Wow, you must either really like authentic hotel reviews or are in need of some good inspiration if you’re here and ready for the second (and final, don’t worry) article covering the hotels we stayed in during our three-week backpacking trip in Japan.
In the previous article, I droned on, I mean, told you all about the hotels we’d booked for both Tokyo and Osaka: The two largest cities. We’re going to look now at some arguably smaller cities and a mountain town. Fear not, there are still interesting accommodation choices to read about in this article and a few other titbits. Well, would you expect anything else?
Analogous to everything in my blog, these are based on my opinion and experience. If you have any different experiences, opinions, or even simply agree with me, let me know in the comments below!
Plans Booked and Pennies Spent: Round Two
As we looked at in Volume One, our average nightly spend for the trip was £64.02 and there was roughly £180 between the cheapest and the most expensive hotel. In fact, the total we spent on hotels was: £1242.46 (that’s a per person spend of £621.23). That’s taking into consideration the TopCashback cashback we earned too (check out the article for more information on how to get yourself some of that goodness). I hope you enjoy the awesomely authentic hotel reviews!
What I Packed for 3 Weeks in Japan
One large backpack, 44L, 55 x 40 x 20 cm (21x14x9”) and a small personal bag was all we had for three weeks travelling around Japan. From Tokyo to Fukuoka and back over passing through some of Japan’s largest cities. Packing needed to be precise and pre-organised.
Clothes:
1 x Dress
3 x Knee-Length Shorts
4 x Tops
1 x Old Leggings (binned after Mount Fuji)
1 x Old Hoodie (binned after Mount Fuji)
6 x Underwear, 1 x Bra,
1 x Thin Waterproof Jacket, 3 x Socks
1 x Hiking Boots, 1 x Sandals
Overall, I opted for knee-length shorts so as to combat the inevitable chaffing. Certainly not as cute or stylish, but absolutely no regrets because chaffing is a constant plague in my life and can really ruin a day, never mind three weeks of sweaty, sticky walking for miles.
After careful consideration, I reduced my tops from five to four, and I think this was a really good move. I mixed and matched with different shorts, to create overall different outfits, just for variation. The sandals were packed due to small size and to give my feet a break from the hiking boots on appropriate days.
We used the laundry services three times, and averagely once every 7 days. For more information on this and the distribution of clothing, you can find it all on the itinerary we took (click here).
Other items of note include a selfie stick, printed itinerary plus tickets for various attractions, in a small protective wallet, head torches for the mountain, re-usable water bottles, foldable toothbrush (very handy), toothpaste to share, makeup and a small hairbrush.
Onsen Etiquette
Public bathing isn’t very popular today in the U.K. and is generally limited to swimming pools where the goal is relaxation and recreation. Since 2500 BC, humans have bathed publicly as a means of cleaning oneself. As a matter of fact, in Japan, public onsens came about through the spread of Buddhism as early as the 6th century. Today you can find public baths in many hotels but the word “onsen” is reserved for natural hot spring-sourced water.
Unless privately booked, onsens are specifically for same-gender bathing. You enter the spa or onsen area and you are met with lockers and a public area to undress. Nudity is obligatory in the bathing area. All belongings plus your large towel should be stored in the locker, and the key around your wrist.
Firstly, you must wash your body and hair at special ‘stations’ equipped with a shower head, stool, mirror and various toiletries. I chose not to wash my hair when bathing publicly in the women’s onsen, but I also did not dip it into the water.
Once clean, you move to the large tub/small pool and sit in the warm water. That’s it. It’s meant to be relaxing, after all. I did not last very long here… Check out my authentic hotel review of the Arima hotel below, where we experienced the “natural” onsen.
Being that everyone is without clothes, and at a potentially vulnerable moment, no phones nor any devices are permitted in the bathing area. My partner mentioned that in the male onsen, he thought there was a sign advising against speaking out loud. There was no such thing in the women’s onsen, although it was naturally quiet, with just a couple of women chatting.
Once finished with your bathing, you move back into the changing area, dry and dress and Bob’s your uncle. Although he’d be in his own onsen, of course.
