Japan is a destination worth visiting again and again, with plenty of enchanting rural villages and national parks to explore once you’ve experienced the fascinating sights and culture of cities like Osaka and Tokyo.
This soon-to-open hotel JR East It makes it easier to explore areas outside the city, but not in the way you’d probably expect: rather than a single brick-and-mortar address, the rooms are scattered across a 37-kilometer stretch west of Tokyo.
The hotel rooms are within 70 minutes from Tokyo by rapid local train.
Scheduled for release in 2025SatologThe hotel’s front desk will be located in a station along JR East’s Ome Line, nicknamed the Adventure Line for its easy accessibility, and the hotel rooms will be beautifully renovated private homes.
With 25 stations along the line, it is ambitious in scope and scale, not to mention offering huge social benefits, breathing life into villages long silenced by Japan’s ageing population and the migration of young people to cities.
![Tokilo Restaurant is the first taste of Satrog Hotel.](https://www.executivetraveller.com/photos/view/size:960,540/6667cb25e600441a84a567b3dd799465-japan-satologue-hotel-tokiro.jpg)
Tokilo Restaurant is the first taste of Satrog Hotel.
“Our wish is to allow visitors to experience local pleasures and provide hotels that offer sustainable tourism,” said JR East, also known as East Japan Railway Company.
Renowned Japanese architect and designer Yasushi Horibe has lent his talents to this unique project, the first of which is the cozy restaurant Tokiro and sauna Fukisui, both located in Hatonosu Village.
![Tokiro has a variety of rooms and seating options, including counter seating where you can enjoy the view.](https://www.executivetraveller.com/photos/view/size:960,540/6667ccd225dc4d669dad682fdd799465-japan-satologue-hotel-tokiro-restaurant-interior2.jpg)
Tokiro has a variety of rooms and seating options, including counter seating where you can enjoy the view.
Known for designing the floating hotel GANTSU on the Seto Inland Sea, Horibe and his team have transformed a vacant house into a chic, wood-clad restaurant where talented chefs serve up locally inspired railway cuisine, local sake and craft beer.
“Feng Shui” means “wind, wood and water” and although it’s housed in a former concrete warehouse, its sleek design is anything but industrial, and it features a sauna and outdoor bath, as well as a lounge where you can relax and enjoy a drink after a sweat.
![A concrete warehouse has been transformed into a wood-fired sauna.](https://www.executivetraveller.com/photos/view/size:960,540/6667cb6b871844d5846b67c0dd799465-japan-satologue-hotel-fukisui.jpg)
A concrete warehouse has been transformed into a wood-fired sauna.
Tokiro and Fukimizu are about a 15-minute walk from Kori Station on the Ome Line, and about a 20-minute walk from Hatonosu Station. Electric bicycles are also available at Hatonosu.
![Tasting food at Tokilo restaurant.](https://www.executivetraveller.com/photos/view/size:960,540/6667cb9fd8444092b4eb67cedd799465-japan-satologue-hotel-tokiro-restaurant.jpg)
Tasting food at Tokilo restaurant.
Tickets from Tokyo cost between 1,110 yen (about 7.20 Australian dollars) and 1,275 yen (8.30 Australian dollars) one way, or you can buy the JR East Tokyo Wide Pass for 15,000 yen (about 96.80 US dollars), which also covers Nikko, the Fuji Five Lakes and Izu areas.
An opening date for the Satlog Hotel has yet to be announced, but the first rooms will open near the Hatonosu restaurant.
(Meanwhile, looking for a rail adventure? Take the Shinkansen to Utsunomiya, the gyoza capital of Japan.)