Masao Ono: Restoring Kyo-machiya and Carrying Forward History

In February of that year, I encountered a Sukiya-style machiya along the "Nene-no-michi" path near Kodai-ji Temple in Kyoto, which now serves as the CAMPTON headquarters. Through that connection, I was able to start my business. At that time, I was asked, "There is someone who wants to sell a machiya; would you like to buy it?" Since there were already places offering machiya as lodging, I thought it might be an interesting business opportunity.

From the perspective of preserving Kyoto's streetscape and restoring Kyo-machiya, CAMPTON's major policy is to restore poorly maintained machiya into atmospheric homes rather than tearing them down to build new ones. This stems from the idea that land is not the only protagonist of real estate; the time and history cultivated by a building cannot be bought.

A wooden house that has stood for 100 years possesses an atmosphere and history equivalent to those years. If you demolish that building and build a new one, it would take another 100 years for that new building to have a 100-year history. You cannot shorten that time to create the same flavor.

Within the economic act of buying, building, and profiting in the market, we use the innkeeping business to pass down time and history—which can never be bought—to the current era through buildings. we operate with the awareness that we are participants in a long history mediated by these buildings, and that we are temporary custodians of this history and time.

There are many beautiful machiya left in the city of Kyoto. However, maintaining a machiya takes a tremendous amount of money and effort, so those who keep them in beautiful condition are wealthy individuals. We don't usually get the chance to acquire them from such people. The properties we are fortunate enough to purchase are often those where the owners are considering converting the machiya into a modern detached house because it is heavily damaged, or houses in great locations downtown that have become vacant because the owners live in apartments due to the old building being inconvenient.

We apply white plaster to the exterior walls and attach charred cedar boards to create a so-called machiya style. Some houses have had corrugated iron sheets attached to the original exterior or siding roofs installed. Our business is to properly return them to their original machiya state.

It is often said that dealing with people in Kyoto is difficult, but in our case, we have been very well looked after from the beginning. We have Kyoto locals as shareholders and have formed partnerships, learning about Kyoto's unique business customs and culture as we go. Of course, there was the struggle of understanding Kyoto culture, but they treat us with affection, seeing us as outsiders working hard. Finding a partner in Kyoto was also a stroke of luck.

My basic principle in business is "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." If you assert yourself too much just because you have knowledge, you will definitely face backlash. I believe it is important to communicate what you want to do within that context.

Some properties are over a hundred years old, and the interiors are inconvenient unless you renovate them considerably. On the first floor, we install floor heating everywhere, including the bathroom floor, and for bedrooms, we basically install beds instead of futons.

Also, we are particular about the bathtubs and use Koyamaki (Japanese umbrella pine). Maki wood is strong enough to be used for the bottom planks of ships, so it is resistant to water and gives off a wonderful scent when filled with hot water. Since we weren't originally hoteliers, we had to study on our own. We incorporate the good points of various hotels and ryokans, listen to people's advice, and put it into practice.

I am helped by many women in particular. The person who drew the logo for my business card is a female calligrapher. A former geiko introduced by her told me she was looking for amenities, and she introduced me to "Kyoto Chidoriya," which we now provide at our inn. We offer the same amenities as prestigious hotels like the Hyatt Regency Kyoto and Chorakukan.

I am also very close with the proprietress of the long-established restaurant Kodaiji Wakuden next door, and she introduces guests to us as well.

I took it from my favorite hotel among all the ones I've stayed at. It's a hotel in San Francisco called Campton Place. This hotel has no automatic doors except for the elevator. When you pull up in a car, a porter comes to take your luggage, a doorman opens the door for you, and the porter carries your luggage to your room. It's a hotel that truly makes guests happy by providing luxury through human hands the moment they enter.

So, I named it "Campton," using a bit of a British-style pronunciation.

Like a detached vacation villa, we operate on the premise of not serving meals, positioning ourselves right in the middle between a hotel and a traditional ryokan that serves meals.

To begin with, Kyoto's food is more varied and delicious if you eat out (laughs). Besides, even with Kyo-ryori (Kyoto cuisine), international guests will likely get tired of it after staying two or three nights. Kyoto is an international city with many different types of restaurants. We provide services to meet requests such as making reservations at top-tier restaurants or asking caterers to bring food to the inn.

The first two buildings we opened can accommodate up to six people, and the room rate per night exceeds 100,000 yen. Initially, I thought about going with that one price whether there were two or six people. However, doing so made us the most expensive on all hotel booking sites (laughs).

So now, we have a rate structure where the room price increases depending on the number of people. I hope to realize a single-price system in the future, though.

Basically, it's inbound travelers—people from overseas. Based on my previous experience in overseas business, I thought I might be able to attract guests to Kyoto.

Looking at the number of nationalities in the guest register, it's probably about half Japanese and half overseas guests. However, in terms of total nights stayed, overseas guests are overwhelmingly more numerous.

