Nipponia Hotel Yame Fukushima Merchant Town

Concept

Yame is Japan’s premier tea region, famous for its highest-quality gyokuro tea. At NIPPONIA HOTEL Yame Fukushima Merchant Town, you can experience the essence of Japanese tea culture, from the lush tea fields to the wisdom of local producers.

Stroll through historic streets lined with over 130 traditional storehouses, visit long-established tea shops and sake breweries, and enjoy a peaceful, authentic moment in a town where culture, history, and tea come alive.

History of Yame

Located south of Fukuoka, Kyushu’s biggest city, the city of Yame grew up around Fukushima Castle, built in 1587. The castle was eventually destroyed, but the surrounding castle town with its white-clay walls survived and thrived through the years, allowing Yame to become a center for traditional crafts, such as Japanese paper,
stone lanterns, Buddhist altars, and bamboo handicrafts. Yet through all this, the city never lost touch with its soul—tea, which is today regarded as one of the best in Japan and even the world. Exemplified by the Yame Chuo Tea Garden, a seventy-hectare tea plantation, the tea culture of Yame is a link to the eternal spirit
of Japanese culture.

Expand Your Itinerary

Yame, with its convenient access to Fukuoka—a major transportation hub—is an ideal base for exploring all corners of Kyushu. Start in Fukuoka by enjoying Hakata ramen, famed for its rich tonkotsu (pork bone) broth and ultra-thin noodles, to fuel your adventure. Be sure to visit Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, dedicated to the god of
learning, and experience its serene, historical atmosphere. Then, continue your journey to explore Kyushu’s treasures: feel the 400-year history of Kumamoto Castle, relax in the hot springs of Beppu and Yufuin, and marvel at the spectacular views of Sakurajima and Kinko Bay in Kagoshima. Combined with Yame’s rich tea culture,
a trip through Kyushu from this charming city offers an unforgettable and uniquely Japanese experience.

Our Story

Yame is renowned for its gyokuro tea, grown in misty valleys and gentle slopes, prized for its rich and delicate flavor.

NIPPONIA HOTEL Yame Fukushima Merchant Town, a “JAPANESE TEA HOTEL,” is housed in historic merchant residences and sake breweries, offering guests the chance to savor Yame tea and explore its cultural heritage.

Enjoy a course menu featuring the concentrated umami of gyokuro and original Yame tea cocktails, experiencing a perfect blend of tradition and modernity.

Tangible History

OTUBO TYAHO:The site of the OTUBO TYAHO guesthouse, formerly belonging to a lumber merchant, was occupied by the Otsubo Tea Shop from the early Showa period (1926–89) until the end of the twentieth century. Featuring plastered white walls, a separate tatami (straw mat) room, and
storehouses from the Taisho period (1912–26), the site contains an accumulation
of more than a century of Japanese history.

KITAYA BETTEI:Housing the hotel’s front desk, dining room, sake bar, and guestrooms, the KITAYA BETTEI is a former sake brewery located in the center of Yame’s historic preservation district. Originally a vast complex of private residences, brewery houses, and distilleries, one of
which still makes shochu (distilled liquor), KITAYA BETTEI places guests in
the heart of Yame’s centuries-old culture.

Welcome Tea: Upon arrival, guests of Nipponia Hotel Yame Fukushima Merchant Town will be greeted with a cup of sencha, a variety of green tea different from gyokuro, because it is grown in sunlight and has a light, refreshing taste with floral accents. Some might say it tastes like spring and summer. We like to think that it’s
one of the essential flavors of Yame itself.

Rooms

We have added modern comforts to our accommodations while keeping as much as possible of their traditional ambience in order to preserve a piece of Japanese history for future generations. Nipponia Hotel Yame Fukushima Merchant Town comprises two buildings, each with four guestrooms of different sizes and degrees of historical
touches. For guests who have never stayed in a traditional Japanese house before, we recommend KITAYA BETTEI’s VMG Grand rooms, which feature exposed beams, shoji screens, fusuma sliding panels, low tables, and other classic elements of Japanese interior design and architecture.

Restaurants & Dining

At Le Un, the restaurant of NIPPONIA HOTEL Yame Fukushima Merchant Town, guests can enjoy a modern take on local cuisine that highlights Yame’s most celebrated product, gyokuro tea, as well as the bounty of the Chikugo region’s mountains, rivers, and seas. Seasonal local ingredients such as the brand “Chikugo Funagoya Beef” and
fresh river delicacies are elevated with French culinary techniques to create fusion dishes that can only be savored here. Begin your dinner with a cup of rich Yame gyokuro tea, which can also be enjoyed as an aperitif or digestif recommended by our staff. Sake and non-alcoholic drinks carefully paired with the cuisine are
also available, ensuring a satisfying experience for every guest.

Cultural Experience

Yame Chuo Tea Garden : Located just a ten-minute drive from the hotel, the vast Chuo plantation is open 24 hours a day. Here, you can find pleasurable sights from the observation deck any time of the day or night—colorful sunsets in the evening, starry skies at night, and misty tea fields in the early morning.

Tea Baths: Put a hemp bag filled with tea leaves in your bath, and let it soak to fill the bathroom with the fragrant aroma of Yame. It’s said that the tea leaves also have a beautifying effect on the skin.

Yame Tea Dyeing Experience: Using pesticide-free Yame tea, you can create an original sacoche bag dyed with Kurume Kasuri fabric. Experience the charm of Yame tea beyond just tasting it.

Our Difference

At Nipponia Hotel Yame Fukushima Merchant Town, we want our guests to feel the elemental power of tea. Grown from soil, nourished by water and mist, and prepared with fire, Japan’s famous drink is the very embodiment of the harmony that exists in nature. Our hotel combines a journey into this fascinating, primordial world with
historic accommodations overflowing with traditional charm for an experience you can’t find anywhere else. We hope to welcome you with a cup of Yame tea very soon.

Welcome

Our mission is to present our guests with the gift of time. Time that flows endlessly through the nature and culture of Japan. Time set aside to make lifelong memories with your loved ones. Time that you will one day reflect back on with a smile. We strive to give you these experiences through the art of Japanese hospitality,
the distinctiveness of accommodations that tell rich stories from Japan’s great past, and the breaking of language barriers by our English-speaking staff. We hope to see you soon.