Ryuguden is a 24-room ryokan on the shore of Lake Ashi in Hakone, Japan, and a registered cultural asset. Every room looks over the lake toward Mt. Fuji. I stayed as a guest and filmed it without a brief, to show what a stay there feels like as a whole: the rooms, the meals and the landscape outside the window.
With no client to answer to, I set my own goal: one film that covers the hospitality, the food and the setting without feeling like separate pieces. I planned the shot list around a guest’s day.