I noticed that when using the onsen, the local Japanese women did not seem to want to share my space, and waited until I got out, before moving into the water. Perhaps it was a question of not much space, although it didn’t seem to bother them with other Japanese women…
Accommodation Evaluation: The Authentic Hotel Reviews
You can click below for your preferred city we’ll cover in this article:
In case you missed the first article covering Tokyo and Osaka hotels, you can click below:
Fukuoka
The 3rd city on our journey and the 9th hotel we stayed at. This was the cheapest hotel of our 3-week stay and makes for a great starting point for this article:
1 Chome-5-27 Arato, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka, 810-0062, Japan
£49.73 for 2 nights, Japanese Room, breakfast included
We booked this quaint, authentic hotel primarily for the price, location and the curiosity of trying the Japanese room.
The Room
Essentially, as you entered the room, the bathroom was on the left, a wardrobe was to your right and straight in front was a curtain. Beyond the curtain, was a square room. The floor was made from the Tatami soft mats common in temples and shrines, where sitting on the floor is appropriate and the done thing. Two futon mattresses were laid out on the floor with bedding, and a small table held the TV, tissues and kettle. There was a small fridge towards the back. The pillow was nice, which was hard to come by in Japan.
The room was alright: large enough for us, although it was in desperate need of a lick of paint. The bathroom, however, followed the traditional Japanese way of being absolutely tiny and very difficult to move in. It wasn’t pleasant. We were unsure if the stains on the bedding were from us… and the electrics were a bit questionable. I’ve never seen an air-conditioning unit like it: it was pretty old!
It worked though, and the place certainly had character and did the job. An authentic hotel.
The Common Areas
In like fashion, the hotel itself was fairly tired and marked. The carpet in the hallways had stains, the doors were ‘well-used’ and the walls scuffed, bashed and scraped. It was an old building with dirty and damaged wallpaper, ceilings and fixtures.
There were sofas in the reception area, next to a vending machine that sold alcohol and a microwave for guest use. The amenities were available at reception and these were standard as found everywhere pretty much in Japan. The laundry was easy enough to manage (we had experience elsewhere) but we found the dryer wasn’t very good and took an hour to dry the clothes. Detergent cost 80 yen from reception, 200 yen for laundry and 100 yen for dryer twice.
There was a lift to the hotel (2nd floor) and then everything was on one level, so is accessible for mobility impaired folks, if the lift is working.
Breakfast
The breakfast in this hotel was absolutely awful. No sugar coating. Downright abysmal. Especially since the screen in your room advertised you this wonderful breakfast that was included with your stay. They advertised a Japanese-style mini buffet featuring rice, scrambled eggs, sausages, miso soup, side dishes, and the images showed a good choice of food.
Do you want to know what we were greeted with? A bowl of boiled eggs and plastic bags containing a croissant and a bread bun. These were accompanied by a sign warning guests to take just one bag each. Look at the state. Their website even mentions ‘continental breakfast’. Not sure which continent they’re emulating but it was rubbish. Apple juice, cold or hot water were available as drinks.
On the second morning we actually took two bags each because we were hungry and rather narked about not getting what was advertised. Kind of a Japan theme really….
For the price of around £25 per night, we were on the whole fine with this cheap authentic hotel. It was a good budget option, and with the exception of the madly mis-advertised breakfast, ticked the necessary boxes.
Kobe and Arima
For our 10th and 11th hotels, we spent one night in Kobe city and another in Arima Onsen, a mountain town seemingly popular with local tourism and relaxing spa breaks at authentic hotels. The latter was our most expensive hotel we purchased, and in the culinary aspect alone, we could tell.
2 Chome-5-8 Motomachidori, Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0022, Japan
£31.22 for 1 night, Double Room
Located on the edge of China Town, this hotel was in a good location to go out and about. Unfortunately, we did not have very long in Kobe and so we were not able to fully make use of the good location.
The Common Areas
In the reception area, there were shelves and shelves of manga books and magazines you could borrow and read, which was really cool. I don’t know if this is an authentic hotel but it certainly seemed pretty Japanese with all the manga. We didn’t, as we wouldn’t be able to read any Japanese, but appreciated the idea. There was also a shelf of flyers and leaflets for local services and businesses. One of these flyers offered discounts off drinks for a local bar, although we didn’t go.
As breakfast was not included with our stay, we did not see the dining area. There was the option to pay at reception to add breakfast to our stay but we decided not to. There was a lift up to the rooms.
The Room
The room was very basic, and very typical of the Japanese hotels we had so far tried, so I guess it was an authentic hotel? The bedroom was of an okay size for a night, with a fridge, kettle and hairdryer for guest use. The bathroom wasn’t the smallest we’d seen and we managed quite alright in it. The room was clean, and had everything we needed in it. The air conditioning was pretty good.
