33 Years in Business, Nikko's Long-Established Steak Restaurant That Stayed Open During the Pandemic Takes on "Vacant House Regeneration" – Aiming for "Japan's Most Welcoming Temple Town" Where Everyone, Including Wheelchair Users and Three Generations, Can Travel Without Giving Up.

Our company endorses April Dream, which aims to make April 1st a day to express dreams. This press release is the dream of "Enya Co., Ltd."

A long-established steak restaurant in Nikko, a World Heritage site, with over 30 years of history since its establishment, aims to create "the world's most welcoming temple town" where everyone, regardless of physical condition, can enjoy traveling without giving up, with "hospitality" as its keyword. Starting from a single restaurant, we have operated accommodation facilities through vacant house regeneration, supported internships for traditional craft Nikkobori, and are now working on a project to regenerate vacant houses into barrier-free specialized accommodation facilities. Although the initiative itself is still small, we continue to challenge ourselves to make Nikko "Japan's most welcoming town, regardless of physical condition or generation."

## Our Dream: To make Nikko a town welcoming to all, regardless of physical condition or generation. And to become a "Modern Post Town" where memories of three-generation trips circulate.

Our dream is to make Nikko "the place in Japan where you can truly laugh with your loved ones the most."

Once, it was a post town where many travelers rested their wings and enjoyed new encounters. We not only preserve that history but also update it to suit the modern era with contemporary technology and wisdom.

"Barrier-free" is not just about eliminating steps. We transform long-dormant vacant houses into comfortable accommodations for everyone. We turn inherited traditional crafts into workplaces where young people can talk about the future. By devising individual solutions and improving the town's functions, wheelchair users, babies in strollers, and the families who support them can all become "protagonists who enjoy the story of this town together." We will shape such free time with our own hands.

"It's an old town, so it can't be helped if it's inconvenient" – we are graduating Nikko from such resignation. This is the form of town development that Enya is challenging with 30 years of gratitude.

### 30 Years of Light: What We Saw After Enduring the COVID-19 Pandemic

"Restaurant Nikko Enya," founded in 1993, celebrates its 33rd year this year. The recession after the bubble economy collapsed, management crises, and the COVID-19 pandemic when tourists disappeared. We have faced difficulties countless times.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when tourists disappeared and surrounding shops closed one after another to receive business compensation, we dared to keep our shop open as a welcome to the tourist destination. Although we were criticized, we continued to keep the shop open and quickly started our own home delivery bento service with free shipping, delivering food for the sake of local people and people from outside the prefecture who said, "I'm glad this place is open" when they saw the light of our shop dimly lit in the dark town.

At that time, what we were protecting was not just the "taste of the food." It was "eating a warm meal with someone, no matter what the circumstances."