Business · Companies · 3 hrs ago
Toyama inn offers guests food, baths and spa treatments featuring kombu
Kombu House in Takaoka, central Japan, is built around edible kelp called kombu and welcomes one group of guests each day.
Owner Shiko Takenaka opened the inn in 2023 to show visitors the seaweed’s uses beyond cooking, including kombu-infused baths and spa treatments.
Guests can also try kobujime, in which food is placed between kombu sheets to take on its flavor, and eat it at breakfast the next morning.
Stays start at 38,500 yen per person per night, including breakfast.
Kombu has a long history in Toyama, where it arrived from Hokkaido on merchant ships in the 18th and 19th centuries and became popular in local cooking.
Although little kombu is harvested nearby, Toyama’s prefectural capital ranked first in Japan for household spending on it in 2025, and Takenaka also teaches children about the seaweed through workshops.
Kombu House in Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, offers guests food and cocktails, baths and spa treatments featuring kombu.
The inn opened in 2023 and hosts one group a day.
Guests can try kobujime, in which food is placed between sheets of kombu to absorb its flavor.
Stays start at 38,500 yen ($240) per person per night, including breakfast.
Owner Shiko Takenaka says he wants people to discover the seaweed’s many uses.
- Who
- Kombu House owner Shiko Takenaka runs the inn. Guests can experience kombu in food, baths and spa treatments.
- What
- The inn offers an immersive experience centered on kombu, or Japanese edible kelp.
- When
- The inn opened in 2023.
- Where
- Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, Japan.
- Why
- Takenaka developed the idea while discussing ways to revitalize the city. He wants people to discover what kombu has to offer.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Takenaka and fellow local chamber of commerce members discussed ways to revitalize the city, leading to the idea for Kombu House.
Takenaka began running a kombu specialty restaurant.
Kombu House opened in Takaoka.
Toyama Prefecture’s capital ranked first nationwide in household spending on kombu, according to a ministry survey.
- Location
- Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture
- Opened
- 2023
- Guest capacity
- One group per day
- Starting price
- 38,500 yen ($240) per person per night, including breakfast
- Local spending
- Toyama’s prefectural capital ranked first in kombu spending among households with two or more people in 2025
What people are saying
I want people to discover what kombu has to offer
Knowing no one else had done it was what fired me up
It makes me want to make lots of people happy with kombu