Hi,

does anybody have any specific rotenburo they would recommend in Kansai and Kyushu regions?

cheers Berner

Absolutely! In the Hakone region, stay at Ichinoyu Honkan in the town of Tonogawa. There is a room called "Take" (tah-kay) with an outdoor tub just big enough for two. Breathtaking view! See it at http://english.ichinoyu.co.jp/

WOw, cyndeb. Thanks. I have been looking for a place to stay in Hakone w/my daughter next spring. Your recommendation looks great, and it is very reasonable. And it has a nice history and was even painted by Hiroshige! I am a huge fan of his work and have some of his woodblocks hanging in the living room and am planning to go see two of the places in my woodblocks that he immortalized on the next trip, so that part is a special treat. Thanks so much for turning us on to this place.

cyndeb, do you have any other gems like this from other locales to recommend from your rcent trip?? I am all ears here.

The other "gems" that I have would be Momiji-so, on the island of Miyajima (off of Hiroshima) and the APA Kyoto Gion hotel. Complete opposites! Momiji-so is a little rustic, absolutely traditional, and serves 5 star cuisine. It's a family-run inn where we instantly felt like part of the family. Although it is a bit pricey, I'd describe our experience as "priceless." Copy and paste this address into your browser: http://www.gambo-ad.com/miyajima/eng...ji-so/info.htm The APA Kyoto Gion is super-clean and classy in an unbelievably good location. Yeah, me and my husband slept in separate single beds, but we paid much less than other hotels plus had free breakfast every morning. We could see geisha scurrying to appointments from our vantage point on the rooftop beer garden and the bus stop was literally right out the door. We found it through www.asiarooms.com and got such a good price, the young ladies at the front desk gasped when they saw it!

The APA Hotel group offers excellent pricing...often below 5000 yen per night per room (not per person)...trick is, you've got to book on the internet, in Japanese. Their English language booking doesn't show the cheapest rates.

Just did a quick check now of the Tokyu in Kanazawa...Asiarooms.com's rate is more than triple the internet rate with breakfast and tax included for the same time period. Kyoto Gion APA was more than double on Asiahotels.com than on it's Japanese website.

Sometimes you can call and get the web rates, but not always. The Japanese language reservation page isn't difficult...intuitive really, dates and number of rooms. You can use a web language translator to help understand the room categories that get spit out. A credit card is not required to book.

I've also stayed at Momijiso and the APA Kyoto Gion Hotel. I stayed in the Hinoki room at Momijiso and loved it. Okamisan is quite charming. The Gion Hotel is your typical APA hotel: small, clean rooms with a good price. Excellent location.

Ichinoyu looks nice. Painted by Hiroshige!

I can't think of a specific rotenburo to recommend in Kansai or Kyushu. Won't be hard to find in Kyushu, I would think, esp. in Beppu. In Ibusuki, you can roast in hot sand on the beach. Not a rotenburo, but it is outside and a unique experience to try if you get that far south.

cyndeb, thanks for your reply and additional info. When I went to the site for Ichinoyu Honkan and clicked on their map, it seems to only include a crude map w/location of the other hotels this group onws in the Hakone area. Ichinoyu Honkon isn't on the map. I know that accomodations are spread out in hakone. Where is it in Hakone and do you recall how you got there?

Click on reservations and you will see that is listed as being at Tonosawa. That is on the Odakyu line that is included in the Hakone Free Pass. Doesn't look like it is any more than 5-10 min from Hakone-Yumoto. Honkan just means "main building" so it makes some sense just to show "ICHINOYU" in u.c. on the map.

Thanks very much.

Got an email back w/rates- the room w/the private rotenburo for 2 is 10950 yen per nite per person w/dinner and breakfast. A good deal for the private soak and the food which looks very good. We are going to do it. Have to email then in Nov. to reserve for April.
I hope the sleeping is comfortable.

Specifically, to get to Ichinoyu Honkan, take the local Hakone rail line from Odawara to Tonosawa. Get off and walk about 5-10 minutes (depending on your pace) downhill, which dead-ends into the main street. Turn right, and Ichinoyu is about 500 feet ahead on your right, just over the bridge. Tonosawa has grown up a little since Hiroshige's time...but you'll still recognize the bridge/river/Ichinoyu set-up from several hundred years ago.

NOw I am confused about where this Ichinoyu really is. When I go to their website (http://english.ichinoyu.co.jp/), they have a Hakone map but it has three properties on it and I can't figure out which one is this one referred to in the above post. Is it "Ichinayu Quatre Seasons" (or also seems to be referred to as Tonosawa QS on the header at top of page). I hope so, as it is closer to Odawara than the other properties, so it would be closer to the JR trains.

yes, emd, it is the place in Tonosawa as cyndeb described. click on the Reservation link like I mentioned last month. There you will see links to for several places, including:
・ICHINOYU Honkan (Tohnosawa)
・QUATRE SAISONS (Tohnosawa)

The links go to (secure) reservation forms for each.

It isn't clear what the Quatre Saisons in Tonosawa is. I suspect it is a restaurant in a separate building.

Ichinoyu has several ryokans in the area which can cause confusion on the map:
1. Honkan (main building & oldest, as well as the one mentioned in the above comments)
2. Hatago
3. Tonosawa Quatres Saisons (french cuisine available)
4. Ashinoko (mostly western style rooms)
5. Daihakone (both japanese and western style)
6. Gora (japanese and western style)
7. Shinkan (more modern but with private baths on balcony)

http://english.ichinoyu.co.jp/
got info off of here

Im also shopping around and am in process of reserving for Honkan.

Anyone have any information on the public baths of Honkan? Are they open air? Mixed gender? Small/more private ? The website doesn't really speak of the public baths at Ichinoyu Honkan. Any information would be greatly appreciated.