Woke up early to keep our appointment in the private onsen, Kawato, that we had booked for before breakfast. It was all the way back down the slope car to the ground floor again and this time back towards the main building. I wasn’t expecting steps, but up we went.
Only to find that we were then going back down again… I have a feeling we should have been told about this. :/ My knee is pretty good but certainly it’s a little stiff in the mornings still.
We eventually found the right place – found a comfortable and well equipped change room and shower like all the other onsens.
And then stepped outside to see this! WOW!!! What a simply glorious and decadent space. I was blown away.
Surrounded by the forest, and the sounds of running water and bird song, it was just magic. I must have been standing there (nekkid!) admiring the space for about two or three minutes before I realised there were steps going down into the water and it was 1.1m deep!
This was just beautiful.. the water was soft and silky, the steam rising off the water looks inviting, the green forest beside the infinity pool was just so relaxing. I’m totally seeing how this would be just the most sublime break from the big city if you lived in Tokyo’s bright neon sing-songy streets.
I didn’t want to leave!
After our amazing onsen bath, we went back to the room for a while and cooled down before heading up to breakfast in the restaurant… another private dining room with a beautifully presented breakfast.
In the box: vegetable castealla; Boiled duck; Auricularia; Bayberry, pickles; Marinated egg with soy sauce; Hadano vegetable with home made dressing.
Breakfast sashimi is definitely something I could get used to: mackerel and Hokkaido scallops.
Dried horse mackerel.
Steamed vegetables and grated radish ponzu sauce.
Hot pot dish: Chicken ball and grilled green onions with fried tofu.
Yoghurt with fruit and agave syrup.
Breakfast everywhere we have gone has been amazing, I haven’t managed to finish a single one of them, but it’s always beautifully presented and often filling enough that we skip lunch.
Some more photos around the reception while we get ready to head to town for the day.
When we returned to the ryokan, we had been moved to a different room – the Internet in our room kept dropping out. It was attached to the back of the television and was overheating and turning itself off and back on again once it had cool… not a problem when you’re on holiday, quite a big problem when you’re on a work trip mixed with a bit of holidaying. We didn’t really want to move rooms – we were super happy with our enormous day bed and lovely balcony onsen, but they upgraded us and moved us from the first floor to the fifth floor… to an even bigger room!
Same tasteful decor.
I swear the first time we stayed in Japan we stayed in an Airbnb with four of us in a room a fraction this size… and the second time we came to Japan we stayed in an APA hotel with a double bed in it and not enough space on the floor to open a single suitcase! 🤣 Things have changed.
This room had an enormous walk in close that could be used as a dressing room, with paper screen doors that closed together for privacy.
It also had a traditional Japanese living/sleeping room with a handful of futons in the closet in here.
Talk about lux… they could have just popped to a BIC Camera and picked up a ¥7000 modem and we would have been quite happy where we were.
The staff even moved all my saké stash to the fridge in the new room too. Score!
Good to know we weren’t suffering with a ‘lesser’ hairdryer down in the other room. 🙂
Okay, then for the star of the show for this room: a fabulous outdoor lounge and a much larger onsen bath… sweet.
It was lovely… and so was the saké.
We had spent the day showing the Messrs Stokes around Hakone and they had come back to our ryokan to have dinner with us tonight. With a bit of pre-planning, the staff at Hatsuhanna were only too happy to help us have a fancy kaiseki dinner party. So we had booked a private onsen for the guys to go have a bath and relax, while Mr K and I had a soak on the deck. Then it was time to go to dinner all relaxed and chill.
We had an excellent photographer capture us a happy group pic.
It’s difficult to see in this image, but this peanut sized dish it double stacked high, and has a lid on it. The top level comes off, and gets laid across the bottom level leaving a “+” shaped dish.
Such a creative serving concept. In the centre above: Ayu sweet fish and rose with herbal medicine stew; and char-grilled Pacific saury with tomato. Below: Pinchos sushi with Kinatarou trout, avocado, and chopped wasabi.
Sweet shrimp with maple leaf; Boiled crab and chrysanthemum daisy leaf salad; Glutinous barley tofu.
This may have been before the attempted mass monetisation of an effort to save Australia’s honey bees..? Hard to say.
Chrysanthemum soup with shrimp Shinjo (or cake), leafs and bud.
Sashimi course was awesome: tuna, yellowtail, mackerel, konjac under there and sweet boiled shrimp.
Grilled marbled rock fish with rock salt, Kabous (citrus) fruit), Japanese ginger, ginko nuts, Ginko biloba rice crackers.
Above: Japanese pickles. Eggplant pickled in sweet vinegar and watercress from Hakone, and red miso soup.
Charcoal Joshu beef loin with porcini sauce served with small turnip, King trumpet mushrooms, shimeji mushrooms, Maitake mushrooms.
Seasonal Odawara Harumi rice.
Deep-fried sesame tofu with grated names mushroom, green beans, cart shape like momiji.
If someone had told me twelve months ago, that these three people would be dining together in Japan in 2024, I would have been damn near been ready to bet our house against it… it’s so weird how things work out. We had a lovely evening, I hope it was a memorable experience for the Messrs Stokes also.
Woke up to a simply gorgeous morning! Wish it had been this clear yesterday while we were out hunting for views of the mountain… but from the warm and comfort of our large onsen bath – I won’t complain
At breakfast this morning we were lead to a dining room with a view!
Boiiled seasonal vegetables; Ganmodoki (deep-fried tofu mixed with thinly sliced vegetables); Grated yam with Yukari, Minced raw tuna; Kamaboko mad in Odawara; Pickled Japanese horseradish; Simmered prawn in seasoned broth; Boiled whitebait; Grilled spicy fish eggs; rolled tamago; Pickles; Salad made in Hadano and fruit… holy shit that is a lot.
Homemade tofu with soy and ponzu sauce. Plus there was broiled miso soup and miso-marinated black cod.
Thus endeth our stay at Hakone’s Hatsuhana. Loved every minute of it… gorgeous place, amazing staff and excellent food and accommodations. I have to say though… I kinda prefer the more traditional ryokans, this one is definitely designed to impress people who are kinda over the traditional Japanese way of doing things. We are checking out this morning and starting the transit home. Again.
Every trip we try to find one place to stay that is a little cut above and special. This trip, I chose Odakyu Hatsuhana in Hakone. From everything I had read, this place is one of the most sought after ryokans in Hakone with incredible facilities, five star service, fabulous onsen baths and an amazing restaurant.
Being a larger (though not large by Western standards – with only 47 rooms) it had some impressively spacious reception areas with gorgeous modern Japanese interior design. We were greeted and led to the lounge area for check-in, which was all warm tones, a fireplace and flower arrangements.
