In 2023, Kitaibaraki City suddenly saw a 50-fold increase in foreign tourists compared to the previous year. The growth rate is the third highest in the country, which is surprising.
The secret seems to be in the private lodge opened by Christopher Wood and his wife Asami. This small accommodation, just a three-minute walk from the sea, now attracts people from all over the world. This is the story of the lodge opened by Chris and his family, who arrived in this city after a lifelong journey that took them to England, Japan, and Bangkok.
#1Beachside accommodation
I drove north on National Route 6 toward a certain inn. I arrived in a district called Onoyasashi in Nakago, Kitaibaraki City. It was a typical rural landscape with a few houses scattered around. There were no particularly notable tourist attractions in the area. I wondered if the inn that everyone is talking about was really here.
Heading east along the footpath, you will soon see three small houses lined up and the sparkling blue sea beyond. This is today’s destination, Elm on the Beach, and the beautiful sea of Minami Nakago that surrounds the family who runs the inn.
When I visited Elm on the Beach, I was greeted by the owner, Christopher Wood (aka Chris), his wife Asami, and their eldest son, Raira, a third-year junior high school student, and their daughter, Aria, a first-year elementary school student.
#2 Fashion model and charismatic gal store manager
Chris, who grew up in Yorkshire, England, a region known for its beautiful nature, first came to Japan in 1997 at the age of 14. He traveled around the country by car with his parents, who were traders and often came to Japan. “My father sold cars in Japan, so we traveled all over the country in a Pajero Mini (an SUV sold by Mitsubishi Motors). Maybe those experiences are the inspiration for my current business,” says Chris.
Chris, who had fallen in love with Japan, returned to Japan by himself at the age of 17. This time he traveled around the country by himself, visiting Hokkaido, Aomori, Shiga, Hiroshima, and more. “I saw the Nebuta festival in Aomori, and Lake Biwa in Shiga. I really had a lot of experiences.”
She eventually began getting modelling jobs in Japan, and until she graduated from university, she travelled back and forth between the UK and Japan, modelling for popular magazines such as POPEYE and HUGE, as well as for brands such as Birkenstock and Regal.
Then, Reira asked, “Dad, why don’t you show me that?” and brought out an album. When I flipped through the pages, there were many photos of sharp and handsome male models wearing famous brand shoes and clothes, standing in the streets of Tokyo. It was Chris in his younger days!
On the other hand, Asami is from Ishikari, Hokkaido. She went to Tokyo and worked as an apparel staff member. “I was the manager of a brand called “Liz Lisa” in Marukyu (the Shibuya fashion building, 109) and was a reader model,” Asami said.
I was also shown magazine clippings from that time. The magazines showed the dazzling “gal” Asami’s stylish outfits and personal belongings. When I said to her, “So you were a charismatic store manager among gals,” Asami smiled. It’s easy to imagine how popular she must have been in Shibuya 15 years ago, and even now, Asami is still an incredibly stylish person.
The two, who both worked in the fashion industry, met in 2008 and decided to get married within a year. “I had never dated a foreigner before, but Chris was a very gentleman, and I thought I would never meet someone who would treat me so well again,” Asami said. They are also blessed with three children: their eldest son, Reira, their second son, Ruchiru, who was absent on the day as he was traveling to Hiroshima, and their eldest daughter, Airian.
Until then, Chris had been working as a model, but after getting married, he started doing various jobs to support his family. He was not only a model, but also a driver and an English teacher. Eventually, he started running businesses such as an English conversation school and a kindergarten that specialized in English.
#3 Challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic
About 10 years after he started his business in Japan using his English skills, Chris was attracted to Bangkok, Thailand, and started running a hostel there while traveling back and forth between Japan and Bangkok. One day, Chris came back from Bangkok and suddenly said, “I rented a building!” The rent was about 100,000 yen a month, which was quite an expense. “I was surprised. I didn’t even get a single phone call asking for advice,” Asami said with a wry smile, recalling that time.
The hostel that Chris built himself had staff and was running smoothly, but in the spring of 2020, the new coronavirus spread across the world, and his family’s life changed dramatically.
The family was on a short stay in Bangkok during the children’s school holidays. The relentless coronavirus pandemic led to a lockdown, and flights back to Japan were no longer available. After that, it became even more difficult for foreigners to enter Japan, making it especially difficult for Chris to return home. If the family’s breadwinner couldn’t return to Japan, Asami and the children would have no choice but to return to Japan on their own, and so the family decided to live in Bangkok for a year.
