Nick Wall comments

I think this is a brilliant idea and wish them the best of luck.

but I cannot imagine that appealing to Tokyo suburbanites...

This is exactly who it will appeal to. Your hard core "young and hip itinerants wearing sandals" will be off in the hills with their own kit doing some of the fantastic multi-day hikes in the area. Mon and dad with two kids need somewhere with easy access (check - 75 mins from Tokyo by Shink), that is comfortable (check - that double bed looks mighty fine), has a wide variety of activities for the kids (check - the list is above) and enough change to attract repeaters (check - the change of the season is so dramatic up there).

I think it has everything to be a great success and I wish them the best of luck. Will visit the cafe once it is up and running.

Let's support entrepreneurs showing some initiative and doing something most of us would not have the guts or ability to do.

Dear Editor,

Might be an even better article if you could suggest where such a "bone in half ham" could be brought in Japan. Couldn't seem to find any at my local supermarket.....

@dcog9065, that is probably because Australian suffers from drought most of the time and cannot reliably keep its cows on pasture, either that or the fact that most Ozzies consider the fine dining to be burning animal protein on a gas grill (which for some reason they call a BBQ). Any decent steak house in the UK will certainy have grass fed beef, in NZ you would be hard pushed to find grain feed beef. Even the American's are starting to get it http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/dining/30well.html?_r=0.

"U.S. grain-fed ribeye (300g, 6,500 yen), Australian grain-fed tenderloin (250g, 6,000 yen), Japanese beef such as Omi tenderloin (150g, 12,5000 yen) and Yonezawa ribeye ". So basiclly all meat from animals that were not fed what cows are supposed to eat. Why is it so hard to get proper grass fed beef in this town? Surely any decent steakhouse (other than one that caters to people who have lost their teath) should understand that grass-fed beef is tastier and healthier than any animal that has been brought up on corn/soy protein/dead sheep etc.