Mr K opted for a welcome beer and I chose a yuzu tea.
Our room was a Deluxe Room type A with a private bath on the balcony. The genkan was large – to the right was a closet and the toilet, and before us was a sliding pocket door the living area.
The living area had a typical western couch and an enormous day bed, huge television and sliding screens that led out to the balcony.
A dresser in the corner came well equipped with coffee machine, kettle, a teapot and cups for making Japanese tea, a marquetry box with snacks, drawers with wine glasses, drinking glass, coffee cups, and a fridge full of beer, soft drink and juices that were all included.
To the left of the genkan was the sleeping area with two double sized beds – it was a very LARGE room.
Beside the day bed was some sliding screens that rolled back to reveal the bathroom.
The private views to the gardens from the balcony were lovely – even though this was the 3rd floor, it felt like we were in a ground floor garden.
The bathroom was lovely and modern with gorgeous lighting, all modern tile, timber heated floors and sooo many amenities available.
Big waffle weave bathrobes and a sleek black hair dryer that I’m sure some Japanese blogger would approve of mightily.
Through the bathroom was the shower room – which I gotta say had *the* best shower head I have never encountered. I meant to find out what brand it is, and find out if I could get one installed in my bathroom back home!
Step through the shower and onto the balcony – this is the private bath we are going to have to suffer with for the next three days! OMG… just gorgeous!
The water in Hakone is known as simple alkaline springs, so it is soft and feels silky. Not as hot as some onsen baths, but they have provided a button to press for cold water if you find it overheating. So lush!
The water looks so inviting.
Unpack a little, shower for a bit, and then soak with a saké for a lot! I love it!
Infinity pool onsens… this is gorgeous. Though most of the garden should be orange and red by now, I didn’t mind one bit.
The marquetry box contained some mocchi and weird little local buns. Hakone mountain local treats.
The genkan closet with the toilet to the right. The layout of this room was really well thought out.
These must be very high end toilets – it would spritz, and self open as you walked into the toilet, sound running water when you sat down, and sing a little song as it was flushing. 🙂
The closet contained, soft hanten coats, yukata in numerous sizes, samue for wearing around the room, and a small sign saying there was a dress code and that samue were not welcome in the dining room. Hoity-toity!
Before dinner we went down to the lounge for pre-dinner cocktails. The lounge is available for guest pretty much all day. There is tea and coffee, a fairly solid bar of alcoholic beverages, saké, red and white wine, champage, juices, iced tea options as well as a small buffet of savoury and sweet snacks.
The restaurant was on the fifth floor and was decorated in lush but subdued purple and gold tones.
Another full bar here servicing the restaurant, though there seemed to be price list for drinks in the restaurant… and when we opened the wine list we found out why. There is a hugely impressive cellar of foreign wines and local sakés.
The private dining room were created with timber or glass walls with beautiful designs on them.
Our meal started with an aperitif of yuzu liqueur – oddly enough served in these very familiar Swedish Kors shot glasses.
Personally boxed cypress chopsticks… the card that came with them said they were a gift and could be reused along with instructions on how to care for them.
I ordered a sakê tasting flight of local Hakone sakés – they were all excellent. Though it wasn’t cheap… possibly the most expensive tipple we had ordered the entire trip; ¥5300.
Smoked salmon and marscapone mousse; Salmon roe and French parsley; Albaone and abalone mushroom parmesean sticks.
Sashimi course – yellow tail and mackerel.
Wild Japanese red snapper and grated turnip in a bowl of carrot, bok choy, chrysanthemum and yuzu.
Roasted Kiyokawamegumi pork; Burdock with balsamic vinegar; zucchini, King trumpet mushroom. Hakone water cress; red Beniimo potato chips.
Grilled rice ball with bonito in salt, served with Japanese parsley, cracked rice, toasted seaweed, selected pickles, and wasabi.
Local clams with white wine, leek, beans, onion and chili.
Hot pot dish: Sashu beef stew with red miso, potato, carrot, onion and broccoli.
Fugu karaage (deep fried puffer fish), served with lemon and light chili.
Dinner was finished off with mango, dragonfruit and matcha gelato… it was a really delicious meal, so beautifully presented. I noticed a lot of the crockery out meal was served on showcased the rabbit and the toad of Japanese mythology – no doubt it was very deliberate that the motifs were carrying through many of the courses.
After dinner, we spent a little more time in the lounge having an after dinner drink and letting our meal settle before coming back to the room for a bath. Hatsuhana has a number of private onsens available for guest use, but we had some language issues trying to book it, so have a booking to use one of the larger spaces in the morning before breakfast. 🙂
The weather had been overcast since we arrived, but the rain had stopped and it had turned into such a beautiful evening.
That didn’t mean however, that we didn’t have a wander around and find the beer and ice-cream stash for after onsen chilling out.
In the morning we went into the building next door which housed all the onsen baths. It is connected via the long stone pathed walkway pictured above and below.
There is actually a slope car or we would probably call it a funicular to take people down to the first floor where the main public onsens are and some of the other private onsens.
This morning we had booked the Shijima bath – which I believe means ‘silence’.
The rooms smelled like beautiful fresh cut cypress. There is exposed timber everywhere, and a lovely seating area to use after your bath. Bookings are for 45 mins so that staff can come tidy up, and replenish the towels and amenities after guests have vacated the bath. We never saw any staff in these spaces – the reception gave us a keycard programmed to open the door at our allotted time, and in we went!
WoW! This bath is amazing! It is about 60cm deep, and large enough to easily accomodate six to eight people… and we have it all to ourselves!
Above us was like a 30’ ceiling with open timber rafters.
The design of these spaces is truly impressive. It is so beautiful and serene. My only hopefully constructive comment here is that while, yes I understand they are largely catering for a sophisticated Tokyo crowd with the Western classical music, I would have preferred a more Japanese ambient soundtrack. It seems incongruous somehow to be listening to what largely sounds like Muzak while enjoying this beautiful Japanese bath.
We popped upstairs to the lounge before breakfast to find ourselves in the clouds… sadly this would likely mean no views of Mt Fuji today as we spent our Saturday pottering around Hakone.
Back down in the dining room for breakfast… all the private dining rooms coming left and right off the corridor.
Carrot juice, Tamago, shrimp, Yubara, pickled plum, minced tuna, grated yam, pickles to have with rice, steamed tofu with ponzu sauce, whitebait and grated daikon radish, salad and some fruit! Delicious and so beautifully presented.
Of course when the rice was delivered, it also came with a small piece of grilled fish, and so miso soup.
Some morning photos of the reception area as we waited for the shuttle to take us to town for the day.