Not much to really say on this hotel, a good budget option to rest your head.
353-1 Arimacho, Kita Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-1401, Japan
£201.23 for 1 night, Double Room, Shared Bathroom, Dinner and Breakfast Included, Onsen Use
A very different experience. In this authentic hotel, we got to experience a more authentic Japanese accommodation and stay. With meals included, we had the whole package. They worked together with their sister hotel just up the hill to provide the elements of your stay. This whole place is not overly suitable for the mobility impaired. The town itself is on a hill, and the hotels have various levels and steps. There may be a lift to access higher floors, but there are other smaller steps around and at reception.
Annoyingly, I didn’t take really any photos of the room… just the food! You can see my priorities 😊
The Room
We hadn’t realised that our room didn’t come with a private bathroom. The advertisement did say, I just didn’t see it. Tant pis. The room was large, with a table and chairs towards the door and a double bed. There was a wash basin with fancy lotions and potions around the side for us to use. Japanese-style Kimono loungewear was provided along with traditional shoes. We wore these around the hotel and to go to the sister hotel, for dinner and the Onsen. Overall, quite a comfortable room and setting.
The Food
Breakfast was in our smaller authentic hotel, whilst dinner was in the larger sister hotel. We booked dinner in for 18:00, as per our itinerary and it took a lot longer than we anticipated. There were several courses, and we didn’t know what we were doing. Unfortunately, the staff didn’t have too much English, and they didn’t really understand that we didn’t understand what to do.
Dinner
We were brought in the first instance a platter of all sorts, and meat in a wee pan over a candle stove. The “Encounter Plate” included grilled octopus with asparagus, some kinds of chips as thin as crisps, a seafood soup (which was amazing), among others.
Japanese Black Beef was served DIY in a grill pan along with bean sprouts and this was very nice, especially in the soy sauce. We managed just fine and followed the charades by the kind server to turn off the candle underneath.
Next, was the seafood course. They brought out long vegetables with garnishes and raw seafood inside. The whole thing was laid on a bed of crushed ice. So cool… literally! Not my partner’s favourite, despite loving sushi. Slight confusion ensued because the whole dish was seemingly edible, including the vegetable it was served in. Although when I started to gnaw into said vegetable, a server hurried over to take it from me saying ‘No’… Oh well!
A seasonal dish of deep-fried young sweetfish followed, paired with Maruju Toganoo stew sauce. Not really much to them, but nice nonetheless.
It’s not over: then we had the noodles. An empty metal pan was brought and we were meant to cook everything ourselves. Understanding the timings and instructions wasn’t easy, and in the end the pan started to burn as we had taken all the food out but no one had told us how to turn it off or when. Thankfully, a girl ran over once she realised and turned it off.
The last two elements were red miso soup, which I don’t recall enjoying too much, and then a brown sugar pudding and fruit. I was pretty full by this point, and well aware we were going into more Onsen after dinner. Honestly, I don’t remember the dessert, and I didn’t make notes. But I’m sure you’ve got enough about the dinner to be going along with. Now… onto breakfast!
Breakfast
We really should have guessed that breakfast also wouldn’t be a simple affair, if last night’s dinner was anything to go on. We were greeted with a large platter of all sorts. In all honesty, not something that I was particularly eager to have before 9am… but it was all about the experience.
There was a kind of tofu soup on a wee fire. I didn’t like it, and we weren’t clear whether we were meant to just have the solid stuff, or the liquid too. We desperately tried to look around at other guests to see what they were doing, but in vain. The carrot juice (?) was alright: a bit sweet for me and certainly not ideal for the morning in terms of texture.
The omelette was nice, can’t go wrong with omelette. Then there was a soup (pretty good), bowl of rice, cooked salmon and some kind of salads. There was also a vinegary kind of ball which we had sampled atop Mount Fuji, and would rather never do again.
The Common Areas
Everything was clean enough. Our hotel was decorated a little bit like a living room in a house, with some ornaments and decorations on side units etc. The vending machine for drinks was out of service, although there is one up the hill on the right. We were charged a bathing tax upon check-out. It’s essential that you do not wear your own shoes any further than the entrance door. They offer you wooden traditional shoes and they guard your shoes in a cubby-hole off to the left.
