Check out our latest video from Maruyama Village, absolutely the most amazing experience we’ve had in Japan. Maruyama Village was built to manage the water supply to the nearby Sasayama Castle and town of Tamba-Sasayama. Situated at the end of a lush valley adorned with rice paddies and pencil straight forests, its a most idyllic setting. The village is one for Instagram.
But like so many rural villages around Japan, the population began declining in the 1990’s as the younger generation moved away to pursue careers in the cities, leaving their parents to mange the houses and farms. As they aged, more and more houses became abandoned and fell into disrepair. Facing possible extinction, the remaining villagers pooled their resources and engaged a non-profit for guidance and turned their fortunes around.
They combined four older homes into two for guest accommodations and put forth a business plan to open two restaurants. After years of hard work, their efforts have paid off. Today, Maruyama Village is thriving with young families starting to move in and a steady flow of overnight guests. At the time of their initial efforts to revive the community, there were seven vacant homes whereas today, there are none. The two restaurants have established outstanding reputations both with foreigners and locals.
We have been fortunate to stay there on two occassions and we have established friendships there and actually learned one of the resident couples knew Josephine’s parents for many years. It was amazing to make such a connection out of all our travels. So if you want a most special experience in Japan, we encourage you to visit Maruyama Village. So make sure you watch our recent video.