Hatsuhana also had a small gift shop – a little more upmarket than we have seen elsewhere. Pricey glassware and expensive marquetry items, as well as some of the local Hakone snacks that we were served in the rooms on check in.
We have a three night stay here, so for our second night we chose to find some local restaurants in town to have some dinner rather than the fine dining experience here three nights running! There is apparently too much of a good thing, though I’m not sure it’s fine Japanese cuisine that slots into that idiom so readily for me!
When we came back from town, we had some work to do and a late 10pm booking in another of the hotel’s private onsens. This one accessible via the slope car I mentioned earlier.
Minamo was the name of this onsen – which means ‘water surface’ and we would see why very shortly.
Another perfectly appointed dressing and changing area for getting ready for your bath and relaxing afterwards. They’ve thought of everything you could possibly need.
OMG the bath..! It was dimly lit, about 3x3m and 60cm deep, and stretching out before it for about 5m is a long reflection pool only a few inches deep.
Just such simple and yet stunningly gorgeous design… I went looking for a photograph of what it looked like in the day (though we thought we would try and book it again for tomorrow) and this is what I found:
It’s beautiful by day but by night it just feels like a dreamscape…
It was getting quite late by the time we finished in the bath so I thought I would go down further on the slope car to have a look at the large public use onsen – those are not for those tattooed amongst us, so I was going for a look around, but would not bathe there. The onsens swap at 3pm each day here so the men’s becomes the women’s and vice versa. Most ryokans do this swap at some designated time each day so people can see the entire facilities.
The locker room, change room, dressing tables, and showering station spaces were enormous! I swear they’ve tried to see if they can cater for the entire guest roster at any point in time.
There was a Hutti-putti verandah (I don’t know what else you would call it, a space with armchairs facing a garden where you could relax before or after your bath, and have a drink, an ice block or wait for your hair to dry. Perhaps just sit and be social if you are here with friends wanting to cool off after your bath.
A large infinity pool onsen bath that could easily accomodate a dozen people.
A huge bath made of river rocks with soft lighting and the sounds of running water were just so relaxing.
There was also a large round cypress bath under a gazebo – I’ll have to try and come back down during the day, but of course it is impossible to take pictures in these spaces if there is anyone here and they tend to be in use during the day hours.
We popped up to the lounge for a late night snack seeing we had had a late lunch and skipped dinner. There was G&Ts and some Japanese snackage and the lounge area was actually quite busy given it was now rather late.
Hakone Terimisu puddings… the last of our pudding consumptions! Strawberry for me and brandy for Mr K. They were really really good and totally deserving of their Insta-worthy reputation. 🙂
Nishiyama Onsen and a stay at Keiunkan was a bit of a last minute addition to our itinerary and took us somewhat out of our way, but this particular ryokan has been somewhere that I have wanted to visit for a few years now. The drive to get there was beautiful and we chased views of Fuji though the mountains and the clouds throughout the morning.
Ducks heading north away from Fujisan… though I thought when you’re in the northern hemisphere, ducks were supposed to go south when it gets cold?
The afternoon light as we followed the Haya River towards Nishiyama was less than stellar – I am hoping we get some better opportunities to stop for some photographs of the stunning landscape on the way back out tomorrow.
Gorgeous…
Nishiyama Onsen Keiukan… unsurprisingly with some very established and well placed Japanese maple trees at their entrance.
We arrived at Keiunkan about 2:30pm – and even though we were early, the staff were extremely welcoming and accommodated us immediately. Keiunkan has been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records, to be the oldest and longest established, continuously running hotel in the entire world and as such has an extremely long history of exceptional hospitality.
Known fully as Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, it is located in Yamanashi Prefecture and was founded in 705AD by a man named Fujiwara Mahito. It is an exemplar of the Japanese ‘shinise’ concept, which means, ‘long established business’, and is possibly the oldest independent company in operation after a Japanese shinise construction company, called Kongō Gumi, was sold/merged in 2006. It’s amazing that they have continuous records of the hotel on this site for so long.
I was curious to know what was so special about the location or facilities of this particular ryokan that allowed it to remain a viable business for so many hundreds of years. Built originally by Fujiwara Mahito, who was the son of a counsellor to Emperor Tenji, the 38th Emperor of Japan, the onsen gained popularity for the quality of its waters, and as a way station between Gunma and Tokyo. Many famous guests have stayed here, including the current Emperor of Japan… and now us! 😉
The ryokan was in the same family for 52 generations, (including having been passed down to some adopted heirs), right up until fairly recently when in 2017, when none of the extended family members wanted to take over the ryokan. When this occurred, a special company was set up and the ryokan’s long standing general manager, Kenjiro Kawano was selected as the new president. Because he was unrelated, he was unable to inherit the company that owns the ryokan, so ownership was transferred to a new holding company which allowed continuity of business, but sadly, the chain of family ownership was finally broken after an impressive 1300 years.
The lobby and reception area are on the top floor of the ryokan, all the guest rooms are down towards the gorge. We are on the first floor, which is the same level as the onsens.
I have no idea what this object is… it is covered in representations of so many artistic symbols, I couldn’t make head nor hide of it, but it attracted my attention nonetheless.
The hotel in it’s current incarnation was completely refurbished and some sections rebuilt entirely only a few decades ago – I imagine in it’s long long history, it has seen many sections closed and rebuilt in order to stay current to the needs of contemporary guests.
Our room had a small indoor rock garden by the front door.
Having added this stay to our trip only a few weeks ago, I had only managed to book a standard Japanese style room. Rooms with private open air baths are limited, and there are only 37 rooms in total in the entire hotel, which is larger than many of the places we are staying but still considered a small hotel.
Our room was a well appointed Japanese style room with tatami mats and low Japanese table and chairs. It takes a bit of getting used to, having all things at such low levels in the room – all the tea making facilities, phone, artworks, drawers; everything is designed to be at eye level, when you’re seated on the floor.
The ryokan is said to have an extensive collection of art that has been accumulated over the many years, and of course it gets cycled in and out of use in accordance with the seasons.
Arrival snacks – something sweet, and unusually something savoury to try later. Mushrooms… my favourite and thankfully Mr K is ambivalent. 🙂
Japanese tea making set, coffee, and a thermos of ice water.
Our room also came with a pair of comfortable couches with views from the large picture window down to the gorgeous Haya River.
We had pyjamas and yakuta, hanten coats and tabi socks provided; Keiunkan has their own custom yukata designs that showcases a lovely maple leaf design.
The bathroom was small but well appointed, including a Japanese style tub (small, but deep – perfect for a short arse like me!), that fills with hot water from the onsen. God, what I wouldn’t give for unlimited high alkaline, natural, hot spring water on tap at home!!