The Onsen
The private Onsen and bathing was in our hotel, whilst the public Onsen and hot springs pool was in the sister hotel. The private Onsen you had to book at reception upon check-in and we managed to get a timeslot around 17:15. Located close to the shared bathroom, it was quite romantic just the two of us, and certainly better than a public one.
At 20:00, we went from the dining room in the sister hotel, to the Onsen on the top floor. I can obviously only really comment on the women’s Onsen. There were 3 inside bathing pools and one outside. Two baths contained hot springs water, the outside bath and one inside. Being on the top floor, it’s strange that the water is natural hot springs but it seemed fairly common and so a part of this authentic hotel. It must be pumped up to the roof from the ground. The outside bath was must better for me, as I hate being too hot, so the cooler night air was pleasant as I sat in the oversized tub, surrounded by a couple of potted plants.
Earlier, I mentioned the Onsen procedure and etiquette. Click here for a reminder.
To summarise, I’d certainly recommend going outside of a large city and experiencing this kind of authentic hotel stay, with this kind of authentic food, at least for one night. This hotel was adequate, although I cannot gush about it in particular.
Kyoto
31 Takeda Nishikoyanouchicho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, 612-8449, Japan
£87.30 for 2 nights, Standard Room, King Bed and Breakfast Included
This was our favourite authentic hotel of our trip. This was our second Love Hotel, or Couples Hotel, of the trip and was indeed our top choice.
The Common Areas
The outside is fairly grand, although it is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. There is a couple of convenience stores within a ten-minute walk, but not really any restaurants we could see. There are other grand hotels in the vicinity.
The reception was equipped with some comfortable seats and booths, as well as the “menu” of rooms, where you see photos and categories of the rooms available. This is more for the walk-in clients, and those wanting to perhaps rent the room for a couple of hours. It was bright and clean. Outside the door, was a large parking structure. The receptionist, while not unfriendly, was visibly frustrated having to deal with English guests and was rather snappy at first. She seemed to soften up as the night went on, and I tried to be extra nice and friendly.
The Room
It. Was. Huge. Potentially larger than my entire apartment here in Edinburgh.
Features of the Room
There was a puggy, or gambling games machine, in the room too, although this was switched off and we had no interest in turning it on. A vending machine of more adult-orientated products was in a cupboard, as well as your standard fridge and tea and coffee.
The sitting area was comfortable and made for easy eating and relaxing with a drink. We could still see the very large TV, which had a whole host of free movies and TV shows: including new-ish releases. You could, as you may imagine, watch a huge selection of adult media, but we didn’t road test this.
In the centre of the room, a fabulous massage chair was free to use as many times as you wanted. I had a go and enjoyed it enough, although I’d recommend not putting your feet all the way inside as it does feel at times like a woodworking vice.
We dressed in the comfortable cotton loungewear provided (white trousers and top). The telephone was located next to the bed and there was also a personal massager, for guest use. A couple of hygiene adult products were also provided, for guest convenience.
The Bathroom
The bathroom was large and comfortable, with a huge array of products and grooming tools for guest use. Hair dryer, curler, straightener, you name it. The bath itself was a jet/jacuzzi bath, and was in a wet room. We tried the jet bubble bath (instructions on wall) and it was pretty relaxing and nice. Plus, the bath is large enough for two humans to relax together. Heart-themed decorations in a little window above looked so cute and special. A TV screen above the bath which we didn’t bother with.
The toilet was in a separate room, and was pretty bog-standard. Pun intended. More space to move than the ‘standard’ authentic hotels.
The Food
Exhausted from the backpacking trip, we decided that on our first night in this hotel, the 14th July, we would just kick back, order what we wanted on room service and bloomin’ relax! We’d looked at the menu and didn’t find it to be overly expensive, and the room was certainly one we’d want to stay in and make the most of.
All in all, I would not say the food was that great. It was a pity. A furthermore, it wasn’t as advertised. For the price, I’d say it was okay and certainly for the convenience.
Dinner
We ordered quite a lot of food for dinner including: “Huge” steak, several bowls of grilled octopus balls, chips and various other small dishes. You can see from the photo two full trays of food. The steak was advertised as “Huge” and as per the photo of the menu, came with vegetables, rice and sauce. The steak I got was hardly huge, and only accompanied by onions. I managed to swap the rice for chips. Tasty, but not quite a “huge steak” or as per advertised.
