🏨Tucked away in a secret part of Hokkaido, this hideaway hotel is known as one of Japan's top hotels that are hard to book
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Dec 6, 2024
Dec 6, 2024
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If I had to pick a TOP 10 list of the most memorable hotels inside Japan.
This forest onsen hotel in Hokkaido, I think it would definitely be on any organization's list.
Sitting Oblivion Forest, an onsen secret hidden in the ski resort Niseko Valley
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Zaborin's Autumn
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Zaborin's Summer
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Zaborin's Spring
Situated in Niseko (also known as Niseko), a famous ski mecca in Hokkaido, Japan, Japanese inn Sitomorin Zaborin is one of the most famous Japanese inns in Japan.
Opened in 2015, it was invested by Shouya Grigg and created in collaboration with renowned Hokkaido architect Makoto Nakayama.
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The name “Sit and Forget Forest” is inspired by the word “zazen”, which expresses the harmony of sitting and forgetting in the woods of nature.
In contrast to the bustling Niseko Valley, which is crowded with skiers, Zaborin is tucked away in a quiet private forest that is as peaceful and beautiful as a paradise, but also has a Zen-like beauty that is true to nature.
The English name of Zaborin is Zazen, which means “Zazen”, “Bo”, “forget”, and “rin”, “forest”.
Just as the official website of Zaborin says: a place where you can meditate.
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The design concept of Sakumorin is to reinterpret the “Zen” of Japanese inns without losing the sense of modern comfort. By combining the “quietness” of traditional Japanese inns with the luxury and excellence of the modern Japanese “Japanese experience” in a new and relevant way, a new “living space” is created. The hotel is located in a vast birch forest.
Set in a vast birch forest, Shouya Grigg and Makoto Nakayama designed only 15 interconnected guest rooms, as well as a main building for public facilities. The architectural style is overall modern and minimalist, with cold lines of concrete buildings and stone building up the peripheral space of the hotel.
Staying at Sitting Forest, you will feel the beauty and zen of this new Japanese style. Old and new, perfect and imperfect, human architecture is integrated into the natural environment of Niseko in an imperceptible way to achieve a real sense of unity.
This, coupled with the spatial application of light and shadow, makes Sitting Forest not only a part of the surrounding natural environment, it also extends a sense of inclusion along with the unparalleled scenery.
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The hotel covers approximately 40,000 square meters, and all the villas exist as individual forms, while one unit is strung together by closed corridors to guarantee privacy, and in the center is surrounded by a Japanese-style garden.
Not to mention the size, Zaborin features only 15 suites, each with outdoor and open-air hot spring baths overlooking a separate private forest for relaxation and meditation.
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The hotel's private rooms and public facilities in the lobby, wind lounge, library, and restaurant are equipped with large insulated glass for viewing the natural forest landscape, allowing one to stay away from all unnatural pressures as soon as one moves in, and the body's five senses open up in unison, experiencing the sound of the wind and the water, breathing in the scent of the earth and the snowfall, and watching the outdoor beauty in silence, and experiencing the cycle of the four seasons, and the four seasons of the world.
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Another point of interest is the hot springs at Zaborin.
Each guest room in the Zaborin is equipped with two private hot springs: an open-air hot spring and an indoor hot spring. In the open-air hot spring, there is a bathtub made of natural stone hollowed out, full of antiquity, with pipes hanging down vertically from the ceiling, and a gentle warmth flowing slowly, moistening the stone walls, and the warmth of the water is dense in the whole space.
The experience of soaking in the hot springs of Sitsugurin, with the stunning scenery of Hokkaido's four seasons in front of you, is one of the reasons why countless people visit Sitsugurin.
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A hotel with such a Zen feel is naturally complemented by great food.
Hokkaido-born chef Yoshihiro Seno began his career as an engineering designer, but soon decided to change his path and embarked on a long journey into washoku (Japanese food). He worked at various Japanese restaurants in New York City before moving back to Tokyo to continue his culinary craft. It was in Tokyo, where he had access to all the ingredients, that he felt strongly that he should return to his roots in order to realize the true meaning of “place”.
This philosophy is what he has brought to Sokumebayashi. Zaborin's signature Northern Kaiseki cuisine is inspired by the most formal of culinary traditions - the origins of Kaiseki, a northern interpretation of the Japanese art of fine dining.
All washoku is designed to fulfill the body and soul's need for food that is especially accepting and accommodating of ingredients that are seasonal, thematic, and appreciative of nature's gifts. Northern Kaiseki cuisine truly explores how to capture the raw and simple beauty of nature while elevating it to the art of fine dining. Following the growth cycle from seed to dish, giving it the full appreciation and recognition it deserves.
Your Zaborin experience will undoubtedly be incomplete if you are in Zaborin and don't enjoy the Kaiseki Cuisine here.
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To this day, Zaborin has been around for 9 years, but it still stands for Japanese hot spring hotels and remains one of the most difficult hotels to book in Japan.
Especially in the fall and winter, with the ski season approaching, Zaborin's limited 15 rooms often have to be booked months in advance, and prices are close to the ceiling. (This year, the price for 2 nights around the Spring Festival was over 600,000 yen)
 
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It's really like sitting in the mountains and forgetting the world.

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