I’ll never get used to the bathroom slippers here… you leave your outdoor shoes at the genkan (front entry way), have some slippers to wear around the ryokan, then some different slippers (or sometimes just socks) to wear in your room, then if you step outside near the onsens, geta wooden sandals, and these random slippers that are just for wearing for the two minutes you might be in the bathroom! The toilet sorry, not the bathroom.
Most of our ryokan experiences have been in rooms with private open-air or semi-open air baths, due to my tattoos. Even onsens where they are happy to let people with tattoos use the public onsens, I am aware that my rather large dragon tattoo makes other people around me uncomfortable – so one of the first things we did on arrival was to book to use one of the private onsens available here. We booked the Seoto bath for 3:30pm, while many guests were still arriving and checking in.
The entrance above to one of the large public onsens – was set up for men at the time, and like most ryokans, they change the spaces at some point in the day so guests can use all facilities at different times of day.
I could see these covered passageways from up in the Lobby and Lounge are which is located on the third floor. The onsens are on the first floor and you take a lift to get down to these floors.
There was a small change room, and a small shower space outside, but we had chosen to shower up in our room before coming down.
Wow! The Seoto No Yu is such a beautiful space! It is said to be large enough to accomodate ten people, and I can imagine if you had ten friends you wanted to nude up with, yes, you could all fit in here, but we had the place to ourselves and it felt so luxurious.
It must be a never ending battle for the staff to be scooping the leaves out of the waters, but to be honest, to see these deep red leaves floating in the water, they looked very seasonal and added to the autumn feel of the whole garden space. Feeling thoroughly spoiled.
Cum pot saké… that’s not really what it is called, it’s just our long running joke with the super cloudy sakés.
I could certainly get used to this!
Even with the leaves floating delicately on top of the water, the water was so clean and hot and fresh… I noticed a couple of leaves that had slipped to the bottom of the water, and it was like looking at them under glass.
You come out of the onsen feeling like you have bones of jelly, and sometimes a little lightheaded. There is a small room to relax after your onsen bath, complete with vending machines full of alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, to rehydrate and cool down before heading back to your room. They recommend not drinking too much when using the onsen baths – but I notice nearly every ryokan provides plenty of alcohol should you wish to imbibe!
We tend to think that rehydrating thing is for suckers – so more saké for the people!
Decided to try the weird little pickled mushroom snack that was provided as a small arrival gift… OMG! One of the most amazing things I have ever tasted, such strong earthy, umami flavours – absolutely delicious! I immediately jumped on the internet trying to find these mushrooms so I could take some home. I even had Yale who was on a train heading back to Tokyo on the job – his Google-fu is often unparalleled in such things. Turns out that these are a rare snack – rare to have them offered to us as an arrival gift in the onsen, and even more rare to find in shops! FFS of course they are. Yale found that there was a shop he could have bought them in – in Takayama where he was yesterday, if we had known about them then.
Le sigh… always the way. Keep your eyes peeled when in Japan people! These were OISHI!!
While I was busy translating my mushroom package, I also took a moment to try and figure out what exactly was in the hand lotion I bought in Kusatsu. There are many many skin care products made in Japan that are created from the by-products of saké production – I haven’t looked into it too much, but they make for lovely smooth products that 1) don’t reek of roses, lavender or other random flowers and 2) tend not to be oily or leave residue over everything you touch. I bought this hand lotion as the water in Kusatsu was quite acidic and my hands felt noticeably dry… translating the bottle didn’t help me figure out what was in it though!
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Mr K and I getting ready for our kaiseki dinner in the ryokan’s restaurant – here, they use a large banquet space, and screen spaces off for privacy rather than purpose built private dining rooms; I believe it is because this is a popular wedding destination and the ryokan has been used for state occasions, so they need the large room for large or important occasions.
I really love the designs on the yukata here, and they’re made from a lovely cotton fabric also.
Of course, we started off dinner with some… saké. My body would be complaining something fierce if I had been drinking this much wine, but for some reason the sugars from rice wine don’t seem to bother me as much.
Feast of Shimotsuki Menu, starting with an apéritif of plum wine.
Steamed duck with salt; Boiled Komatsuna Mushrooms; Salmon roe sushi; Sweetfish roe and small Ishikawa potatoes; Grilled miso vegetables.
Sashimi course: Akane konjac stacking: Shingen, Minobu Yokei, Various wives??? Hmmm interesting translation! Pretty sure it’s referring to the condiments.
Koshihikarai rice from Minamiuonuma (Niigata) with chestnuts; Ichika’s Thing: pickled bettors, spicy cucumber and wine radish; Red miso soup.
Little bit of onsen + little bit of saké = very relaxed for a change.
Turnip kettle with minced beef and miso paste.
Chestnut noodles.
Grilled mountain fish with salt.
Joshu beef grilled on lava rocks. Specially selected Joshu black A5 wagyu beef, garnished with vegetables and served with ponzu sauce, and yuzu pepper and salt pepper.
Hot spring Jelly Minobumoto …
Clear onsen water jelly, added some molasses type syrup and matcha flavoured powder, and dip in yuba and fruits… very unusual, but super tasty.
While we were at dinner, the staff had turned out futons for us. I filled the small tub in the bathroom and had a good long soak… the water quality here is excellent. I love it.
In the morning, we had booked to use the other bath, Kawane No Yu for 7am before breakfast… was a great plan. One of the best laid plans!
The bath was identical to the other private bath we used yesterday, only we could tell the staff had an easier time with the leaves this morning as it wasn’t as windy today. These lovely rock surrounded onsens are like something out of a movie… you can tell the spaces are so carefully designed to take full advantage of the natural surrounds, and the gardens have been very specifically planted to provide shelter and beauty. I just love it… I could onsen hop every year, I think.
My biggest challenge with the yukata at any of these ryokans? They’re not designed for the busty! Thankfully I picked up a packed of safety pins at a Family Mart on our second day here and I’ve been able to pin myself together rather than go off to breakfast looking like some blond bimbo anime whore!
Breakfast this morning consisted of carrot juice, miso salmon, chicken dumpling, steamed tofu with ponzu sauce, konjac sashimi, rice porridge, marinated eggplant, grated yam, miso soup with baby clams, assorted pickles, local rice, green salad and yoghurt with blueberries and raspberries! At home? Breakfast is a cup of tea… and I might remember to eat something around 11-11:30am.
The salmon this morning was really lovely – subtle miso flavour and perfectly cooked.
I made some of it into little nori rolls… so fresh and delicious.
Steamed vegetables wrapped in Tamago.
