The Yamaura is a “hidden” treasure, a rural region that miraculously withstood modernization and preserved its traditional landscape. It is a mountainous area where you can still find century-old farmhouses and pastoral sceneries untouched by urbanization. While the hamlet containing the Kiyomizu farmhouse is the most well preserved, the entire area is a stronghold of classic Japan. In the past, villages like this must have been quite a common sight in Nagano Prefecture, but today you could hardly find any even if you were to look all over Japan.

Yamaura Stay is an experience that goes beyond the farmhouses alone and encompasses the whole Yamaura area. You are not simply staying in an old house, you are staying in an old village. Alex Kerr envisioned Yamaura Stay as a “Rural Retreat,” a peaceful sanctuary to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and to forget the busy schedule of modern life. Traveling to a rural village up in the mountains, strolling among the fields, relaxing inside your farmhouse and using your time freely, that is what the Rural Retreat is about.

To truly achieve this, though, you need a comfortable place. Here is where Alex Kerr's well-known concept of “old-world aesthetics and present-day comfort” comes in. His restoration style leaves intact all the original charm of antique beams and walls while creating a neat and cozy space equipped with every comfort.

A lovely rural region that can be counted among Japan's best assets and small unassuming villages hidden away in the mountains that offer an invaluable retreat experience: this is Yamaura Stay.