Spirit of old Japan

DON’T expect to wake up and smell the coffee in Ise-Shima. Cafe culture, which has swept through much of the world, creating pockets of lookalike streetscapes from Sapporo to Santiago, has not caught on in this part of Japan.

And what a welcome difference that makes to your senses. Here you can fall asleep to the grassy scent of your tatami room, catch a bracing whiff of seawater from your balcony, inhale the musky nostalgia of incense in the lobby and, best of all, be led by the irresistible smell of grilled fish to the breakfast table.

Ninety minutes south of Nagoya and two hours east of Osaka, Ise-Shima, in Mie prefecture, is famous for its long intricate Pacific Ocean coastline made up of vast inlets scattered with forested islands.