We hadn’t had this dish before served this way before, I think perhaps it’s not particularly common in Gunma… steamed tofu that you tip a light ponzu sauce onto, stir it in and eat with a spoon. Delicious and savoury in the morning. More usually, you will hav cubes of tofu served with a ponzu sauce to dip the tofu in.
Rice porridge… not a fan. It’s like eating a consummé with barley floating in it or something.
Miso soup with nearly every meal is a genuinely wonderful element of Japanese cuisine, and in these ryokans, even the ordinary miso soups are far superior to anything I’ve had back home.
After breakfast I stopped by the reception to fix up our bill… it’s often best to do this earlier in the morning before everyone is trying to do the same at check out time. Happened by the gift shop for a sticky beak.
I must not buy saké to take home! I must not buy saké to take home! Last year, my saké brewery hopping resulted in the buying of a whole new suitcase to bring home with us last year! I mUSt NOt buY sAké tO TaKE hoMe!!!
I totally bought some ‘hot spring violence’ to take home though! It’s little packages of onsen minerals to add to your bath. LOL.
OMG THE MUSHROOMS!!!!! Feels like a find of the century – to add to my already impressive pickle hunt. YES!!! Umami mushroomy goodness for the people… who knew fungi could bring such joy? *happy dance*
I may have also bought myself a yukata in Keiunkan’s special custom design. Before too long, it was time to pack up and head off to our next stop… what a lovely stay at a truly traditional ryokan. Everything was exquisite – the rooms were beautiful, the onsens were amazing, the food was top shelf, and the staff were so friendly and so very welcoming and helpful. I highly recommend this ryokan. 10/10.
Kusatsu is a very popular destination with both foreign and domestic terrorists, I mean, tourists (or do I?), and as such has soo many accomodation options; it was actually quite difficult trying to decide where to stay here.
I ended up booking us into a large hotel called,Tokinoniwa. It’s not directly in the centre of town and is located on a hill overlooking the whole area. The photos of the place made it look like a large traditional and atmospheric ryokan, while having all the modern conveniences and several options for well priced rooms with private baths which has been my main priority, given that my tattooed and criminal appearance has been keeping me out of the public onsens!
I’m really loving that we finally seem to have found some autumn colours. I’ve been to Japan once in summer, and it was not my cup of tea at all! Too much like sweltering it out at home in mid-summer. I much prefer the crisp autumn air, with the blue skies and the beautiful colours of the turning foliage. 🙂
Tokinoniwa is a large hotel with about 60 rooms, and the entire ryokan is tatami mat floored, which is catered to by a shoe check-in system at the large front genkan. I think it might be one guy’s entire job just to keep track of people’s shoes! They have a serious numbered tray system. It does slow you down a bit when it comes to leaving for the day, but if you just want to wander around the pretty grounds, there are geta sandals provided at all the exits to the gardens. 🙂
I saw this enormous green Daruma with his one eye painted and it made me wonder if it was the owner/manager of the hotel who had chosen it, and what was the goal for filling in his other eye? The setting of goals with Daruma seemed to be such a personal thing, that it seemed odd to me that a large establishment might have one like this… Maybe it’s to win hospitality awards? Maybe it’s to meet revenue targets? Who knows. I was kinda curious about it though.
The Lobby/Reception, check in area was really lovely – most chairs were facing large picture windows into a pretty walled garden, and a tea and coffee station was all set up waiting for you.
Unusually, we were handed a laminated card to ‘familiarise yourself with how to use the onsen’. I haven’t seen these before, there are often some signs up in public onsen areas but not so much in private ryokans, but this is a large establishment, so I guess? (Edit: this info card made much more sense when a large bus load of Chinese tourists turned up and each of them was given a card like this in Chinese!)
The ryokan is built around a large central Japanese garden which has a pretty little hot spring creek running through it. Every time you walked the corridors you were walking past large glass picture windows that showed views of this garden – I imagine it looks amazing in the snow too.
We were a little early, so we took some time to explore the ryokan and found ourselves some drinks in the Lounge, complete with a traditional (though perhaps decorative?) irori hearth with a view into the gardens also. The Japanese penchant for design incorporating elements of nature is evident everywhere here.
Unlike most of the other smaller ryokan we have stayed in, here they have a, (I want to call it a library?) closet of sorts where you can come and borrow yukata and samue for your stay. Instead of all uniform coloured yukata, there was a wide variety of colours and patterns available, though a bit limited in sizes for the big or tall people.
While we were waiting, I decided to go exploring the onsens. This ryokan has large public onsens for men and women as per usual, but it also has three private baths that guests can use to bathe in small family or friendship groups. So off a-wandering I did go!
I checked out the public onsen first, seeing it was not yet 3pm there would be no guests in the onsens so it’s a good time to go poking around for some photos. Obviously cameras and photography are not allowed when people are using the baths. There are similar sections to every large onsen – locker room for storing your things and changing, beauty stations for tidying yourself up when you go to leave, and showering stations for washing yourself before getting into the onsen… and usually a dry relaxation space for having a drink or an ice cream after you bathe.
So many lockers! I can’t imagine bathing all nuded up with so many random strangers – but then again, maybe I can, because in Iceland I did plenty of getting nekkid with strangers before using the hot springs… *shrug*
Also – so many hairdryers! It’s become quite the thing, but Japanese tourism videos always, and I mean, ALWAYS make a big point of showing you that there is 1) a hairdryer available, and 2) the exact brand and model of said hairdryer, and 3) whether this is a good brand that you will be happy with. I have NFI why hairdryers are such a big deal here??? But they are! Each of these dressing table stations has their own hairdryer under the bench. Oh, and they were fairly chunky heavy duty Panasonic units, (like the one in our room), for anyone who gives a shit. LOL.
There was another three of these showering stations directly opposite these also – this places is designed so no one is waiting for a space.
This is the first time I had seen a dedicated ‘baby bath’ in the onsen. I have seen women bring their small children into the onsen – boys and girls, but haven’t seen anyone bringing a baby in. I imagine the peeing in the onsen would be an issue much like public swimming pools seeing you can’t really tell a non-verbal toddler to not pee in the water.
This might be the largest indoor onsen I have seen yet… There were two stone pools (above) on the left side of the room, two large pools in the centre of the room (below), and one large infinity style pool in front of a huge picture window (below that), all in the one space.
Then, you stepped outside through an air trap and could use the large outdoor onsen – which was just gorgeous! The poor staff must have been fighting a never ending battle with the wind and the leaves today. You could tell they were constantly cleaning them out, as none of these leaves were soggy or problematic to the water – they were light and crunchy and floating on top of the water. So someone must have been at it all day.
