Yugawara is a small onsen town in south-central Japan known for its beautiful hot springs and numerous traditional ryokans. Its easy distance to Tokyo makes it a popular weekend getaway for city dwellers wanting to get away from the fast pace of one of the world’s biggest cities, and it’s not hard to see the appeal.

The area is known for Makuyama Park which has thousands and thousands of plum tress which blossom in the spring, but sadly they wont be on display at the moment in October. We should normally be able to expect a bit of autumn colour, but the 2024 summer has been particularly long and very very hot, so the leaves aren’t really turning on time this year.

Our accom for the night is at Ashikari Ryokan – https://www.ashikari.com/top.html – which I booked for their beautiful family room which has a fabulous open air bath. This ryokan is on booking dot com and can be booked there, if the Japanese website is a struggle – I have gotten use to their websites now, but I know they can be complicated when first faces with them. Like most ryokans, the room booking comes with half board, so we get to have a kaiseki dinner tonight, and Japanese breakfast tomorrow.

The reception set the tone for our stay – and looked very warm and welcoming.

I completely forgot that it was Halloween, and the Japanese love to adopt traditions from other cultures – Christmas is pretty big here, even though hardly any of the population identifies as Christian.

The slippers were hilarious – mine were fine, but Yale is a size 15 wide, and barely fit the balls of his feet into these things! 😀

From watching YouTube videos, I know that the landlady (usually the wife or daughter of the owner of the ryokan) will have been trained in traditional flower arranging and that any flowers seen on display in ryokans in public areas or in rooms will have been very carefully chosen and arranged with Japanese flower arranging traditions in mind… this involves the thoughtful choice of flowers in accordance with the season, flower meanings, aesthetic design, and lighting design – the fall of the shadows from the arrangement is as much a part of the art as the as well as the flower placement themselves.

A bowl of candy was out for trick or treaters I guess… though we are in a quite remote little part of the town, so I don’t imagine there will be many children coming past.

The lobby had a number of small couch spaces that faced a gorgeous large picture window that overlooks a well cultivated Japanese garden. It’s a beautiful serene space and I imagine if you just arrived here from the JR station from Tokyo, just the sight of the calm garden would immediately start to lower the blood pressure.

Tea and coffee and refreshments are available for guests in the lobby at any time through our stay.

After we checked in, we were led down a stone stairway into the garden. Our room was in a separate villa to the main building, and we were surrounded by greenery.

Hatsuse Room… I think it was called. It was immediately noticeable that this is not a mobility friendly room option, but with my new knee, I’ve been practicing going up and down the stairs – so hopefully it will be okay. Geta to wear around the garden or for on our way back up to the restaurant etc.

WOW! Such a beautiful relaxing space full of timber and traditional Japanese design elements. I could feel myself relaxing as soon as we walked into this room. I love it!

The beds were on a wooden floor area, but we also had a traditional tatami mat space with a ‘chabudai’ (low Japanese table). Super cute! So gorgeous! Squeeee…! I’m so excited to be here.

A little ‘yokan’ welcome snack (red bean jelly candy).

The room was well equiped with tea and coffee makings, glasses for beer, saké, wine, whatever you might have brought with you – it’s quite common for people to bring their favourite things with them when they come to stay at ryokan. A stop at the konbini is pretty much expected.

Selection of teas, a range of coffees, a fridge full of complimentary beer, juices, and spring water.

We were also provided with yukata (lightweight kimono style robes), samue (light Japanese pyjamas), and hanten (overcoats), to wear to and from the public onsens and to the restaurant, or for lounging around the room. Plus slippers, obi belts, tabi socks and a basket for taking your things to the onsen.

The bathroom and showering space is very well appointed and super modern. Everything you could possibly need. They provide so many amenities in the ryokan, it makes me wonder if Japanese travellers don’t travel with their own toiletries, and rely on using what the hotel will provide.

All the lotions and potions you could possible want – plus some sheet face masks, fluffy bathrobes, soft soft Japanese cotton towels, and a wee bag full of onsen towels.

