Kinokuniya Ryokan

The building and decoration is quit old

It was quite a journey from the station to the ryokan. Well worth it. Elaborate Japanese dinner and breakfast. Outdoor onsen. The new part of the lodge is 80 years old. It has been on this spot for 300 years. Quick bus ride to Lake Ashi next morning.

A different kind of experience than your usual accomodation. We kinda expect that this ryokan is old as stated over 300 yrs old. We want to experience something of a japanese traditional service, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The ryokan has remained its old character. Admired the collection of antique and unique pieces on display. We booked the Japanese futtons. It's comfortable. The dusty ceiling and wall has probably added to its old character. We're fine with that as the toilet and beds are clean. We love the private bath or onsen although we have to pay extra for that. The location is quite remote and going somewhere else will be a challenge. The best thing we've ever done is to hire a car to take us around. The surroundings are quite mystical so make sure go for a nice walk and explore the place. I imagine the setting of Spirited Away. The only disappointment we have is when they cancelled all our breakfast inclusions for the third day. We only missed out the second day breakfast as we have to travel to Yamaguchi Prefecture and we are early riser. Breakfast at 8am is quite late for us. The gentleman at the reception had assumed that we are cancelling all our breakfast inclusions during our stay. We are so looking forward to our breakfast on our last day until they told us that we can't have it anymore as it's been cancelled. Understand that there some miscommunication and lost in translation somewhere. It left us disappointed overall considering that we have paid over AUD$800 per night. Not cheap. We have stayed in other ryokan in Kyoto before and they are always very accomodating and I would say that it's worth what you have paid for. Breakfast has also have western or japanese tradional breakfast options. This ryokan doesn't give you any choices unless you say that you have food allergies. Overall, it's not worth what we have paid for.

Perhaps it's the Japanese in me, but I think if you're going to stay in an onsen (hot springs) area like Hakone, you need to stay in a ryokan. Jamie W. and I stayed in a nice one in Kyoto several years back, though that was on the higher end. Founded in 1715 as a stop on the Hakone Hachiri, this inn is over 300 years old and quite traditional like stepping back into a 1950's Yasujiro Ozu movie. We reserved a large tatami room (248 sq ft) with a private bathroom and mountain view for a reasonable ¥21,780. It was spartan by Western standards though there was a TV screen we never turned on. We also had a couple of chairs next to the window. Otherwise we slept on thin futons that laid flat on the tatami. It can be challenging on the back if you're not used to it. We were quite surprised to be informed they were not serving dinner or breakfast, the usual service at a ryokan, presumably because they had so few guests staying overnight. Unfortunately we were in an isolated area and not logistically close to the more touristed area next to Lake Ashi. We thought we'd go to bed hungry, but luckily we found the nearby Doll House Museum had a cafe that provided a hot meal. The must-do was reserving a half-hour in the private bath filled with the natural hot springs water. It was across the road from the ryokan in its own cabin. There were two discrete baths. One was the hydrogen carbonate spring which was kept at a high temperature that made it difficult to stay for more than a few minutes. The other was the sulfur spring which was comparatively cooler and consequently more relaxing.

The dinner alone gets a lot of points. Easily some of the best food I have ever had at a ryokan. The Men’s Onsen is a bit small outdoors. It was difficult to get my large western body (5’10”, 185lb) in the outdoor pool. The indoor pool was nice. The biggest problem is the old wooden floors. Upstairs neighbors had kids and I got virtually no rest. The tranquil atmosphere of autumn in the mountains of Japan was disturbed by little giants trampling overhead. Overall, great place, but I hope you get lucky with who stays above you.