Back out from the public onsen, I walked further aroudn the corridors and the central garden to find the exit to the area where the private onsens were…
There are three private onsens, that probably fit about four people quite comfortably, maybe more if you’re super friendly, and they’re not bookable – you just turn up here and wait to see which are not in use. When you enter one and lock the door, it lights up out here as unavailable. They request that you keep your time short so that you’re not hogging the baths from other guests.
Into some geta and out the door into a large garden with beautiful winding little paths that lead to the private cottages that house the private onsen baths. This is so cute!
Ni No Yu – Chikura. Each of the baths have a change space and a shower and a different private bathing space. They are all really lovely in design… but I gotta say, this one was quite exposed and with this wind, it didn’t feel super inviting right now! Maybe tomorrow.
Ichi No Yu – Iwamuro. The next little cottage held a larger bath with large rock surrounds and very well designed lighting. It would be really relaxing and almost fantastically Disneyeque here, in the evenings.
Just magic! These places feel like something out of movies, not just baths in random hotels.
San No Yu – Korin. Despite its steps, this next bath was the most appealing at the moment – mostly because it was more built in and less open to the wind! 🙂
Having spent all these days chasing the autumn leaves, I am certainly not going to complain about them. They look gorgeous everywhere, even floating in the water.
Then it was back to the Lobby to get out key to check out our room. We had booked a Deluxe Twin Room with an open-air bath. The first problems we encountered was finding the right place! Usually, staff in the smaller ryokans will guide you to your room, spend a few minutes showing you all the available amenities, letting you know what in the fridge is included (often everything), and even making you a cup of tea and telling you about the facilities the ryokan has to offer. In this larger establishment, they had taken our luggage up for us, but with my meandering through the onsens, I think I missed any welcome wagon.
So, we knew we were on the third floor, but the map of the floor didn’t help us much, and the signage with directions to the different room numbers didn’t help us much… we ended up navigating by hieroglyphics. Yet again, I am cursing that I know hardly any Japanese and can’t read a lick of kanji. I really want to work on this, but it’s so difficult when you have a head full of Romance languages already.
Eventually we found the right spot. The genkan was long and narrow and more of a hallway than a traditional foyer.
The bedroom was light and comfortable (turned out to be a little too light – that window on the left didn’t have a darker cover and there was a street light out there somewhere that never turned off).
Also in the bedroom was this little dressing table space, which opens up for a mirror.
The main room in our small suite was just gorgeous… comfy little table, another pair of slightly taller chairs towards the balcony, and another pair of chairs on the actual balcony (which might be nice once the wind dies down!)
We had some snack and tea making goodies provided.
And I loved how the TV (which we never use anyway) was hidden behind these lovely decorative paper screens.
Japanese ryokans seem to love these old school phones – I’ve seen some made of timber, or full on Bakerlite, they’re so kitchy it’s not funny, but they are quite the feature of Japanese hotels. Also in the handy little hutch was tea cups, beer glasses, and other useful things.
The room is designed to accommodate families if needed, and the large closet held enough bedding for four more futon beds if required.
We also had a small kitchenette – which had a separate sink, a fridge, and coffee making equipment.
Also in this little alcove was another closet filled with yukata, samue, hanten coats (nice ombré ones!), baskets for taking ourselves down to the onsens… and in that yellow bag is: emergency slippers! Because everyone’s shoes are at the front genkan, they’ve very thoughtfully provided slippers in case we need to evacuate. 🙂
I’ve noticed a lot of hotel room design here very pleasingly has the toilet separate from the shower and bathing areas, and where possible, it’s usually not near the bedroom either! Western hotel designers should take some hints from these guys – no one wants to hear their partner or family member on the loo while they’re in bed! Ensuites are great, but not always well located!
The bathroom was lovely and felt really kinda personalised; ie: not huge hotel chain cookie-cutter style. The sink with its white and blue porcelain desing felt like it could be at your grandma’s place.
*drumroll please*
The Hairdryer! And some small amount of amenities… the hotel has an eco policy that says to please go down to the yukata ‘library’ to collect any amenities you night need, rather than loading up each room with them. Which I think is a good plan. So many places we have been to are loaded to the gills with soaps, shampoos, conditioners, face wash, toner, moisturisers, cotton swabs, ear buds, dental kits, toothpicks, shower caps, razors, luffas, sponges – you fucking name it, they’re trying to provide all of it. Makes me think Japanese people never travel with a toiletry kit (wait, maybe they don’t?!).
The showering room … complete with non-image forming spectral highlights from the afternoon sun.
And of course the private open-air bath on the balcony… happy place!
First order of business is always to unpack a little, scrub yourself clean, and then soak in the onsen bath for a while! With some local saké of course – it’s becoming our little tradition. It’s awesome when the hardest decision before dinner is figuring out where to pop your saké bottle to stop it from getting too warm! 😉
Tokinoniwa has a large restaurant filled with small private dining rooms, and we had arranged for half board for one night of our stay, but not for the second night – we want to go to town tomorrow and see what we can find in the local dining scene. The decor leading into he dining rooms was interesting…
A huge antique stove greets you as you walk in…
More local saké with dinner.
”New Year’s Eve Evening Meal”… no idea what New Year that is referring to, seeing it’s November! Appetisers of : Shrimp, Enoki and cucumber with sesame vinegar and miso; Simmered autumn salmon with gravy; Grilled mushrooms and lotus root in and saury; Chinese yam tonkatsu with saké kasu.
Sashimi course: Mahachi tuna, squid, sea bream, small rolled yuba served with soy and fresh wasabi.
Off menu surprise dish: tempura mushrooms served with a light ponzu sauce.
Left: Yamato pork wrapped in Chese cabbage and stuffed with ginger paste and red maple leaf shitake mushrooms. Right: Eggplant gratin, shrim, sweet potato, and baburika.
Teppanyaki Black waguy beef loin, thigh and Yamato pork, with Maitke mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, pumpkin, king oyster mushrooms.
18grain rice, Nametake mushrooms, grated yam, pickles and red miso soup.
Fresh melon, tiramisu (for Mr K) and a blancmange type jelly dish.
What a delicious dinner – courtesy of the “Head Chef of Heavenly Garden, Yukitaka Tsutsumi.” Great job title!
After waiting a respectable period of time to let dinner settle, it was back to the room for the usual after dinner bath.
Saké fuelled, kawaii onsen selfie!
I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of the sounds of the onsen water.
Thanks to comfy beds, or maybe it’s the saké, I slept really well. Then it was back to wandering the halls and past all the beautiful gardens, to find our way back to the restaurant for breakfast. Breakfast here was ¥2,200 per person (which sounds kind of pricey, but if you think about what you pay for brunch out at home, add a couple of coffees, it’s actually really reasonable), so we had arranged breakfast for both mornings of our stay.
