Ryokan Experiences

 

When you are in Japan, we strongly recommend experiencing Japanese hospitality by staying at one of our recommended ryokans, Japanese-style hotel.  You will be able to see unique architecture, gardens, traditional culture, and authentic cuisines.

Type of Ryokan There are a wide variety of ryokans.  Not all are the same. Some focus on large groups of customers, while others cater to limited number of guests per nights.  Many of luxury ryokans we recommend are either authentic Japanese ones or modern ones which integrate western taste into Japanese style.  We recommend only ones with warm hospitality, good food and atmosphere, which all help create luxury of your stay. A traditional ryokan building is usually a wooden structure with Japanese gardens.  Each room is different in design, space, view from the room, and price.  Traditional rooms consist of tatami straw mat floor, fusuma sliding doors, shoji paper screens, and tokonoma alcove.  To sleep, futon mattresses will be spread out on the tatami mat floor after dinner by a ryokan staff.  Some ryokans also offer Western-style bedrooms with another Tatami mat space.   If you are looking for a "real" Japan, a ryokan in pastoral areas will give you a memorable experience.  In countryside, there are not much to do after sunset except for soaking yourself in bath and enjoying local food.  You can savor the luxury moment of doing nothing in your room.
Cuisine Ryokans are proud of their exclusive full-course dinner and breakfast with carefully selected ingredients prepared by master chefs.  In Hokkaido or area facing the Sea of Japan, guests can enjoy fresh seafood especially crabs grown in the cold sea.  In the mountain side, guests can savor local beef, vegetables, mountain herbs, or gibier (game dish) etc.  In Kyoto and Kanazawa, they serve elegantly decorated kaiseki cuisine.  These seasonal dishes will be served in your room or a dining room in the ryokan.
Yukata- casual kimono at ryokan Ryokans provide a yukata (casual kimono-type clothing) to wear for relaxing and sleeping. In some hot spring towns, people stroll the streets in their yukata.  At ryokans you can wear a yukata for dinner time.  Of course, you can wear your private clothes (dress code - preferably in country club casual).
Bath Japanese people truly appreciate taking baths at the ryokans.  Almost every ryokan has large shared indoor baths, and some has shared outdoor baths.  In addition, some ryokans have chartered baths with a lock for private use.  Also, at luxury hot spring ryokans, deluxe rooms have private outdoor hot spring baths attached to your room.  Soak yourself in the large bath, and relieve your stress from your work.

 For our recomended accommodations, please see http://www.michitravel.com/accommodation