Ultimate Accommodation: One Hundred Year's Touching Kagaya

Description

This book, authorized by Kagaya, is a Chinese book that details the operation, employment, catering and tour of the hotel. Kagaya had won the first place in restaurants and hotels voted by Japanese experts for 30 consecutive years. It is not only the favorite of Japanese royal family, but also a luxurious hotel the Japanese people want to go "once in a lifetime". Kagaya, with more than 100 years' history, has countless glorious history and legendary stories, which are based on meticulous hospitality and the "female manager culture" that is popular across Japan.

The Insistence and Beyond from day to day

—— A record of the spirit of Kagaya

Author's Preface

By Xingrui Zhou

Abstract

The "female manager culture" that rages across Japan, the No. 1 legendary hotel, Kagaya, whose staffs never say "NO" to customers, claims that the complaints from customers are treasury of the hotel! Kagaya employs both effective and scientific management principles and has a humanized corporate culture. From it, you can get an idea of Japanese tourism, culture and custom indirectly.

There is a saying that lazy people do anything with a short-time passion. How long the passion of an ordinary person, not a lazy one, last? One day? One year? One lifetime?

In the winter of 1995, I, together with two friends from Taiwanese and Japanese travel agencies, went to Kagaya in Wakura-onsen in northland. When we got there, I was surprised by a series of scenes: luxurious equipments, graceful atmosphere, dishes that look like works of art… More importantly, the way that the servers treat customers is greatly different from anywhere else. When having dinner, they accompanied me, providing "extra" service for me: shelling shrimp, getting crab meat, lifting cushion for me, who was not comfortable with sitting on heels, covering my leg with a blanket, etc. And they gave me detailed commentary on every dish. One of the dishes was "snapper". The waitress Sachiko told me that snapper is a lucky dish in Japanese people's eyes, that it is lucky to eat it and that if you can find a piece of bone that looks like snapper, named "snapper of snapper", that will be double happiness. While talking, she said "excuse me" and took my chopsticks to seek for me. As expected, a small flat piece of bone that looked like snapper came to my eyes. Sachiko happily said:" Congratulations! Double happiness!"

What a fun and impressive dinner! It was so happy to meet with Kagaya!

In more than ten years' travel-interview life, I only had some connection with my interviewees when we made that interview. But my connection with Kagaya last till now. It might be fate. The boss, Sadahiko Oda and manager, Mayumi Oda couple sees me as their daughter. When I suffered from fibroids, Mayumi Oda took me to a doctor she knew well for diagnosis. At that time, she wore a formal kimono, took a gift, sent me to the hospital with Kagaya's business car and requested the doctor again and again to check for me carefully. She was just like my own mother. When Japanese doctor suggested that I have an operation, she kindly said to me, who was out of mind, that no problem and if I took the operation in Japan, she would get everything ready for me. The second manager, Akako, is like my sister. She was the model of my photos that I took when I interviewed in Kagaya for the first time. I attended her wedding and held her new bore baby, Mirei. Besides, Oda, the vice president, Rika, the third manager who married to Tokyo, are my brother and sister at Kagaya. I am happy that they came back after studying abroad, entered Kagaya and contributed to Kagaya with Oda couple in the 15 years.

Many staffs in Kagaya constantly communicate with my family. For example, my father's friend, Supervisor Hiroko Mori, Manager Teshima and Administrator Nagako came to my home and ate rice noodle made by my mother. I was the interpreter when Kagaya was invited to have a YOSAKOI performance in Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village. When my parents went to Kagaya in early spring, Standing Director Domae drove my mother to the ski field to see the snow because it was my mother's first time to Japan and she wanted to see snow. Countless staffs are my good friends!

I don't know exactly how many times I go across all the buildings of Kagaya. I am so familiar with everything in Kagaya that I even know the staff only passage. Kagaya is just like my home at Japan. When it was rebuilding from the earthquake, I was so desperate when I see Kagaya was so empty and messy. Unexpectedly, Manager Oda comforted me that it was a trial that we should thank. As long as it passed the trial, Kagaya would be stronger!

I didn't have a chance to participate in Kagaya's history before 1995. But I can tell that I grew together with Kagaya in the next 15 years. Every January, Kagaya and I nervously waited for the result of the voting by experts. The most impressive event was that after Kagaya won "the first place in restaurants and hotels" for 20 consecutive years, the President Oda encouraged staffs that "it's an honor to win 20 consecutive years as well as a challenge. In order to keep the first place, we should work harder. We should surpass the opponents and exceed ourselves!" Everyone there was happy as well as frightened. Even I felt a burden on my shoulders.

The encouraging words were still around ears. Out of expectation, Kagaya won the first place for another 10 consecutive years. This achievement seemed to be easy. In fact, the hardship and perseverance behind it were really admirable. This is the achievement of insistence and exceeding itself from day to day. You will consider it remarkable if you imagine all of little things, cautious and conscientious behind it.

Seeing this achievement, some people might ask: what kind of hotel is Kagaya exactly? Let me take jigsaw for example. Kagaya is like a stereo jigsaw. From President Oda to managers, to every staff, every member is a part of this jigsaw, not one less. Everyone works together, making a big Kagaya family inside and a big Kagaya brand outside. During this process, many stories appear: the stories of staffs, the stories between boss and staffs, the stories between staffs and customers…

I think readers will probably agree that there is a special "Kagayalogy" in Kagaya! This is a knowledge that has been accumulated for over one hundred years, among which are human emotion, justice, operation principle, gastrology, architecture, crisis management, industrial relations, family relations…and encouraging stories, of course.

Due to my lame and halting fashion or to gamester, I couldn't describe everything about Kagaya in this book. There are countless moving stories that happened since it started business 104 years ago. I believe that even after this book's publication, there will be many moving stories happening in Kagaya every day. With the principles of "sincere reception" and "only for customers", Kagaya hopes that everyone can feel like being home. This warmth never changes even after 104 years.

In the end, on behalf of Kagaya, I sincerely give the readers that have not been to Kagaya an invitation:" Welcome to Kagaya!" To the readers who have been to Kagaya, I will say loudly, with the happy look that Kagaya people have when they see re-visit guests, "welcome back to Kagaya!"

About the Author

Xingrui Zhou, the author of the book, who graduated from Japan Research Institute of Tamkang University, is the chief editor of travel section of The Liberty Times. Travelling for more than ten years, she is fluent in Japanese and familiar with Japanese culture and custom. As the first Taiwanese journalist who went to Kagaya for interview more than ten years ago, she was liked and trusted by the proprietor and proprietress of Kagaya and interviewed in Kagaya for more than fifty times. She even had her own guest room in Kagaya. She is in charge of the Chinese description of Kagaya and tourism introduction to surrounding cities. She knows everything about Kagaya.

This book is authorized by Kagaya and encloses much successful operation experience that is not known to all and many precious pictures taken by the author. The other works by Zhou include: A Healing Travel in Japan, Yokoso Japan.