- 🏨 The hotel · THE PASONA natureverse retreat · 57 rooms and suites, each featuring its own private onsen, on Awaji Island in Osaka Bay.
- 📅 The opening · 23 June 2026 · the property is already open, designed for extended stays rather than a single-night stopover.
- 🏛️ The architect · Shigeru Ban, 2014 Pritzker Prize laureate · a D-shaped plan flanking two linear buildings on either side of a light-filled atrium.
- 🧘 The concept · Preventive medicine based on mibyo, the Japanese concept of “pre-illness”: arrival health assessment followed by a personalised programme combining thalassotherapy, hammam, yoga, sound therapy and aromatherapy.
- 😴 The detail · Sensor beds in some of the rooms monitor sleep and adjust the bedding during the night · wellness dining created by starred chefs using Awaji produce.
Shigeru Ban is known for his cardboard tube shelters, erected after earthquakes and floods, and for a handful of museums that earned him the Pritzker Prize in 2014. He was less expected in the wellness hospitality sector. Yet he is the architect behind THE PASONA natureverse retreat, which opened on 23 June 2026 on Awaji Island, south of Kobe: 57 rooms, a private onsen in each, and a programme entirely built around Japanese preventive medicine. The property belongs to the Pasona Group, a human resources services company that has relocated part of its operations to the island since 2020 and is multiplying cultural projects there.
A D-shaped layout between forest and inland sea
The site is wedged between a dense forest and the calm waters of the Seto Inland Sea. Rather than choosing one side, Shigeru Ban designed two linear buildings enclosed in a D-shaped plan, on either side of a light-filled atrium. “Two linear structures with distinct qualities are integrated into a single D-shaped plan, framing a light-filled atrium”, explains the architect. The two facades differ: on the seaside, four levels of horizontal slabs form continuous balconies and make the building almost transparent; on the mountain side, a vertical rhythm of wooden columns frames a monumental reception canopy.
◆ Shigeru Ban’s architecture
Mibyo, or healing before illness appears
The Japanese word mibyo refers to that intermediate state where one is not ill yet not truly well: the imbalance before diagnosis. All the property’s programming stems from this: a health assessment upon arrival, followed by a personalised programme structured around four pillars: mind, body, nutrition and sleep. Treatments blend contemporary devices with ancient practices: thalassotherapy, Japanese breathing techniques, hammam meditation, yoga, sound therapy and aromatherapy. The format is that of the extended stay, a far cry from the single-night stopover: this is what distinguishes a retreat from a hotel with a spa.
◆ Wellness, water and sleep
57 rooms, 57 private onsens
The promise rests on a single figure: each of the 57 rooms and suites features its own onsen bath, fed by the site’s mineral spring, often positioned facing the sea. Categories range from the Ocean Deluxe, opening onto a continuous balcony, to the Royal Suite with its lounge. The vocabulary is that of the contemporary ryokan: light wood, paper, sliding partitions, low lighting, and apertures framed on the water. In some of the rooms, the bedding is equipped with sensors that track nighttime movements and adjust the mattress to improve sleep quality, one of the house’s four pillars.
◆ The rooms and their baths
A wellness dining experience entrusted to starred chefs
Dining does not lean towards austere dieting. The property has entrusted its cuisine to chefs recognised by the Michelin guide, with one brief: serve wellness cuisine based on produce from Awaji, an island renowned in Japan for its onions, beef and inland sea fish. The result resembles a lighter kaiseki, served in small composed plates, where nutritional balance is as much a part of the stay programme as the treatments.
◆ The table of Awaji
| Rooms and suites | 57 |
| Private onsens | 57, one per room |
| Opening | 23 June 2026 |
| Architect | Shigeru Ban, 2014 Pritzker laureate |
| Access from Kobe or Osaka | approx. 1 hr 30 mins |
| Motorway exit | Awaji IC, 5 minutes away |
Our perspective
Awaji Island is evolving into a laboratory, and the Pasona Group has been steering this since relocating corporate functions there. The appeal of this address lies not in its spa, which many Japanese hotels do equally well, but in the idea of a prescribed stay: you do not simply book a night, you follow a programme. While the model exists in Europe, from Lanserhof to SHA, it is rarely found in Japan with this architectural ambition. Our reservation concerns access: an hour and a half’s drive from Kobe or Osaka, which implies coming for multiple days, precisely what the property intends. And a tip: request a room on the seaside, as Shigeru Ban’s transparent facade is only truly worthwhile on that side. Discover hotel news in Japan on La Revue des Hôtels.
Practical information
- Address · THE PASONA natureverse retreat, 2942-39 Iwaya, Awaji, Hyogo 656-2401, Japan
- Format · extended stays, personalised programme following arrival assessment
- Access · Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge from Kobe, Awaji IC exit then 5 minutes · approx. 1 hr 30 mins from Osaka
- Official website · thepasona.com
