[Japan's First] Updating 1,300 Years of 'Toji' Culture: A Pharmacy Opens Inside a Hot Spring Ryokan, Offering Stays That Harmonize Physical Condition, Sleep, and Diet

Wataya Besso Co., Ltd. (Ureshino City, Saga Prefecture; Representative Director: Yoshimoto Obara; hereinafter 'Wataya Besso') will welcome Irey Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo; Group Representative: Takashi Aoshima; hereinafter 'Irey Pharmaceutical') into its on-site Onsen Incubation Center (OIC) effective December 1, 2025, launching the 'Yakuhaku' (Medicine Stay) project—a new style of lodging aimed at establishing a pharmacy within a ryokan.

Five years have passed since 2021, when the ryokan began its journey to transcend the definition of a 'place to stay' and become a 'ryokan to visit.' Wataya Besso's next goal is to evolve the ryokan into a 'place to harmonize the mind and body.'

The value created by the intersection of a pharmacy and a ryokan is more than just improved medical access. By combining the expertise of Irey Pharmaceutical—which handles dispensing pharmacies, pharmaceuticals, health foods, and regenerative medicine—with the 1,300-year-old hot spring culture of Ureshino Onsen, we will begin offering a stay experience that comprehensively covers diet, sleep, fragrance, and mental care starting in April 2026. This marks the first time in Japan that a pharmacy has been established within a ryokan facility*.

*Based on our own research.

### A New Concept: A 'Pharmacy' in a Hot Spring Ryokan While many tourists visit hot spring areas, there have been limited medical resources available for consultation when travelers fall ill. The in-ryokan pharmacy will serve as a hub to support the peace of mind and health of guests by providing health consultations with pharmacists and physical condition support during their stay.

This is the first instance in Japan of a pharmacy being co-located within a ryokan facility*, and we aim to promote a new health tourism model from this hot spring destination.

*Based on our own research.

### Making a Hot Spring Stay a Time to 'Harmonize.' Since ancient times, Japanese hot springs have been rooted in people's lives as 'Toji' (hot spring therapy) for the purpose of recuperation and health maintenance. We are reinterpreting this traditional culture to fit modern lifestyles.

Using the pharmacy within the ryokan as a base, we will fuse hot springs, pharmacists, and wellness to provide a new value of stay that attends to each individual's mind and body. We propose a regimen that harmonizes the body through hot springs, supports health with professional knowledge, and encourages healthy habits that carry over into daily life. By doing so, we aim to re-edit Japanese health culture starting from the hot spring, creating a 'Japanese-style Longevity' that realizes a sustainable and rich life.

**What only Ureshino Onsen can do.** Ureshino Onsen is an ancient hot spring with a history of over 1,300 years, recorded in the 'Hizen no Kuni Fudoki' of the Nara period, and has long been cherished as a place for Toji. It is also one of Japan's leading tea-producing regions, blessed with a rich food culture and natural environment, fostering a regional culture where hot springs, food, and daily life are closely intertwined.

At Wataya Besso, by combining these regional resources with the expertise of pharmacists, we are creating a new health-stay model unique to a hot spring area. We will share this next-generation hot spring culture from Ureshino Onsen.

A Stay That Harmonizes Begins at the Hot Spring. Wataya Besso and Irey Pharmaceutical aim to create an unprecedented lodging experience that comprehensively covers diet, sleep, fragrance, and mental care by combining hot springs, medicine, and food culture. The stay itself becomes a 'time to harmonize.' We offer this new hot spring experience.

