The value of luxury travel will move towards sharing and experiencing cultures, rather than simply knowing about a culture. Also not for spending a lot of money and having expensive dinner at a restaurant or staying in a sweet room of hotel. The luxury of staying in a hotel and eating food is important for great trip, but there’s more to making a travel enjoyable.
It will be focusing even more on the uniqueness of cultures, and offering more personalized experiences.
In the past, traveling was very expensive. So having simply tasted the food from another country, or bringing back goods and pictures from another culture was considered valuable.
However now, everyone is aware of different cultures. I can eat at Japanese restaurants around the world, I can see images and video, or even buy Japanese goods in abroad through the internet, but I can’t experience other cultures unless I visit their countries. You can’t experience Japanese culture unless you visit Japan.
I am a culinary expert so for me experiencing the food of Japan is experiencing the culture of Japan. It’s more than just eating.
Its experiencing the food, where you eat, what you eat, how you eat and with whom you eat. It's the whole experience of dining. From the beauty of the atmosphere, to the presentation and taste of the food, to the awareness of the continuing tradition associated with food.
The history and culture is on the table, in the atmosphere and shared between family and friends.
In Japan for thousands of years, we've eaten at low tables and sat on the floor. We've used chopsticks, and shared meals with family and friends. Today we continue many of these traditions.
Drinking Vessel made by
Mushu Yamazaki
400 years ago, a very wealthy and influential Samurai called Maeda lived in Ishikawa prefecture. He began producing small eating bowls in beautiful lacquerware, and started exporting it around Japan. The regional cuisine industry grew and even today Ishikawa prefecture is still well known for producing beautiful lacquerware eating bowls.
Luxury travel is travel that allows people to experience another culture in a rare and meaningful way. It helps us discover and appreciate other cultures as well as our own. When we know what we appreciate and value, we continue to seek these values and experiences because they enrich our lives. Luxury dining is a personalized and pleasurable experience that reflects the unique history, culture and nature of a country.
Some hotels and restaurants are already providing these experiences. For example, in Fall, Hotel
Kayoutei in Ishikawa prefecture makes a mushroom dish from wild mushrooms growing on the mountainside, and presents it with the brilliant red maple leaves for which the season is famous.
After dinner, travellers can enjoy a hot spring at an onsen overlooking the same mountainside from which the mushrooms were picked. A combination of personalized service, using local, natural ingredients and enjoying nature makes this experience a luxurious and cultural dining experience. It's difficult to express in words but this experience will enrich your life.
I would like to add, that there is a wonderful selection of Sake which is made of pure water taken from the mountain in Yamanaka onsen, wonderful local rice and with the use of village technology to give birth to this amazing SAKE.
(See the photos: from the top : many kinds of curry pastes in the market.)