The small private dining rooms are the best – if you aren’t used to Japanese cuisine, you can muddle through the menu and what to eat first, and what to eat mixed with what in privacy! If you are not morning person, Japanese breakfast is amazing… they bring all the things to you when you arrive and then bugger off and leave you in peace to enjoy your breakfast at your leisure. If you want a tea or coffee refill, you’ll have to flag someone down, as they won’t be bothering you after dropping off the food.
Mr K looking relaxed… as if work hasn’t been blowing up and occupying way too much brain space!
Japanese breakfast is always full of all good things! Fruit/vegetable juice, green tea, coffee, black tea… Tamago, salmon, mackerel, tofu dumpling, salad, miso soup, rice, pickles, yoghurt and fruit.
Except for this abomination… the dreaded natto again! Bleurk! I think it might be the only Japanese food that I simply can’t stomach at all. Fermented soy beans – I’ve tried it a couple of times, and it smells awful, and tastes even worse:
Just say ”No to Natto!” #FreeAdvice
I could really get used to Japanese breakfasts… it doesn’t matter what they bring (except the dreaded natto, which I didn’t know was a breakfast food until this very day!), it’s always delicious and nutritious, and someone else has prepared it! Yay.
Also, the view out the window in our little breakfast dining room was promising a gorgeous day!
I got a better look at this enormous antique stove this morning – it must weigh a tonne! We are on the second floor… how did they get it up here?
The amenities station in the yukata ‘library’… still with all the packaged disposable things you could possibly need.
We spent the morning doing work and the afternoon pottering around in Kusatsu Onsen proper. Lovely late afternoon colours from the balcony.
We had a late lunch in town so were skipping dinner tonight, but that doesn’t mean I’m skipping the pre-dinner soak and saké!
I think I was in and out of the onsen about four times tonight. Having a piping hot little plunge bath available to hop in and out of as often as you want is the ducks nuts. I love it… we had a late snack of Kusatsu Tamago pudding, an an early night.
The sunrise over Kusatsu made the deep red hues of the leaves even more vibrant. It’s a visually arresting way to start your day; wake up early, and quietly slip into the bath to soak until your body feels like jelly.
I watched these tendrils of steam caused by the fresh hot water rising through the cold air for far too long… just fascinated by the uniquely beautiful curling and writhing patterns created by the sunlight coming through the timber slats surrounding the onsen.
Second day’s breakfast was equally impressive… tempura tofu, grilled river fish, salad, miso soup, rice, pickles, mackerel, squid and all good thing. Also, bonus: #NoNatto ..!
Sadly it was time to check out of Tokinoniwa. I really enjoyed our stay here. The ryokan was lovely, the food was delicious, the staff were friendly (far more foreign staff than we have encountered everywhere else – some Filipino and Argentinian staff working in the restaurant), though my skin was feeling rather odd. I later discovered that Kusatsu has some of the most acidic hot spring waters in Japan and that means lengthy soaking isn’t really recommended.
Oh no! I guess I’ll have to quickly find myself an alkaline bath pronto!
After a lovely day driving around the Shimagawa dam and strolling through Shima Onsen, we head slightly further down river to find our ryokan… and by slightly, I meant like two minutes drive tops. We found it readily enough and it is fairly classic riverside/gorge ryokan where the top floors are the reception areas and the guest rooms are built down and down closer to river.
Which is okay… except we’ve seen the massive 90m high dam that is holding back Lake Okushima and its 9.2million cubic litres of water and we’re on a country known for its earthquakes. Hmmm.
The reception was just timber everywhere, lovely and warm and very welcoming and it’s on the 4th floor.
We were welcoming into a lovely lounge space with a long balcony that overlooked the gorge, while we had a welcome tea and some mochi.
I meant to ask someone about these chicken – they seemed so out of place with the elegant artwork and things everywhere else. But totally forgot. What the hell are they here for?
We had booked a Deluxe Japanese Room with Open Air Bath with half board and were told we were in the ‘Hagi’ Room which is on the third floor, one floor down from the reception. Hagi sounds kinda weird and I looked it up, it’s a kind of wild clover, so named for a plant.
Another thoughtful and well designed entrance to our room. The fresh flower arrangement is beautiful.
To the left of our genkan was a traditional Japanese living room, with a chabudai and two chairs.
We found some sweet and savoury snacks as well as an unusual powered hot drink that was neither coffee, nor tea, nor cocoa… it was a mystery.
The view down towards the river from the large picture window in our living room.
To the right of the genkan entrance was a bedroom with another sitting space. This time futon beds on a raised timber dais, and some western couches and coffee table.
This was really quite a large and comfortable space. This living room doubles as a space to sleep more guests and the closet holds four more futon mattress such that six guests could stay here quite easily.
We had hanten coats, yukata and tabi socks provided to wear around the ryokan – these yukata have the logo of the inn on the fabric.
We also had a small kitchenette space with tea and coffee making facilities, a coffee machine, kettle and small fridge.
The large bathroom must be one of the most warmly lit spaces I’ve ever encountered… all timber and tungsten lights.
As we have no come to expect, there were just loads and loads of amenities and another space age hairdryer for the Japanese vloggers.
Directly outside the bathroom was the shower space on the balcony
And a lovely and inviting cypress semi-open air bath on the deck overlooking the river.
Magic. I’m going to miss this afternoon ritual when I get back home again.
After a shower, a soak and a bit of a relax to cool back down (the water temperature here was really quite hot – some onsens have the ability to control the temperature somewhere by giving you some way to add cool stored hot spring water.. this place, not so much), we made our way down to the first floor where the restaurant is located. Sadly, my research had failed me and this ryokan had no lift and only stairs. Oh well, it’s only a couple of nights.
Some local saké with dinner.
Ume wine apéritif. Love the little ducky dish that this chrysanthemum konjac was served in. 🙂
“Eye family hair fruit wine; Purple sweet potato; Fruit fu Tianie; Fried chrysanthemums; Hot pot hand coddled sushi, Summed tailoring and two stakes!” lol… I can see this meal’s translation is going to be a bit of a ride!
Originally this translated as ‘Pollution sushi’… yum! But a polite enquiry revealed it was: Mutotsuki salmon sashimi, Yamafuka venison sashimi, and village avocado.
Big rock fish porcelain grilled with chrysanthemum and jikami radish.
Autumn blessing cook pot: Radish, small potato, carrot, pumpkin with hidden yuan bean.
”Nameless rice” with river fish. Nameless rice??? What’s that?
Ah, an explanation for the “Nameless Rice”… so this really proves the earlier observations that where you source your rice from is really really important! These guys are using rice of no particularly fancy brand, and trying to be cute about it.
