Holidays Without Food.

After a long car ride, guests arrive at the FastingArina hotel, overlooking a scenic lake in the mountains of Nagano prefecture. They have come to unwind, away from the stresses of the big city. Time for a beer in the lounge or a five-course meal? Not quite. These guests have come to fast. Since it opened a year ago, the country's first fasting resort has accommodated more than 2,000 guests--mostly women--for an average of five nights at about $200 per night. "[Fasting] is the best thing I ever did for myself," says Naoko Arai, a 47-year-old Tokyo woman who recently returned for the third time. "I have lost seven kilograms and feel energized."

Forget Atkins and Weight Watchers. In Japan eating next to nothing is the diet of the moment. For decades Japanese doctors have treated obesity, diabetes and some psychiatric illnesses with fasting. But only recently has the general public taken it up as a quick way to purge the system and shed unwanted pounds. Last November Yasuo Tanaka, the controversial (and plump) governor of Nagano, lost 4 kilograms at a fasting facility in Ito, west of Tokyo. Celebrities like singer Kenichi Mikawa and wrestler Antonio Inoki have gushed in interviews about how fasting helped them lose weight. Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara hailed fasting in his 2002 best seller "Real Life Starts When You Are Old."

Physician Yuumi Ishihara (no relation to the Tokyo governor), who runs a fasting sanitarium popular with businessmen and politicians, says the number of annual visitors has tripled over the past few years to 3,000. "Modern man eats more than his body can digest, assimilate and excrete, which causes bad circulation, leading to all kinds of diseases," he says. Limiting food intake expedites the elimination of waste and gets rid of extra pounds. And he emphasizes--as all fasting gurus agree-- that fasting is risk-free when done ...