**──The background behind placing a pharmacy inside a hot spring ryokan.** **Obara (Wataya Besso):** Ureshino possesses unique cultural capital: 'Ureshino Onsen,' which has been flowing for 1,300 years; 'Ureshino Tea,' with a 500-year history; and 'Hizen Yoshida-yaki' pottery, with a 400-year history. These have healed people's bodies and minds over centuries. Since 2021, Wataya Besso has promoted the concept of a 'ryokan to visit,' building a local gastronomy by collaborating with tea farmers like Soejima-en and Kitano Tea Garden, kilns like 224porcelain and Riso-gama, and local businesses like Setogashira Sake Brewery and Saga Hirakawaya. We have also provided spaces and services that enrich the body and mind for both overnight and day-trip guests, such as fragrance experience programs co-created with Nippon Kodo. On the other hand, modern people live in a state of stress where the sympathetic nervous system is dominant, a trend that is accelerating year by year. Against this backdrop, I met Representative Aoshima of Irey Pharmaceutical while taking the next step with hot springs as our axis. We focused on the essential value of hot springs in turning on the parasympathetic nervous system and guiding humans into recovery mode, leading to the concept of fusing the original roles of pharmacists and pharmacies with hot springs and our facility's initiatives. This will evolve our ryokan into a new type of lodging that realizes a higher dimension of physical and mental recovery.

**──The experience created by having a pharmacy inside the ryokan.** **Aoshima (Irey Pharmaceutical):** It is precisely because a ryokan is an extraordinary space that people can sincerely face their own bodies. Ureshino is a land where hot springs, food, nature, and culture fuse, and the environment for re-examining one's physical and mental condition is naturally in place. I wanted to create new stay value focused on Longevity together with Wataya Besso, which has transcended the concept of a hot spring ryokan and created new value as a 'ryokan to visit.' During a relaxing stay, pharmacists will use their expertise to face each guest's physical condition and lifestyle habits, combining them with hot springs, meals, and sleep to provide optimal wellness proposals. We aim to evolve the pharmacy from a 'place to get medicine' into a platform to experience pre-symptomatic care, prevention, and healthy longevity.

**──Future outlook.** **Obara (Wataya Besso):** We are thinking of a new type of tourism in line with the trends of wellbeing and longevity called 'Yakuhaku.' It begins with check-in at the newly established 'Yakuhakudo' (dispensing pharmacy), starting with counseling by a 'Kusushi' (pharmacist). We will plan a stay optimized for each individual, such as providing welcome tea made with medicinal herbs and Ureshino tea, and designing dining experiences at our restaurants and bars based on the guest's counseling sheet. This initiative is an attempt to visualize the original value of the 'Kusushi'—the origin of medicine and treatment in Japan—and reconstruct it as tourism. By organically intersecting body, spirit, culture, and science, we aim to make this a place for a new Longevity experience to harmonize your future self.

**Aoshima (Irey Pharmaceutical):** I believe 'Yakuhaku' should not be a one-time experience, but a mechanism that connects to life afterward. Pharmacists well-versed in Traditional Chinese Medicine will assess the guest's physical condition through constitution diagnosis and cross-functionally engage with elements like hot springs, meals, tea, and sleep, elevating the entire stay into a health experience. Furthermore, by incorporating a scientific perspective, we can visualize health conditions and enable personalized health proposals for each guest. We will connect the 'realizations' gained during the stay into a form that is easy to practice in daily life. Starting from Yakuhakudo, we will propose a new way of health that naturally connects the stay to daily life.

### [Store Overview (Planned)] **Store Name**: Yakuhakudo **Scheduled Opening**: April 1, 2026 **Location**: Inside Wataya Besso (738 Otsu, Shimojuku, Ureshino-machi, Ureshino City, Saga Prefecture) **Main Functions**: Health consultation by pharmacists, physical condition support during stay, wellness proposals

**The entire ryokan is a laboratory. A challenge born from the Ureshino Living Lab.** 'Yakuhakudo' is a project born from the 'OIC (Onsen Incubation Center),' a hot spring incubation facility jointly operated by Wataya Besso and Innovation Partners Co., Ltd. OIC is designed and operated as a place for co-creation connecting local businesses with external companies, and through its demonstration project 'URESHINO LIVING LAB,' it promotes initiatives to re-edit the cultural resources of Ureshino Onsen into modern stay experiences. Using the daily life of Wataya Besso—lodging, food, and hot springs—as a field, we will visualize the value of local culture and pharmacists, creating new experiences where visitors can naturally come into contact with health and local culture.