For the first night, we opted for an “all you can drink” offer which had a 3-hour time limit. This involved phoning reception perhaps once every 30 minutes and ordering up to 4 drinks. We tried a few different things and just had a good laugh together. I’d say it was only worth it if you do order and drink fairly steadily for the three hours: we perhaps didn’t get the best use out of it.
The second evening, I ordered a small pizza. The menu explicitly highlighted certain dishes as being made by, or supervised by, a Michelin-star chef. This is what I ended up with: a tortilla base with some tomato purée and cheese slapped on. Slapped on as if dropped from a 3-storey building. I’d be surprised if this dish had seen any chef at all, let alone a Michelin one… Quite abysmal.
However, when it came to paying for all this food and drink, it came to £49.50. For a two-person pig out and snack fest, plus a hoard of beverages, this was super cheap.
The Breakfast
We enjoyed a breakfast toastie, which had ham and egg inside, although I can’t recall what else. It was quite nice, but I think perhaps a tad too mustardy, if my memory serves.
The food arrives to your room via a hatch, located near to the front door. They pop it in the hatch on their side, you take it out on yours. Should you be in a state of undress, or perhaps just not wanting to interact with anyone, this is a pretty great system. We were in the latter situation mainly, for early mornings and evenings we just wanted to relax after a full day of backpacking and sightseeing. This kind of delivery is also for the drinks, and anything else requested to the room.
To conclude, this hotel being only £44 a night was an absolute steal. The facilities and the furnishings of the room, the size of the guest space and the food brought to you, when compared against other non-love hotels, come out absolutely on top. Love hotels are the way to go. Did I mention the HUGE bed?
848-2 Matsuuracho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8362, Japan
£59.30 for 1 night, Double Room, Room Only
We booked this hotel to be in the city centre of Kyoto, close to the action for the Gion Matsuri festival: the most famous festival in Japan which takes place in July. Being the festival, and a major tourist attraction, the prices for accommodation in Kyoto were fairly high. We got one of the cheapest ones.
The Room
A standard, pretty authentic hotel room for Japan: small and compact. The bathroom wasn’t as pokey as other hotels, and had a small, rounded bathtub. As alluded to in the introduction, this hotel actually had recycling bins in the room itself. Generally, recycling bins were hard to come by and many hotels didn’t offer them, especially in the guest rooms. In brief, there was mixed recycling, general waste and also a bin for used amenities.
This hotel is among those that offer eco-friendly practices such as reduced cleaning and linen changes. The room was pretty comfortable and it was a good option for the city centre.
The Common Areas
To begin with, there was no restaurant in this hotel. The bright entrance and reception space comprised of a small desk, and then a large sofa seating area in the centre. Free drinking water and luggage storage was on offer. The bags are secured with a glorified bike lock to a metal rope, and you are given the key. Nothing of great exception, but certainly offers convenience and support for your trip.
Location
20-25 minutes of walking and you’d arrive at Nijo Castle. Plenty of restaurants, bars and shops nearby, as this modern but authentic hotel is slap bang in the centre of Kyoto. Kyoto is rather large, so public transport is advised for further attractions, although this isn’t a bad choice for a central base.
Nagoya
1 Chome-16-2 Nishiki, Naka Ward, Nagoya, Aichi 460-0003, Japan
£57.48 for 1 night, Double Room, Breakfast included
Our stay at this hotel came just after Mount Fuji (both in this article and in reality). We were looking for a bit of comfort, spa facilities and to essentially just starfish all night after having climbed up and painfully made our way down an actual mountain.
Station Shuttle
The hotel offered a free shuttle from the Nagoya main train station. It’s still like a 10-minute walk to the stop, and in all fairness, it departed from where and when it had said. We, however, were not on it. We hadn’t realised just how far the stop was from the station, nor the need to leave the station and cross through a different shopping centre.
To get to the stop, you leave Nagoya station, cross over the road and head to the right. Go through Midland Shopping Centre, and exit just to the left of Luis Vuitton. There are some concrete balls (modern art) on your left and the shuttle departs from the road facing you (16:20 and every 20 minutes).
The heat unquestionably makes the process feel more complicated and longer than it probably is. We saw the shuttle bus depart just as we made it. Never mind.
The Room
The bed was fairly hard and wasn’t very comfortable. Being given just one pillow each was standard in Japan. We found spare pillows available from shelf on floor, but none of them were soft. Some were full of beans. No, I’m not joking.
