“Was I dreaming?”
After a trip, returning home, there's that inevitable feeling of half-asleep. The beer I had at the airport when I left in the evening seems like a lie, and just a few hours later I'm on my familiar journey home. I even wonder if I've become capable of time leaping. Without even realizing it, that feeling quietly fades away as life resumes, but there are some unforgettable travel experiences that still leave a lasting impression. Today I'd like to record one of them.

The key for "HATOYA HOTEL 4302."
One year, at the end of summer, I took the Tokaido Main Line from Tokyo to Atami, then changed to the Izu Kyuko Line and traveled to Ito. The Izu Peninsula is a summer resort with a dry breeze and a warm winter resort with aloe vera and daffodils. Furthermore, the town still retains many traces of its prosperity as a major tourist destination during the Showa era, offering a mysterious experience of walking the border between the past and the present, making it a very popular travel destination. One such surviving Showa-era heritage is the Hatoya Hotel, which opened in 1947. It's a hotel that's extremely famous not only for its TV commercials but also as a filming location. Towering on a hill south of JR Ito Station, the Hatoya Hotel, and the Hotel San Hatoya, located on the coastline of Sagami Bay north of the station, these two buildings remain symbols of the resort town of Ito even now, in the Reiwa era.

A five-minute shuttle bus ride took us to Hatoya Hotel (the vehicle's registration number was 41-26).

Photo taken from the main building of Hatoya Hotel. The walkway and the new building beyond.

A corridor connecting the main building and the new building.

Hatoya slippers. The yukata robes have also been original since the hotel opened.

The lobby, walls, floors, escalators, lighting, furniture, and guide signs within the building... are all lavishly detailed.

Everything in the building keeps the passage of time while retaining traces of its past.

There is a hot spring, snack bar, karaoke, an arcade, a pool, and in the other building, Hotel Sun Hatoya, there is a hot spring where you can get a close-up panoramic aquarium-like view of Sagami Bay, and the restaurant and theater hosts a dinner show every night (depending on the season). Hatoya offers a wide variety of entertainment.

The dove design of Hotel Sun Hatoya.
At Bar Hana, which I visited in the evening, I heard stories of the bar's past, when it was bustling every day with its stage lavishly decorated by singers including Sachiko Kobayashi, who was just about to make her big break, and the after-parties for those shows. It was easy to imagine the bustling atmosphere inside the bar at the time, like the dance hall scene in the movie The Shining.


Karaoke where you sing while standing.
Through this one-of-a-kind experience, Hatoya taught me the greatness of things that never change. With the ever-changing Tokyo landscape at my fingertips, I think I'll head to Ito and the surrounding area again on my next vacation, "in search of lost time."

If you ever go to Hatoya Hotel, Hatoya's Hatoya Sables are a good souvenir, but I was recommended Umeya's Hole Inn. I would also highly recommend this one.

Hole Inn (Umeya) is Ito's number one souvenir. The main store is located at Ito Station.