’Strong appetiser’ Akashiro goose, Chinese cabbage, and mushroom.
Chicken hotpot: scallions, water vegetables, local chicken, river seaweed, mushrooms, shallow green onion, book pickles. Served with the pot boiled rice with river fish… book pickles?
Dessert: Black tea pudding, and baked apple.
The translation may be strange, but the food was absolutely delicious.
The views of the river from our room were lovely… there’s nothing quite like the sound of running water while you soak in the onsen before bedtime.
I love this place, it’s so beautiful and relaxing… the morning was overcast and a bit moody but still so lovely to soak in the onsen.
Watching the steam rise off the onsen before slipping into the water… this is just magic! I’m never taking another beach holiday ever again.
Mesmerising…
Coming into the lower levels of the ryokan feels like a bit of a rabbit warren – private dining rooms left and right, a full restaurant at the end here, I’ve been down here four times and still feel like I’m lost. Oh, and this is 0800 – there’s no natural light in here, it could be any time of day!
Our little breakfast nook with a kotatsu table… the table looks like it’s been set by a Pakistani houseman – all items arranged around the outside of the space so you know he’s actually been there and done his job.
Grilled char fish.
Boar and mushroom soup – very earthy and rich.
Tofu boiled in dashi, served with a light ponzu.
Fresh yoghurt and raspberries.
The view from the reception down to the river… the roofs below are covering the public onsens.
On the very lower level of the ryokan are some very of the famous Shima riverside onsen baths.
Sadly, no tattoo’d folks are allowed at all, which isn’t surprising – the further you get off the main tourist traps, the more conservative the establishment. Mr K did go down and enjoy the facilities though.
Toshimaya Ryokan has 15 guest rooms and a total of 15 public bathing spaces. The public onsen areas have large changing areas and locker rooms, ample showering spaces and beautiful baths.
The indoor baths are lovely, though I can’t imagine they get a lot of use, except perhaps when it’s snowing out.
For why would you want to bath inside when these are the spaces that await you just outside? This is the primarily reason people come to these gorgeous riverside onsen towns… for the amazing baths with the beautiful views of the gorges. To soak in these baths while listening to the river rushing along below, the birdsong across the river and the gentle trickle of the onsen water.
Just gorgeous! I don’t even mind that the tattooed heathens like me are not allowed to bathe in here. I appreciate the customs and cultures here and wouldn’t ask them to change a thing. When in Rome and all that. It is the main reason why I have tried to book rooms with the private baths, wherever possible. Oh, woe is us! Having to book the fanciest rooms in the hotel because of decisions I made 20 years ago.
I have used some baths like this in the past – but to be honest, I find them awkward and after a very short while, they get kinda boring. Very possibly this is a language barrier issue… I’m usually travelling with my husband, and when you go to the public onsens, you got to gender segregated baths, and then you either end up in a bath on your own for a while, or you end up in a bath with strangers and just kinda avoid looking at each other. It feels more weird than relaxing… I much prefer the private bath in the room, but yeah, you really do end up paying for that privilege.
The saké we chose with dinner was really nice… photo here to taunt me when we can never find it back in Australia.
We sat down to what we came to call the, ‘Many Miso Menu’… there was no printed menu to confusingly try to translate tonight, just a lovely waitress explaining each dish to us.
Persimmon konjac – these are quasi savoury jellies with the texture of mochi. Very chewy.
River fish sashimi ball, chestnut with sesame, tiny mountain yams and soft shell crab… an extremely crunchy soft shell crab.
Mr K is not big on seafood, never has been, but tries everything when we are travelling and has never been given anything in Japan that wasn’t tasty (natto aside!). He was apprehensive about eating his little crab, but he munched it all down. It wasn’t until afterwards that I mentioned that it felt like eating a cockroach.
Sashimi plate – river fish, Yuba (Tofu skin rolls), and kelp Konjac.
Light chicken dumpling broth with mushroom.
Red bean miso soup.
Chinese spiced pork with yam and carrot… quite tasty, could definitely taste a Chinese rather than Japanese flavour profile on the pork.
Nasu dengaku! Yum! Miso eggplant… one of my favourite dishes at home, this is the first time I’ve tried it in Japan. Delicious!
Duck, mushrooms, vegetables and Chinese cabbage in miso…
The aroma was incredible.
The duck was tender and veggies had taken on all the miso flavours. *chef’s kiss*
Kiwi, Yamanashi pear and ice cream with raspberries.
Slept fairly well for a change, but still woke up early… way too early this time at 0430… but it’s never too early to slip into the delightful riverside onsen bath. It is a peaceful time of day to be up, but is it too much to ask to sleep in just once in a while?
I had a strange interaction on the way to breakfast this morning (which I have detailed elsewhere), but just wanted to remember it was here. Anyway, I digress… breakfast was back in our usual dining room, and was its usual deliciousness.
Salomon, yam, miso soup, salted squid, salad, pickles, rice, yoghurt with fruits.. and natto. 🤮
You know, I’m surprised they even bother serving Western visitors, natto – it’s the only vile food item I have ever tried in Japan… fermented soy beans. They’re just stomach turningly awful, with a texture that makes me gag a little just thinking about it. Yeurck. Give me the salted squid guts any day.
My last observation about this hotel is a rather strange one… the whole place feels like a cruise ship. Which might sound like a very strange observation indeed. But hear me out!
The entire building has steel stairways in a country largely known for its no nails timber construction. There are large steel doors in corridors that feel like they’re designed to stop water flowing from one compartment to the next – just like the Titanic! It has hard hats on walls scattered around the public areas, and we even have two hard hats in a closet in our room. There is a visibility obvious alarm system and well signed muster points in every stair well on every level, and one of the first things we were told when we arrived at the hotel and were shown to our room was that the escape ladder for our suite is accessible via our neighbours balcony! 🙁 Yes, that was a moderately disconcerting bit of welcome information.
The whole hotel feels like it is equipped to deal with enormous amounts of water – and I mean, enormous because the building is five stories high, but we are in the bottom of a fairly deep ravine. The dam is 90m tall, and has only been there since the 1980s, but there’s a definite vibe here that says, “We know how what happens here when it has flooded in the past, and we are totally ready for it!”
So, yeah… hopefully the hotel was built prior to the dam, and all these ship-like water containment preparedness design elements were just ‘de rigeur’ back in the day because the ravine flooded semi-regularly… rather than the alternative, which kinda feels, “We built this dam, we better make sure we have half a chance if the dam breaks!”
Overall though, Toshimaya is a beautiful ryokan with a fabulous traditional atmosphere and amazing staff. It is private and peaceful with simply divine onsens.