As the world slowly began to calm down, Chris was thinking about how to live in a world that had changed dramatically due to COVID-19. He began to feel a strong desire to move to the countryside where he could live more freely.
Yes, I want to raise my children in a place rich in nature, like Yorkshire, where I grew up, and live with Asami. I also want to raise my beloved large dog, which I couldn’t have in the city. So I sorted out my business in Bangkok and Tokyo and returned to Japan. I brought along the cute puppy I met in Bangkok, “Ghost.”
#4 Hostel opening
After looking at properties in Ishikawa, Toyama, and Ibaraki, Chris fell in love with Kitaibaraki at first sight and immediately decided to purchase two houses. The plan was to make one their residence and the other a hostel. However, when Asami saw the house, which was still littered with the previous residents’ belongings, she was surprised and asked, “Are you really going to buy this?”
Despite Asami’s worries, Chris seemed to have an idea. Just like in Bangkok, Chris made a decision. Even if it was a used property in a depopulated area, buying two would cost about the same as a luxury car. It was no cheap purchase. “I’m an adventurer after all!” said Chris with a wink.
Thus began the family’s journey to build a guesthouse. Chris took the lead, driving dozens of times to remove bulky trash and renovating the house by putting up wallpaper. They did everything they could on their own. However, they lost a competition run by the local community to support small business plans. The reason given was that “they were not making full use of the city’s tourist attractions and local specialties.”
However, what Chris had in mind was a little different from the charm of the area that the people who live there tend to imagine. The opportunity Chris had in mind was the sea nearby and this house. The beach is hardly touristy and there are no people around, so the quiet and beautiful sea where untouched nature remains is only a three-minute walk away.
What’s more, you can experience the everyday life of a typical Japanese countryside in an ordinary house. It’s a special experience that you can’t get in popular tourist destinations or luxurious hotels that are crowded with people. And it’s an exceptional local resource that the people who live there take for granted and don’t realize its charm.
Although the expected support did not come, and the initial investment was considerable, Asami said, “Once I get on the boat, I can’t get off,” and pushed forward with the opening. And in January 2023, without even a website, “Elm on the Beach” finally opened as a simple lodging facility.
The first floor is equipped with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and washer/dryer, and the second floor is equipped with a bedroom. The beach is a three-minute walk away, and bicycles and surfboards can be rented. This inn can accommodate up to six people, and it rents out the entire house, which also comes with a small garden where you can have a barbecue. More and more, foreigners are booking this inn through an English reservation site.
“We have people from America, Europe, Thailand, China, Mexico… people from all over the world,” says Chris. They all come to Kitaibaraki to experience the real Japan that they can’t get in tourist spots. Chris and his family are also very service-minded and often eat with the guests. The children, led by Reira, who can speak English, also interact naturally with the guests. On this day, Reira was playing chess with the foreign guests and seemed to enjoy it. Chris then said, “The guests from yesterday invited me to a barbecue, so we ate together!”
#5 Driving force for 50 times more foreign tourists
In fact, the house between the two houses they bought first became vacant, so Chris recently purchased it and started building a second house. Since they have to do the new DIY work while running the first house, it is very helpful for the family to have volunteers help out. Backpackers who want to continue traveling can enjoy a leisurely Japanese rural life while surfing in the sea or cycling.
Word of mouth spread and, in one year, more than 400 foreigners were staying there, both as guests and volunteers.
One of the volunteers, Peter, is 26 years old. He has helped Chris with outdoor work, such as dismantling concrete. “I love the outdoors!” says Peter. In his free time, he enjoys the beach, as well as watching soccer games and hiking with the family. “Peter seemed very happy to be staying here, and he played a lot with the children. He’s a really nice volunteer,” says Asami.
Hearing about this rumor, a news program from a Tokyo-based TV station came to cover the hotel last fall. According to the station’s research, data shows that in 2023, Kitaibaraki City saw an increase in foreign tourists of over 50 times compared to the previous year. This is the third highest number in the country! In other words, the number of tourists coming to Kitaibaraki up to the previous year was only about eight people. The TV station investigated web access and found that Elm on the Beach was receiving a large number of reservations from overseas, and they came to cover the hotel, wondering if this number was generated by the inn. This data was a surprising fact that not only Chris and his family, but also the people of the town, had no idea about.