That's right. Conversely, Japanese guests almost only stay for one night. It feels like a one-night stay for a special occasion. The most prominent Japanese guests recently are "girls' trips." There are many groups of four to six women in their 40s or 50s who gather in Kyoto to have fun with friends from their student days.

In a hotel, rooms are separate, but since we have a living-room-like space where everyone can gather even if their sleeping areas are separate, it's very well-received. On the other hand, overseas guests are often families and stay for at least three nights.

I was there for 12 years. At Sumitomo Realty, I was mainly in the residential field, working on the development of new condominiums. There was a time when I built condominiums on land I bought and sold them myself.

Around 1994 or 1995, while I was doing finance-related work, I had dealings with people from foreign banks and learned about the fund business—a method of doing business with investors' money rather than your own. Through that, I was introduced to a person in charge of dealing with wealthy Japanese individuals at Citibank Private Bank, and that person invited me to do overseas real estate business together at Citi.

Since I was feeling stressed by the "scrap and build" philosophy in new condominium development, I moved from Sumitomo Realty to Citibank in 2000.

Exactly five years, from August 2000 to July 2005. I was seconded from the private bank division and served as Vice President of the private bank division of an affiliated trust bank, developing real estate investment products for wealthy Japanese individuals. There was no other place where I had so much fun, could do what I wanted, and was so well-evaluated.

I was selected as a top performer in my second year and went to Barcelona with my newlywed wife for a board meeting of top performers from around the world, where I was honored.

Around that time, a strong desire began to sprout within me to bring old buildings back to life with care rather than tearing them down. So, together with the person from Citi who invited me, we started a fund management company to revive historical buildings in the modern day overseas.

First, we used the fund to purchase dilapidated stone buildings from the 1500s and 1600s along the canals in the old city of Amsterdam. We renovated the interiors to modern specifications without changing the exterior, making them pristine and securing tenants. Law firms and architectural firms moved in. We purchased about 13 or 14 such buildings, and one of them was even used for a movie shoot.

When I say a building is "revived," I don't just mean its appearance; I believe it only truly comes back to life when it is used. The culmination of that was an investment project for a former aristocratic palace in Vienna, Austria.

That palace had about 6,000 tsubo (approx. 20,000 sqm) of land and about 5,000 to 6,000 tsubo of building space. It had wings on both sides, and after renovation, we leased one side to a post office and the other to a bank. The central building had a hall that was like a stage for high society, so we leased that as a rehearsal hall for the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and the upper floors were divided into small SOHO units. We renovated the interior, including security, to withstand use by a bank without changing the exterior. That's how we brought buildings from the good old days back to life.

So, doing machiya restoration in Kyoto now is completely coincidental, but there is definitely an emotional connection. I want to value and revive old buildings and streetscapes. I just love buildings.

With the upcoming opening in Nishijin, there are now four. There are two buildings on one site there. The main house can accommodate up to nine people and the annex up to five. They can be stayed in separately by nine and five people, or used for a single party of 14 people. A whole-house rental facility of this scale is rare, so I think it will be useful for three-generation stays and such. In 2017, two more buildings are scheduled for completion in Gosho Minami.

I have always wanted to create a company that lasts for 100 years, so one goal might be to build up the assets, cash flow, and third-party credit that can withstand that.

I believe the most important thing in creating a long-lasting company is the absence of internal division. Most companies don't collapse due to external pressure. No matter how difficult things get, if there is unity within the company, I believe we can pull through. Therefore, the thing I pay the most attention to in running the company is communication with employees. I talk to them daily and praise them with a "thank you" or "well done" when they finish something.

I have a vice president under me, and I want to make him, who has helped me for many years, the president. I want to hand over the presidency after making the company one that I can properly pass on to him without causing him unnecessary hardship.

It was the summer of my second year at Kumagaya High School in Saitama. At Koshien, in the second round, we played against Konan High School, the representative of Okinawa Prefecture, whose ace was Koji Nakada, who later played for the Hanshin Tigers.

I still think part of the reason we lost that game lies with me. There was one out with runners on first and third, and I was the runner on third. On the next batter's grounder to third, if I had sacrificed myself and been out, there might have still been a chance, but I couldn't move from third base and it ended in a double play.

I couldn't charge for home at that time. I got nervous and froze for just that moment, thinking that the baseball I had been enjoying with my third-year seniors might come to an end.

Looking back now, I feel that opportunities only last for a moment. Therefore, I try not to hesitate as much as possible when I decide to do something.

In university, I also wanted to do things other than baseball, so while enjoying hardball baseball with Patrick, I also did semi-varsity competitive skiing. Also, outside of club activities, I spent most of my time working part-time jobs. I remember doing over 30 different types of part-time jobs.

I even did hotel bed-making. That is incredibly useful now. I can give instructions myself (laughs).

Thank you very much for today.