Risonare Shimonoseki, a new place to stay on the Kanmon Strait, has living rooms filled with sand and a restaurant that serves blowfish carpaccio.
Every day, more than 500 cargo boats and passenger ferries pass through the Kanmon Strait, a narrow waterway separating the Japanese islands of Honshu and Kyushu. The area has a rich history of diplomacy (the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the First Sino-Japanese War, was signed there in 1895) and is known for its abundance of fresh seafood, particularly fugu, the potentially poisonous blowfish considered a delicacy. But other than day-trippers, it’s never seen much tourism — something the owners of Risonare Shimonoseki, a hotel opening this month, want to change.
The 187-room property emphasizes its coastal location with an outdoor saltwater infinity pool that seems to emerge from the sea, and suites that feature indoor beaches: living room floors covered in deep layers of loose sand. At the main restaurant, Otto Sette Shimonoseki, chefs reimagine fugu in Italian dishes like risotto and carpaccio. While Shimonoseki, a city of about 250,000, isn’t known for its beaches, a stretch of white sand and clear turquoise water is accessible just across the Tsunoshima Bridge, about an hour north. Even closer, about 15 minutes by car, is the town of Chofu, with earthen-walled samurai residences from the Edo period. At night, harbor cruises offer views of the industrial nightscape of Kitakyushu, a city of about 900,000 on the opposite shore whose dramatically lit steel plants and smokestacks create a scene that recalls the futuristic setting of the 1988 anime classic “Akira” — a surreal blend of ocean, industry and art. Rooms from about $277 per night; hoshinoresorts.com/en/.