Elm on the Beach was then broadcast on the evening national news, and this time the number of guests from within Japan increased dramatically. The now grown-up Ghost and Max, the other beloved dog who joined the family after moving to Kitaibaraki, also appeared on TV, and some people said they wanted to meet the two!
And now people in the town are increasingly telling Chris and his family, “You’re doing great!”
“The neighbors have been very kind to us since the beginning,” says Asami. Chris has also started an English conversation class for children in one room of his house, and they are increasingly interacting with parents and children of the same generation in the local area.
#6 Children’s efforts
Mornings at Elm on the Beach begin with the sound of chickens crowing. First thing in the morning, it’s Reira’s job to feed the chickens together with Chris. Today’s food is a huge amount of melons that Reira received from a friend who is a melon farmer. Carrying a big bowl full of melons, Reira makes several trips between his house and the chicken coop. A sweet aroma fills the air, and it’s an incredibly luxurious breakfast for a chicken.
Perhaps because they are raised with such care, the chickens lay about 10 delicious eggs every morning.
Airi An opens the small door to the chicken coop and says, “Look!” Inside are rows of beautiful eggs. When you touch the freshly laid eggs, they are slightly warm.
These eggs are presented to guests when they check in. Guests can use them in the kitchen to cook whatever meal they like. If they make a reservation in advance, they can also enjoy Chris’ homemade English breakfast using these eggs. These delicious eggs are one of the highlights of the inn.
At 11am, the guests who stayed the night before check out, and then cleaning begins for the guests who will be arriving in the evening. “Dad, I’m going to clean up now!” says Lyra, who is on summer vacation, and takes the initiative to help out.
Once that’s over, Chris and Lyra work together in the fields or in the building, which is currently under renovation. There’s a mountain of things to do every day.
I asked Reira, “What was it like coming to Kitaibaraki?” He answered,
“It was lonely to enter a junior high school where I didn’t have any friends, and more than anything, I moved to Kitaibaraki from hot Bangkok, so the temperature difference was huge and it was cold.”
By the way, Kitaibaraki has recently started to attract attention as the “coolest city in the Kanto region” in summer, but of course it is quite cold in winter!
“Although half-Japanese students were quite common in Tokyo, there were none at the junior high school she enrolled in, so it took her a while to fit in. Since everyone normally spoke Japanese at home, Reira studied hard to get 100 points in English, and now she can speak it on her own,” added Asami, standing next to her.
Asami-san is also supporting her children’s challenges while managing the inn, raising children and doing housework. Her second son, Ruchiru-kun, and Airian-chan are modeling. Today, they have a photo shoot and are heading to Tokyo by train. Airian-chan loves taking photos.
I suddenly remembered the wonderful photos of Chris and Asami when they were young. They were still small children, but I thought they must have had the desire to try the same things as their parents.
#7 The future of Elm on the Beach
Well, the Wood family is very busy every day, but in between their busy schedules, they sometimes go for walks to the sea as a family. The children love the sea and often swim. On this day’s walk, Ghost, Max, and even the cat Tora-chan joined us!
But even so, the sea here is as beautiful as a picture, a deep blue. Local elderly people stroll leisurely along the single road that offers a good view of the sea. Occasionally, cars with license plates from far away pass by, probably surfers who have noticed the beauty of this sea.
As I walk along the white sand beach, free of a speck of trash, it occurs to me that at this very moment, only a handful of people are enjoying the splendor of Nakago’s sea. It is a luxurious space.
But I thought it was a shame to leave it there! Looking at the endless blue waves crashing on the shore, I felt that I wanted other people to get to know this ocean too.
Like these waves, Chris’s ambitions are also expanding. “I want to make the building we’re currently renovating so that more people can stay, and I want to make a pool and a dog run in the garden, and I also need to make a website,” says Chris. He has already obtained a boat license, and is thinking about working with the local people to start a boat-based tourism business in the future.
I thought that from now on, surfers will come all year round, not just in the summer, and anglers will increase in the cold winter. This is because Kitaibaraki is famous for the delicious fish it has in winter.
Chris said that five university students were coming to stay with us later today. “Every day is really busy. I want to go surfing for the first time in a while! I have to enjoy the ocean sometimes,” said Chris. It seems that it
will take a little more time for Chris to settle down and surf.
