The Japanese town made for relaxation

The spa resort town of Yufuin embraces the laid-back feel of Germany’s spa towns, inviting you to relax as soon as you arrive, writes Ute Junker.

Until this moment, our day has been unfolding in an exquisitely Japanese fashion. Our train – not a bullet train but the Yufuin no Mori, one of Kyushu’s excellent sightseeing trains – is punctual to the minute. The train has oversized windows designed to make the most of the views we enjoy of rice paddies, forests and mountains while we eat a delicious bento box lunch.

It is only when we disembark at Yufuin, a hot springs resort town in the island’s northeast, that my sense of place takes a hit.

Stepping onto the pretty main street, where a row of low-slung houses that perfectly frame a view of the area’s highest peak, something about this scene strikes me as decidedly not Japanese. A horse-drawn carriage rounds the corner, and I get it: it reminds of the spa towns of Germany.

My intuition is right. On a walking tour through town, our guide reveals that Yufuin’s status as one of Kyushu’s best-loved holiday hideaways is due not just to its photogenic surroundings or its hot springs, but a trio of canny ryokan owners who decided, in the 1970s, that the town’s future lay in tourism.

Financed by a loan from the local agricultural society, the trio travelled to Germany where they decided the spa town of Baden-Baden, with its lowrise development and lush surroundings, provided the perfect template for a resort town.

Wandering the beautifully preserved streets of Yufuin (or clopping along in a horse-drawn carriage), it is clear they have made a success of it. The town may be compact, but its narrow lanes are lined with eateries and shops to keep you busy in between soaking sessions in the onsen.

One of the most appealing things about Yufuin is its willingness to embrace the contemporary, as well as the traditional. It is evident in the sleek

Comico Art Museum, designed by star architect Kengo Kuma, and in the local visitor centre, designed by the equally celebrated Shigeru Ban.

Perhaps the area’s most audacious development lies 10 minutes outside town – the new KAI Yufuin resort, another Kuma design.

Kuma’s works draw on natural materials and a sense of scale to create buildings that are eyecatching and inviting. At KAI Yufuin, the design has been inspired by traditional architecture (the spherical front desk, for instance, is based on the shape of kitchen stoves in local farmhouses), and uses local products such as stone walls, bamboo flooring and seats made of tatami.

In your minimalist guest room you will find a samue suit to wear to the onsen, and a long yukata robe to wear to dinner.

At the hotel’s sleek bathhouse you can gaze out across the mountains as you soak in an outdoor pool, but the restaurant is also outstanding.

The dinner is truly spectacular. The kaiseki meal is a celebration of local and seasonal ingredients. From abalone (pa¯ ua) cakes in a mushroom broth with leek and yuzu, to conger eel sushi, prawn tempura wrapped in tofu skin and wild boar served with a sauce made of foraged wild nuts, it is delicious.