Just opened last spring is the Health Resort Hitsuki Club (Hitsuki Club) on the Asagiri Plateau at the foot of Mount Fuji within Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Located on a vast site of approximately 67,000 square meters, it offers panoramic views of the ridgeline from Mount Fuji's summit to Suruga Bay. The facility's owner, Tatsutaka Yamamoto, is a physician specializing in integrative medicine and director of the Asagiri Plateau Clinic. Integrative medicine combines Western and Eastern medicine with alternative therapies such as dietary therapy, herbs, aromatherapy, acupuncture, and yoga, and is recommended for a variety of ailments. Yamamoto advocates for "nature deficiency syndrome," a condition caused by a lifestyle removed from nature that disrupts the balance between the mind and body and leads to illness. He engages in health promotion activities to alleviate this condition. According to Yamamoto, Asagiri, a plateau stretching from 500 to 1,400 meters above sea level, is blessed with abundant natural forests and spring waters from Mount Fuji, making it an ideal environment for healthcare, and a resort destination that rivals Italy and other European countries.
The facility offers a variety of programs, including an accommodation plan limited to six groups per day, a free kitchen, sunrise yoga, herbal water-making workshops, traditional Chinese aromatherapy oil massages, trekking, and, in the summer, viewing a bonfire Noh performance with Mount Fuji as a backdrop. The restaurant space, "The SUN and Moon," available to facility guests or by reservation only, is gaining popularity for its healthy and delicious cuisine made with ingredients from the Asagiri Plateau, Honshu's largest livestock-producing area, which is said to help balance the body from the inside out.
The SUN and Moon, a restaurant space located inside the Nichigetsu Club
The interior of the restaurant with a wood-burning stove
The SUN and One of the features of Moon is its medicinal cuisine based on traditional Chinese medicine, which is coordinated according to each individual's constitution and the season from a selection of 80 to 100 types of herbal medicines that are always in stock. Before each meal, guests are given a simple constitution check sheet, and based on the results, a custom-made medicinal tea is prepared to suit each individual. This is a very unique system.
Lined up are herbal medicines such as Angelica Root, Bupleurum Root, and Poria Cod
Custom-made medicinal teas and food preparations. Each one is a completely different color.
The Asagiri Plateau is home to many local specialties, including highland vegetables, wild herbs, tea trees, wasabi, and trout, all of which take advantage of the climate. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, guests can enjoy gourmet cuisine that makes the most of these bounty. For example, the trout, whose freshness is paramount, are caught that morning at Tsuchida Trout Farm, where they are raised using spring water from Mt. Fuji. The simple seasonings make the most of their freshness, making them delicious in themselves. I realized that each ingredient, from baby leaves so well-grown that you can see the veins, to Shizuoka-grown Amera tomatoes, whose high sugar content derives from their name "ame-ra" (sweet) in the Shizuoka dialect, to organic matcha greens, and additive-free handmade chocolate made with organic cocoa, is something I often forget about, as it's so commonplace.
"Brown rice with black beans," "Amera tomatoes from Asagiri Plateau with broccoli in wasabi sesame sauce," "Aoi beef from Shizuoka served with Kinetsuka's wasabi and soy sauce," "Tsuchida's trout, caught that morning and raised with spring water from Mt. Fuji, served with homemade tartar sauce made with tofu and coconut oil."
"Organic soy milk clotted cream with kumquat," "Dried fruit and walnut pound cake (with hemp seeds)," "Two handmade chocolates: pesticide-free matcha chocolate & organic cocoa chocolate"
Warm and mild Shizuoka. A natural reserve stretching out at the foot of Mount Fuji. The end of my trip was filled with a sense of peace.
"The SUN and Moon" is open to the public during lunch hours on Saturdays and Sundays in July and August.
Hitsuki Club
2271 Inokashira, Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture
0544-52-2611
info@hitsuki-club.com
http://www.hitsuki-club.com/index.html
The facility offers a variety of programs, including an accommodation plan limited to six groups per day, a free kitchen, sunrise yoga, herbal water-making workshops, traditional Chinese aromatherapy oil massages, trekking, and, in the summer, viewing a bonfire Noh performance with Mount Fuji as a backdrop. The restaurant space, "The SUN and Moon," available to facility guests or by reservation only, is gaining popularity for its healthy and delicious cuisine made with ingredients from the Asagiri Plateau, Honshu's largest livestock-producing area, which is said to help balance the body from the inside out.
The SUN and Moon, a restaurant space located inside the Nichigetsu Club
The interior of the restaurant with a wood-burning stove
The SUN and One of the features of Moon is its medicinal cuisine based on traditional Chinese medicine, which is coordinated according to each individual's constitution and the season from a selection of 80 to 100 types of herbal medicines that are always in stock. Before each meal, guests are given a simple constitution check sheet, and based on the results, a custom-made medicinal tea is prepared to suit each individual. This is a very unique system.
Lined up are herbal medicines such as Angelica Root, Bupleurum Root, and Poria Cod
Custom-made medicinal teas and food preparations. Each one is a completely different color.
The Asagiri Plateau is home to many local specialties, including highland vegetables, wild herbs, tea trees, wasabi, and trout, all of which take advantage of the climate. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, guests can enjoy gourmet cuisine that makes the most of these bounty. For example, the trout, whose freshness is paramount, are caught that morning at Tsuchida Trout Farm, where they are raised using spring water from Mt. Fuji. The simple seasonings make the most of their freshness, making them delicious in themselves. I realized that each ingredient, from baby leaves so well-grown that you can see the veins, to Shizuoka-grown Amera tomatoes, whose high sugar content derives from their name "ame-ra" (sweet) in the Shizuoka dialect, to organic matcha greens, and additive-free handmade chocolate made with organic cocoa, is something I often forget about, as it's so commonplace.
"Brown rice with black beans," "Amera tomatoes from Asagiri Plateau with broccoli in wasabi sesame sauce," "Aoi beef from Shizuoka served with Kinetsuka's wasabi and soy sauce," "Tsuchida's trout, caught that morning and raised with spring water from Mt. Fuji, served with homemade tartar sauce made with tofu and coconut oil."
"Organic soy milk clotted cream with kumquat," "Dried fruit and walnut pound cake (with hemp seeds)," "Two handmade chocolates: pesticide-free matcha chocolate & organic cocoa chocolate"
Warm and mild Shizuoka. A natural reserve stretching out at the foot of Mount Fuji. The end of my trip was filled with a sense of peace.
"The SUN and Moon" is open to the public during lunch hours on Saturdays and Sundays in July and August.
Hitsuki Club
2271 Inokashira, Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture
0544-52-2611
info@hitsuki-club.com
http://www.hitsuki-club.com/index.html
