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Nikko NP, Tochigi
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At the height of Chuzenji’s diplomatic-resort era, nearly 40 foreign villas lined the lake. People said that “the Foreign Ministry moved to Nikko for summer”—a saying that gives a sense of how thoroughly diplomats relocated here.
Tea here comes with a local touch: the British Embassy chef-supervised set includes plain and walnut-almond scones, served with clotted cream and Tochigi-made jam—a taste of the prefecture on a British tea tray.
Satow’s villa once had its own pier. Historical research shows embassy villas along this shore used private jetties for boat access and moving luggage, making the lake part of the route to the front door.
The villa’s original design blended Japanese and European living: a lake-facing terrace had tatami, and cedar bark covered the exterior, while Western beds, chairs and a stone fireplace furnished the house.
The tea room’s name, “Minami Yonban Classic” (“South No. 4”), preserves the villa’s old lakeshore designation: after it became the British Embassy retreat, this property was known as South No. 4.
Twenty-one years before building the villa, Satow published the first English guidebook to Nikko. He drew on Japan’s illustrated 1837 Nikkōsanshi, turning local knowledge into a route for overseas readers.
In his guidebook, Satow judged Lake Chuzenji more picturesque than Hakone’s Lake Ashi. From the villa’s second-floor veranda, visitors look onto the landscape that helped win him over.
Between July 1895 and May 1900, Satow spent 208 days at Lake Chuzenji. He returned in every season, sometimes staying for up to 3 weeks—a retreat that was more than just a summer address.
Satow loved collecting plants around Chuzenji, and his son Hisayoshi Takeda became a botanist. Researchers including Takeda studied Nikko’s flora, where species such as the Nikko azalea were found.
Built as Satow’s private villa in 1896, the house became the British Embassy’s summer retreat and stayed in use until 2008. It was transferred to Tochigi Prefecture in 2010 and opened to the public on July 1, 2016.
