In the middle of downtown Obihiro in Tokachi, Hokkaido, there is a lodging facility that was renovated from an old hotel. The name "NUPKA" means "wilderness" in Ainu language. The concept is "a hotel where you can travel through the wilderness and the city.

Currently operates two hotels, "HOTEL NUPKA" and "NUPKA Hanare". Both are conveniently located a 3-minute walk from JR Obihiro Station.

The general manager, Kotomi Sakaguchi, is a native of Tokachi, After studying abroad and managing a restaurant in Tokyo, she returned to Tokachi as if by a mysterious fate.

Having been involved in the service industry since her student days, Ms. Sakaguchi says, "Inns are the ultimate. How did NUPKA, which is not just a place to stay overnight but also functions as a community space for the local community, come into being?

Ms. Kotomi Sakaguchi, general manager of NUPKA

Just by having a place, people gather and new things are born

Born and raised in Makubetsu-cho, she studied abroad in the United States during her senior year of high school. Ms. Sakaguchi felt uncomfortable with the Japanese values of the time, which were "get into a good university, get a job at a good company, and so on..." It was only after studying abroad that she came into contact with the wide world of ethnic groups, national characteristics, and ways of life.

Mr. Sakaguchi (third from right) studying in the U.S.

After studying abroad in the U.S., Mr. Sakaguchi took a fresh look at his own feet for the first time. After returning to Japan and entering university in Tokyo, he began working part-time at a jazz bar. The bar, which was particular about music, had many people who were particular about food, and Mr. Sakaguchi, who had been surrounded by many producers since he was a child, began to take an interest in delicious food, and the more he pursued it, the more he enjoyed it. He also found it attractive to be in close contact with the regular customers.

Working part-time at a jazz bar. Mr. Sakaguchi at the counter.

It was also around this time that I realized the joy of being able to connect with people I wanted to connect with just by having a place to meet people I would never have met if I had not been working at the bar, and musical events were born from casual conversations. This experience became a lifelong asset and had a great impact on the path I would later take.

Opening a dining bar with an acquaintance in his junior year of college

The three years passed quickly, and in no time at all, it was time to look for a job. At the time, it was the "ice age" of job hunting. The Internet was in its infancy, and there was very little information available to research jobs. In the midst of all this, Mr. Sakaguchi thought, "What do I want to do? He came up with the vague idea of "wanting to communicate.

It was a pretty big decision for someone still in his early 20s, but Mr. Sakaguchi decided to quit his job search and open a dining bar with an acquaintance in Adachi Ward, Tokyo. While working there as an accountant and part-time shift manager, he continued to work part-time at the jazz bar and also continued to attend college.

For Mr. Sakaguchi, opening a restaurant had a strong meaning of creating a place. I want to be a "community park," not just a place to serve food. He had already experienced this through his part-time job at a jazz bar, where he found that if there is a park where people who like the same things can casually drop by, something new can be born from there.

At the same time, the more I master my restaurant experience, the more I realize how difficult it is.

I tried to open an inn, which is "the ultimate in the service industry," but...

At that time, I was fascinated by the area of Yanesen in Tokyo, where my hair salon was located. Despite being in a prime location inside the Yamanote Line, there were many temples and cemeteries, and the sky was wide because there were no tall buildings. Mr. Sakaguchi thought, "There is such a place in Tokyo," and started looking for a place to live, and finally found a small place in Sendagi, a town next to Yanesen.

In 2003, he decided to open a hamburger store because it was too cramped to continue eating and drinking or to sell Southeast Asian furniture and sundries, which he was interested in. At that time, the town was still quiet, with only a few locals strolling around here and there, but the number of tourists gradually increased. Originally, with the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and the University of Tokyo in the neighborhood, it was a cultural place where core fans of the city would gather from the outside. It was a time when I felt firsthand the changes that were taking place," says Sakaguchi, "and the events that sprang up there were interesting.

In the kitchen of a hamburger store

The hamburger store gradually became a place for friends to gather

The change in values, as if money were a piece of paper, caused Mr. Sakaguchi to ask himself, "Can I build any more things in Tokyo? In the end, he gave up the site he had planned to rent, and at that point, it seemed that his vision of running an inn had been abandoned for the moment.

However, life is interesting in that it does not end there. The turning point came from his friends in his hometown of Tokachi.