The other group is guests from Europe and North America. While the majority of foreign visitors to Shiraoi are from Asia, those staying at Haku are people from countries that had not previously been included in the town's statistics, such as the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Canada.

The hotel reservation website Booking.com has received nearly 20 reviews from guests from Europe and North America, with comments such as "The staff are friendly and fantastic" and "It's an elegant mix of old and new."

My encounter with books led me to America

Kikuchi was born in Chiba Prefecture in 1976. He loved reading since he was a child, and reading a book about "environmental issues" in high school had a major impact on his life thereafter.

In the 1990s, when the term "SDGs" didn't even exist, high school students were interested in the environment... Many people may be surprised at the high level of awareness. However, Mr. Kikuchi laughs and says:

"I still have that feeling, but I have a twisted streak where I don't want to go for the middle ground. Even when I was choosing books at the bookstore, I didn't pick up the popular novels that everyone else was reading, but rather picked up difficult books to read (laughs)."

Those were Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" and Ralph Waldo Emerson's "An Essay on Nature." As a lover of living creatures, Mr. Kikuchi felt an unfounded sense of justice when he saw the injustice of animals becoming extinct due to human actions, and thought, "I have to do something."

It was around this time that Kikuchi did something unexpected: he applied for the school's "exchange program" without telling his parents.

"What are we going to do when we don't even have any rooms (for international students to use)?"

(Photo is for illustrative purposes only)

At the time, Kikuchi lived in a very ordinary apartment complex. Therefore, when his parents found out that an exchange student from the United States was coming in two days, they were in a state of great confusion. However, the reason he applied in secret was because Kikuchi was usually trusted by his parents and was given almost complete freedom.

And so Kikuchi truly went on an exchange program to the United States.

"It was such a huge culture shock. The family I stayed with was a huge mansion with an arcade game center inside. There was a yacht in the garden and I could see the night view from the window. But still, it didn't seem like it was a 'super rich family' in that area. Japan is said to be an economic powerhouse, but it's by no means rich. I thought America was an amazing country."

When deciding on his career path after graduating from high school, it was books that guided Kikuchi.

I found a book called "The Environmental Protection Movement in America" (Iwanami Shinsho) in a bookstore, which went into detail about how America has four-year universities where you can study environmental issues in depth, and that it is a mecca for environmental protection activities.

Kikuchi, who was good at English, immediately took the TOEFL test and achieved a score that would allow him to easily enter an American university. Three days after the graduation ceremony, he flew off to California, USA.