Hi all,
I recently stayed a few nights in the onsen town on Lake Chuzenji in Nikko, and what shocked me was that it seemed almost like a ghost town.
There are so many beautiful sights in this area. Ritz Carlton just opened a new hotel. Plenty of onsen. But: When strolling through the city along the lake, there are so many abandoned hotels and restaurants that I just cannot make sense of it. Impossible to even get a dinner outside of the hotel you stay at except for a single restaurant that’s left (reservation only!)
So: What happened to Lake Chuzenji?! Why is it so dead today when it seemingly had glorious days 20 years ago?
Hope any of you can provide some context as I’m seriously perplexed about how this pearl of a town can be in this shape. I thought Nikko drew a lot of tourists, but apparently none of them want to go to Lake Chuzenji.
5 comments
According to Japanese Wikipedia, the lake was affected by nuclear fallout (is that term limited to bombs?) after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster, leading to ongoing bans and restrictions on fishing in the region. Perhaps this news resulted in people not wanting to vacation in the region.
That said, there are plenty of onsen towns that have hit on hard times since their heyday in the 80s and 90s leading to abandoned hotels and a general ghost town feel to them.
Google says it was an area affected by the 2011 Fukushima power plant failure. This killed off leisure fishing and affected general tourism. It appears fishing in this lake is still “catch and release” only. Pandemic probably caused additional damage to the area.
There is nothing wrong and it is not abandoned at all.
It is the off season and there will be more people in the autumn and it takes a hike to drive up to the lake.
Nikko attracts tourists to the famous temples but there are fewer in Chuzenji.
There are a bunch of restaurants opened along the lake.
I honestly don’t think Chuzenjiko has changed that much, especially when it comes to dining options. Like other rural communities, services shut down around 4 to 5 PM.
The effect of the pandemic ?