SHIZUOKA -- When you walk for about five minutes from the Mochimune fishing port in Suruga Ward, Shizuoka, you can find eye-catching buildings with modern-looking facades. Built around 100 years ago, they used to be empty houses but are now used as inns.
The buildings, part of the Nihon Iro accommodation facility, are among examples of increasingly popular services in Shizuoka Prefecture that have taken advantage of old houses.
At Nihon Iro, some inns have irori fireplaces, which guests are welcome to use when cooking ingredients they bring in on their own. The facility's breakfasts are also popular, as they feature shirasu whitebait fish landed at the port and locally produced dried fish.
The old houses have been renovated by CSA Real Estate Corp. in Shizuoka. The company plans to open six villas by December, with up to 31 guests being able to stay overnight.
"I thought that converting empty old houses into inns would attract visitors," said President Takahito Kojima.
Access to the Mochimune district is easy, being just two stops away from JR Shizuoka Station. In addition to the port, a swimming beach is also within walking distance from Nohon Iro. The accommodation facility welcomes tourists from Japan and abroad, and it is also popular as a venue for college reunion gatherings.
The accommodation facility is helping vitalize the Mochimune district.
In May, a commercial complex named Mochimune Minato Yokocho was completed, which houses restaurants and a bar. By the end of this year, an onsen bathhouse -- a renovated tuna-processing factory -- will open at the port. Visitors will be able to enjoy a view of Mt. Fuji from the onsen.
"We aim to vitalize the whole of this district by involving local residents," Kojima said.
Meanwhile, Tabinoya in Kakegawa is an inn that was created by renovating a 70-year-old house.
The inn is popular for giving guests a chance to prepare meals with staff members that feature local ingredients such as yamaimo yams and shiitake mushrooms, and then eat together with them. Foreign guests in particular appreciate the inn's programs, which offer a first-hand experience of picking green tea leaves -- a local specialty -- edible wild plants and chestnuts.
"The lifestyle here in the countryside probably looks fresh to people who want to forget the busy pace in urban areas, as well as for foreign tourists," a Tabinoya official said.
According to a prefectural association for reviving old houses based in Shimada, the organization has been receiving an increasing number of inquiries about converting such buildings into accommodation facilities, partly because of increases in the number of foreign tourists.
"There will be more moves to repurpose old houses as an approach to vitalizing local communities," an association official said.
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