in Japan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_in_Japan
(section 3.6 Washitsu 和室 [Jim Breen's definition: Japanese-style room]: oshiire)

See (9) for definition of oshiire.
(iii) futon  布団
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futo"
("The bedding set referred to as futon in Japan fundamentally consists of a shikibuton (敷き布団 bottom mattress) and a kakebuton (掛け布団 thick quilted bedcover)")

The ja.wikipedia.for 布団 is even more clear: a person sleep atop 敷き布団 and beneath 掛け布団.
(iv) A photo of two sets of futons on tatami:
布団. 宮島四季の宿 わたなべ, undated.
www.auberge-watanabe.com/605/

The "Watanabe" is a Japanese surname: either 渡部 or 渡辺. The proprietor spells in the website in hiragana, so I do not know which kanji.

choi

(9) Japanese dictionary:
* oshi-ire 押し入れ(P); 押入(P); 押入れ(P) 【おしいれ】 (n): "closet"
   ^ oshi-ireru 押し入れる 【おしいれる】 (v): "to shove in; to push in"
   ^ osu 押す 【おす】 (v): "to push; to press"
* furo 風呂 【ふろ】 (n): "(1) (See お風呂) bath; bathtub; (2) bathroom; bathhouse"
* oidaki 追い焚き; 追焚き 【おいだき】 (n): "reheating (eg bath)"

(10) "Guesthouse owners also don't have to explain Japanese nomenclature (ofuro お風呂 (bath), kotatsu (table-style heater), etc) since most of it is now superfluous."

kotatsu  炬燵
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu
("炬 (ko) meaning torch or fire, and 燵 (tatsu) meaning foot warmer * * * In the middle of the twentieth century charcoal was replaced with electricity as a heating source. Instead of having the moveable earthen pot of charcoals beneath the kotatsu, it was possible to attach an electric heating fixture directly to the frame of the kotatsu. Thus, the kotatsu became completely mobile with electricity and became a common feature of Japanese homes during winter")