On the positive side, we were able to connect to Netflix on the TV and a small notice told us it would automatically sign you out at checkout. Super rare.
Kevin found the given PJ’s very comfy indeed. And I liked the door colour/design. I don’t know why, it just stood out to me.
The Common Areas
We visited the massage chairs which were on the spa floor of this authentic hotel. We enquired about a massage but the only timeslot available was after midnight and this was too late for us. The massage chairs were an experience. From the doorway, you could turn left or right, and there were two rows of massage chairs. On the right side, the left-hand row of chairs were like torture devices: clamping and squeezing until your body pops. The instructions are naturally in Japanese and in code. Unless you own one/frequent regularly, I can’t see how anyone would understand how to operate. I selected several different options, strengths and hardnesses but nothing seemed to make a blind bit of difference. Not good. On the right row (still on the right side of the room), the chairs were bearable for the full 10-minute session.
The Breakfast
Breakfast was nice, although there wasn’t much choice. I absolutely adore soup and they served this creamy soup whose flavour I wasn’t familiar. It was pretty nice (like a creamy miso or something?). They also served: curry pie which was essentially a sausage roll with curry powder, a pizza(?) bread roll with creaminess and tomato purée sauce inside, croissants, pain au chocolates and bread bun. Some yogurts were also available.
1 Chome-5-21 Sakae, Naka Ward, Nagoya, Aichi 460-0008, Japan
£65.77 for 1 night, Double Room, Breakfast included
Nicely located, it’s just a 20-minute walk to Nagoya Station and very close to the metro.
The lobby was decorated with false bamboo trees for a nice effect. We wrote a wish on a paper leaf and added it to the festival tree. The hotel allowed us to leave our bags without issue, by showing our passports. We asked the receptionist for some water to fill our bottles from the machine in the lobby, but she refused. They kept repeating just one bottle per guest, and only after check-in. When we later did check in, we found a bottle of complementary water each in the rooms. I’m not sure if there was a misunderstanding but it seemed quite harsh when the machine was
right there.
The Room
The bed was tightly nestled in the corner but overall, the room was comfortable and the bathroom more spacious than we’d had previously. The shower had a nice spray. Surprisingly, the bed and pillows were fairly comfy.
No free movies or media, but my partner watched a local TV baseball game. There was a bag with a charging cable for any device, a massage pillow thing we didn’t try, a fancy lamp, hairdryer, kettle as well as the usual things. Downstairs, you could grab the usual toothbrush, comb, earbuds etc. but also some bath salts and moisturising face wash. I grabbed one each of these latter amenities for use during our trip.
The Public Bath
In this hotel, I tried the public bath. I had a special ‘Lavender card’ you needed to scan for access to the woman’s facilities. It was quite safe and secure. The bath itself I thought was quite small, although I’m far from the expert on public baths. The changing room and entrance space was also quite cosey.
The Breakfast
Breakfast was cracking in this authentic hotel. With the exception they didn’t have English labels on the large hot pots. I mistook one for a creamy soup (following the trend of the last few brekkies) and was met instead with a bowl of curry sauce which was absolutely not what I wanted. I took an eager spoonful and deeply regretted it. Unfortunately, I tried to dip my pork in it, in order to use it somehow, but most got abandoned on someone else’s dirty table once they up and left…. The ‘desserts’ were nice with a lemon cream cake and some fruit. Wish I had room for more of that!
Another key point about the breakfast, which was actually served in a restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel, was the Nagoya speciality: Miso Katsu. This is Katsu Pork cutlets with miso sauce. Not the standard miso sauce, but a darker, deeper sauce. It was very nice. Instead of cutlets, this restaurant offered Katsu pork sticks.
The End. Of the authentic hotel reviews. Well, that’s a lie. There’s one more, and it’s a big one. That, however, will be a part of the Mount Fuji article. That is where I will spill all the juicy (more like desert dry…) details about our slog up, and worse still down, the highest mountain in Japan.
Anyway, I digress. I hope these hotel reviews were authentic enough, and gave you a good insight into a whole bunch of Japanese hotels across the country, for better and for worse. If you are wanting more details, or just want to leave a comment, feel free! You can find my email address on the Contact Page as well.
Next, we’re going to dive into highlights of the wonderful Japanese cities we travelled through, hopefully in chronological order 😊 Stay tuned for travel tips and inspiration!
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