Time Magazine Selects Sado Folk House-Turned Hotel for List of 2025 Greatest Places; Island’s Warm Hospitality, Citywide Experience Cited

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:00 JST, April 27, 2025

SADO, Niigata — U.S. magazine Time recently selected a hotel on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture, as one of the World’s Greatest Places of 2025 in its accommodation category.

The hotel, Nipponia Sado Aikawa Gold Mining Town, is in the Aikawa district of Sado City, the same area as the Sado Island Gold Mines, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site.

A total of seven guest rooms are housed in four buildings, including one where Mumyoi-yaki — a traditional ceramic ware on the island — used to be produced and sold.

The hotel is operated by Aikawa Kurumaza Co., a company jointly established by the private and public sectors, including the Sado city government, with the aim of revitalizing the local community.

The company has been deepening its ties with local eateries and tourist attractions to create a comprehensive experience that will entice foreign guests to stay in the city for longer periods.

Time magazine selected a total of 51 hotels and other accommodation facilities from all over the world. In addition to Nipponia Sado, one other hotel in Japan made the list.

“Visitors can experience the gold mines and the whole of the city on Sado Island,” said an official of the city government’s tourism promotion division. “The style of the hospitality here seems to be highly evaluated.”

According to Aikawa Kurumaza, about 13% of guests at the hotel are from overseas, including France and northern Europe, and many of them stay at least two nights.

In May, the company plans to convert a former office building at Oyamazumi Shrine into a new guest room. The shrine was established in 1605, during the initial years of the Edo period, to pray for the prosperity of the gold and silver mines on the island.

“The number of foreign tourists is larger than we expected and has been increasing since around autumn last year,” said Ryuzo Amemiya, the president of the company.

“We will improve preparations for receiving visitors with the entire community here so that they can feel just how attractive this place is. We also hope local people will come to the hotel and have interactions, and we’ll make efforts to help that happen,” he added.