How a Kyoto Hotel Survived Japan’s Entry Ban: Winston Chu, Co-Founder of Wayfarer Hotels) | Japan Station 99

Posted on October 1, 2022

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On this episode of the Japan Station podcast, Winston Chu, CEO & co-founder of Wayfarer, talks about his interest in Japan and how

About Winston Chu

Winston Chu is the CEO & co-founder of Wayfarer. Wayfarer currently operates three hotels in Kyoto with plans to expand other cities, including Osaka and Tokyo.

Topics Discussed

How Winston got interested in Japan and anime
About watching anime and playing video games from Japan
About traveling to Japan
Why people become interested in Japan
About Wayfarer Hotels
About what distinguishes Wayfarer Hotels
The story behind Wayfarer Hotels
About Japanese hotels
About Japan’s archaic hotel infrastructure
About the high turnover rate in Japan’s hotel industry
The impace of COVID on the travel industry
About moving to Japan during the coronavirus pandemic
About starting a hotel in Japan as the COVID19 pandemic began
What it was like living and working in a hotel in Kyoto during the pandemic
Ways to make running a hotel more efficiently
Japan reopening its borders to foreing travelers
About the city of Kyoto
About learning Japanese
And much more!

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