Tucked away in the mountains of the Nagano Prefecture town of Takayama, Matsukawakan looks like a very nice place to spend a night or two. The ryokan (Japanese inn) boasts traditional tatami room interiors, private sauna and open-air bath facilities, beautiful natural surroundings, and meals using locally caught wild game. Matsukawakan is about 45 minutes east of Nagano Station by car, and being a bit off the standard tourist route means that up until now all of their guests have been domestic travelers.
However, last week the inn welcomed its very first guests from overseas, with members of the staff brushing up on their English in order to cordially greet them when they arrived. However, the staff never got to say goodbye, because the travelers appear to have suddenly left without going through the checkout procedure, and also without paying for their room. Matsukawakan posted about the incident on its official Twitter account on Tuesday, including photos of police officers they’d called to the hotel to discuss the situation and sharing a screen shot of a text message sent by the employee who first noticed that the foreign travelers had disappeared.
The two foreigners had checked in on Friday, August 2, with a reservation to stay for two nights. The pair went out on Saturday morning, but when they hadn’t returned to the inn by late that night, the employee became concerned and went to check their room, discovering that they’d taken all of their luggage with them when .