The hairdryer spotting begins! Japanese travellers seem to have strange obsessions with their hairdryers – I am determined to get to the bottom of it this trip, but if you ever seen a Japan travel video done by a Japanese creator that doesn’t tell you what type of hairdryer is available… I’d be pretty sure theyr’e not Japanese! Hairdryer = super important hotel information!

And the star of any room tour – the private bath on the balcony! Oh, so good!

I have no patience whatsoever, after taking some photos of the room, it’s straight into the shower for me to get clean, so I can have a soak and a little Hakkaisan saké in the onsen. The water here was beautiful and soft… I felt the tension leaving my body within minutes!

Berfore too long it was time for dinner… first things first, choosing a local saké to have with our meal.

Matsu Midori Daiginjo (Nakazawa Sake Bazu Ashigami-gun) – this is a locally produced daiginjo often used also as a ceremonial toast of the Tokyo Summit. It was flavourful and kinda fruity, a little crisp without being dry. Very nice!

Appetisers considered of: Kurokawa Nanjing egg tofu; Marinated mackerel sushi, Maitake and Matsutake mushrooms dressed with chrysanthemum flowers; Mini radish and bonito crust, sweet shrimp marinated in koji; Squid with pine ball shell and grille bonito in warm saikyo sauce.

Sashimi course: Hokkaido scallop, sweet shrimp, mackerel served with various garnishes.

Yonezawa Pork ichiban shabu-shabu, served with burdock, fried tofu, chrysanthemum, ponzu sauce and yuzu pepper.

Spanish mackerel Naruto roll; Clam wrap grilled served with vinegared mayoga.

Tsumari soba with nori seaweed, grilled eel and condiments.

Five coloured tempura Sagami beef, served with Matsutake mushroom, asparagus, potato and yellow soy sauce.

Soup: Lobster, moon viewing rice balls, lotus root, grilled scallops, winter melon, and yuzu.

Rice, red miso soup wit eggplant and ostrich (?), served with assorted pickles.

Dessert: Melon mochi, match jelly cake, and fresh grapes.

What an amazing meal! Gochisousama deshita! Compliments to the Head Chef, Yasuo Suzuki.

Decided to talk a short walk around the ryokan after dinner to let our lovely meal settle before heading back to the room. So I had a look at the public onsens available here. This ryokan is not particularly tattoo friendly – when I enquired, they said to please cover or to try and use the baths very early or very late and not when busy. That is basically, I know and they know that tattooed people can make other guests uncomfortable, so please be mindful and try to bathe when no one else is in the space. It’s always advisable to ask, especially in the women’s onsen where you will often find yourself bathing with small children as well.

There were large, clean and well laid out locker spaces, dressing tables and showering areas.

I love the lighting design in this ryokan, you can tell someone has put an inordinate amount of thought into how the shadows will play in a space.

The baths themselves were not very large – likely because many of the rooms here have a private bath available to them, and the ryokan is small and intimate with only 18 rooms in total.

I popped back in the following morning – the view in this space is even prettier during the daylight.

I was in and out of the onsen at least twice more before turning in for the night! This is my idea of the most relaxing type of holiday stay. Screw beaches.

The following morning the clouds seems to have largely disappeared, and the bath was super inviting.

Sunrise, sunrise. Looks like morning in your eyes!

Breakfast time. After the meticulous service of course after course of a kaiseki dinner the night before, breakfast feels like a casual affair. All dishes will be brought out at the same time and you can pick and choose what you wish to eat first.

Tamago; Yuba melon and orange slices; Tuna sashimi; Chicken dumpling in a light dashi soup; Salmon pickles, yuba and wasabi for the rice.

Miso cod! So buttery and delicious. Served with pickled leek.

What an amazing stay! We managed to make use of the bath at least two more times before it was time to check out. I didn’t want to leave at all… I could have stayed for two or three nights quite happily. 😉

Onward we go…