27 December 2011
Ryokan
Posted by Roland under: Personal .
While I’ll probably get into further detail about my winter break Kyushu trip, I think I have to take a moment while I’m lying here in bed to write about my ryokan experience, which took place in the lovely town of Kurokawa.
Kurokawa is a mountain town in eastern Kumamoto, which is mainly populated by ryokan/onsen in the area. Coming from Beppu with my friends, we were treated to mostly snow covered mountains and fields, a sign that winter had arrived. Luckily, the snow was not falling, as my car was not equipped with chains which would’ve been necessary on the mountain route up to Kurokawa.
Ryokan are probably easily defined as traditional Japanese hotels. In keeping in line with the Japanese high standard of service, ryokan are on a much higher level of such service. Upon getting into to our ryokan, the car was taken away by a valet, our bags loaded up for us, and we were lead to our room by an attendant, who explained the hotel and our room to us. Basically, we felt like honored customers, even though they did the same song and dance for everyone who came in. Nonetheless, coming from a society where service isn’t always important, it was great to treated nicely. Maybe the best sign of the service of our ryokan was an attendant who saw me and my friend outside trying to take pictures of the ryokan. He took upon himself to ask if he could take the photos for us. But beyond that, he knew the best spots for the best pictures, which he gladly took.
The other amazing part of the ryokan experience is the food. Dinners are usually a big deal at ryokan, in essence being a multi course affair. When we heard that dinner was to be a two hour experience, our excitement was heightened. So we were led to our own table in the dining hall, whereupon the attendant would come every so often with a new dish in hand, trying her best to explain to us what we were eating. I just remembered amazing ingredients (the sashimi and horse meat was fantastic) and delicious food. I’d have to rank my ryokan dinner as possibly my best in Japan. It’s hard to compare because we don’t get multi course dinners in our lives many times, but the combination of service and taste couldn’t be beat. If anything, dinner just left us excited about the promised breakfast the next day.
And any trip to ryokan is not complete without onsen. Kurokawa is famous for its onsen, every ryokan has one they boast of. At first, the December chill was definitely in the air when I got right to jump in, but once in the onsen, there’s no better feeling. I’ve learn to appreciate the feeling of warmth moreso because of this Japanese winter (electric blankets = fantastic) and I think the feeling of jumping into a hot onsen on a cold winter night is one of the best feelings out there.
A ryokan may be an expensive experience, but in the end, I think it’s well worth it.