A guesthouse born from a trip around Japan

We opened this guesthouse in Ureshino after spending six months driving around Japan. From here, Naoya tells our story.

That's us, Karin and Naoya.

Hello, I am Naoya Okubo

Hello, I am Naoya Okubo, and I run GUESTHOUSE LAPPY.

The two of us, Karin and I, opened GUESTHOUSE LAPPY in Ureshino Onsen, Saga Prefecture, in August 2026. It is a room-only guesthouse. On the ground floor of the same building, the two of us also run a cafe called LAPPY CAFE.

The guesthouse is on a back lane a short way from the center of the Ureshino Onsen town, and you can walk to the hot springs and to places to eat.

We have five private rooms and one men-only dormitory, so you can stay with us whether you travel alone or with family and friends.

The GUESTHOUSE LAPPY building: a two-story house with a red tiled roof. LAPPY CAFE is on the ground floor and the guesthouse is upstairs — LAPPY CAFE is on the ground floor, and the guesthouse is upstairs.

The people we met on our trip around Japan

I worked as a physical therapist and Karin worked as a nurse, both in Saga City.

In March 2022, we left our jobs and got married. Then we spent six months driving all the way around Japan.

Partway through the trip, we changed our style. We stopped setting a destination, dropped in at shops that caught our eye, and talked with local people. After that, unexpected encounters began to happen one after another.

We met a guesthouse owner who took us to a shop that wasn't in any guidebook, and a couple who welcomed us with vegetables they grew themselves.

"That place is good, let's go together."
"Come back again."

Small conversations like these made each place special to us. Looking back, what stayed with us most from the trip was the people we met along the way.

Guests and the two hosts talking around a low table in the tatami lounge — Guests chatting with the two of us in the lounge.

From a cafe in a former school to Ureshino

After the trip, we came back to Saga, and in 2023 we started LAPPY CAFE in a former school building in Kashima City.

I had a dream of running a guesthouse someday. To learn how to run an inn, I started working at Ryokan Omuraya in Ureshino, and Karin and I began living in Ureshino.

In May 2025, we moved the cafe to Ureshino. It is now on the ground floor of this building.

When we opened the guesthouse, we ran a crowdfunding campaign. 123 people supported us, and the campaign reached 177% of its funding goal.

Naoya making pour-over coffee at LAPPY CAFE — Naoya making coffee at LAPPY CAFE.

The small window of LAPPY CAFE facing the street, with Naoya looking out — The cafe window facing the street.

A cup of coffee being handed over at the counter of LAPPY CAFE — The cafe is now on the ground floor of our building in Ureshino.

What matters to us here

Like the people we met on our trip, we wanted to create a place in Ureshino where meetings happen. So we built GUESTHOUSE LAPPY hoping it would become "an entrance where people and the town connect."

Since we moved the cafe to Ureshino, Karin and I have talked about running a guesthouse that can serve as a kind of tourist information center for the town.

We suggest sights and shops that fit your style of travel. Please feel free to ask us things like "I only have half a day," "I want to go somewhere only locals know," or "Where can I go with my kids?"

I hope you will listen to the river flowing beside the building, relax in the cafe space downstairs, and spend your time here as if you lived in Ureshino.

We would like you to enjoy unplanned time too, so we recommend staying a few nights.

More about walking around Ureshino