On the original tour, the group arrived after dark and so the big-city dwellers did not know what to expect. They awakened to find themselves in a perfectly restored mountain village, thatched roof buildings and greenery everywhere. The woman in this photo looks a bit dazed, as they all did; first thing in the morning she phoned a friend in Tokyo and started the conversation with "It's just BEAUTIFUL here!"
Unlike most of the other villas, Hattoji didn’t close after 2008, and if you’ve been there before, you’ll find that it’s virtually unchanged. The thatch was replaced late in 2016 and looks gorgeous — for those who have never seen brand-new thatch, this is what it looks like.
