Our story
Our team and the people of the village
Our staff and the people of the village
Tap a name to switch the panel on the left.
People you meet in a day
Our staff at the base
Bookings, pick-ups, and anything that comes up during your stay. Staff also help you communicate with the boatmen and the warung in the village.
Everyone on the team is Sasak, born and raised in Sekotong.
- Sukron
- Community leader, from Sekotong. As the bridge between the village and us, he supports the foundations of the project.
- Hamudi
- Construction manager. He oversees the building work, combining traditional building skills with modern methods.
- Marini
- Café manager. She runs SAKURA CAFE and develops menus using local ingredients.
The people of the village
The boatman who takes you around the islands. The craftsman opening shells on the pearl raft. The mother grilling fish at the beach eatery. The farmer who heads out once the sun gets lower. These are the people you actually meet during your stay. We only publish names and photos with their permission.
Our approach
What we have decided (three things)
Semelar Beach Village is a village-building project in a fishing village in Sekotong, Lombok. It is not about creating a tourist resort, encouraging people to move here, or selling property. Together with the Sasak people, we are looking for a way to keep staying connected with this village.
Tourism means coming and leaving. Moving here means coming and staying. Property means buying and walking away. Each settles your relationship with the village in one go. What we are trying is the space in between: you come as a traveller, come again, and in time you have a place in the village. And on the village side, work grows that continues because people from outside are here.
- 1
No exaggeration. No speculation.
We report progress as it is, what is going well and what is not. We move forward through real work, not by selling dreams.
- 2
Decisions are made with the village.
This village belongs to its community. The facilities are run by a local team, and investing in their training and skills is at the centre of what we do.
- 3
What lasts for generations comes first.
We choose what endures over short-term returns. We build and operate with natural materials, a small footprint and respect for the life along the shore.
Hiroki Nakamura
Hiroki Nakamura has been coming to Lombok since 2013, building relationships with the Sasak people. Rather than investment or tourism development, he values a long relationship of walking alongside the people of this land. He is building a village in Sekotong, Lombok, together with the Sasak people. The starting point of the project is to offer a way of staying connected, rather than tourism, relocation or property.
Our timeline
This story is still being written.
Year by year, in detail
- 2013First visit to Lombok. Meets its nature and the warmth of the Sasak people.
- 2015Secures the first land in Sekotong, about 7 hectares.
- 2016–2019Through repeated conversations with nearby landowners, the land under management grows to about 25 hectares.
- 2019–2023Paused by the pandemic. Keeps the land and the relationship with the village while waiting to restart.
- 2024The project restarts in earnest. Development and site work begin.
- 2025The first facility, SAKURA CAFE, opens. Construction of the bamboo restaurant begins.
- 2025.01semelar.com launches (project site)
- 2026.08semelarvillage.com launches (a Japanese-language information site, about 150 articles)
- Early 2027The first villa is completed (planned)
- 2027–2028Thirteen villas open in stages (planned)
We are filming the village as it takes shape. Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4 / YouTube: Pengembangan Kota di Lombok
Partner companies and supporters: Coworkers Inc. (IT development), The Future Staff Co., Ltd. (staffing), Kyoto Rikyuen (tea and confectionery), 66GARAGE (cars), Argento Inc. (food), Takara Sangyo Co., Ltd. / Yoshinoya Holdings (noodle making, event sponsorship), RADIA LANCE Ciel Co., Ltd. (consulting), Shinkinedo Co., Ltd. (confectionery)
Founder’s page: hirokinakamura.readdy.co
Company information
Operating company and contact
- Company
- PT Lombok Next Partner
- Representative
- Hiroki Nakamura
- Address
- Sekotong, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
- Contact
- support@next-lp.com
- Business
- Operating private villas in Sekotong, stay programmes, running facilities such as SAKURA CAFE and the market, and planning and running projects connected with the village
- Related site
- semelar.com (the whole project, and information for investors)
About this site
How we write (three promises)
- 1
Prices and times come with the date we checked them.
We write “as of September 2026” or “measured on site”, and update them when they go out of date.
- 2
We write the inconvenient parts too.
There is a rainy season. Convenience has its limits.
- 3
We don’t put other places down.
Bali has its own strengths, and so does Cebu. The most we will say is who a place suits and who it doesn’t.
