Towada Hotel

Towada Hotel is a famed hotel built at the government’s request as lodging for foreign tourists visiting Japan ahead of the planned 1940 Tokyo Olympics, which ultimately became a phantom event due to rising international tensions. The hotel is also known for having hosted many prominent figures, including the Emperor Showa and Empress, members of the Imperial Family, former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer. With a long history and tradition, the hotel was constructed by Akita Prefecture: work began in 1936, was completed in 1938, and the hotel opened in 1939. To build it, 80 master carpenters were gathered from Akita, Aomori, and Iwate prefectures to compete in craftsmanship, resulting in a three-story wooden structure that skillfully incorporates massive logs of natural Akita cedar, one of Japan’s three great beautiful forests. The exterior walls are covered with half-round cedar logs. Design details such as each room’s tokonoma alcove, ceiling, and lattice doors all differ from one another, and the way each element has aged and developed its own distinctive glow is said to leave visitors surprised and moved. With 50 guest rooms in total, every room offers views of Lake Towada, creating a setting where the lake feels as if it were the hotel’s own garden. Access by car is about 50 minutes from Towada IC on the Tohoku Expressway, taking National Route 103 and then National Route 454. If traveling by air, there is no direct public transportation from airports to the Lake Towada area, so renting a car is recommended.