Uotoshi Ryokan

This is a special place with a long history, which is evident right from the entrance hall. It turns out the house belonged to the grandfather of the current owner (who is also quite advanced in age). He received us very kindly and hospitably. What is really nice is that your name is written on the board outside as a welcome. We were very charmed by the room, in typical Japanese style (which was also the reason we booked) and the accompanying Japanese outfit. The room was neat and clean, though the futon (Japanese mattress) was very hard to sleep on (in our opinion). That is inherent to the type of mattress, and I knew that beforehand. Of course, it is part of the whole experience in a ryokan. Furthermore, the building is old and not very clean everywhere, which we certainly forgive the owner for. The hot onsen bath located inside the building (one in the men's area and one for the women) was very refreshing and provided the necessary relaxation after a day of a long drive from Nikko. The bath, in the women's area, is small, about 1 by 2 meters. It is perfectly sufficient for relaxing and warming up wonderfully in the naturally warm sulfur water. The owner gave us tips on where to eat, and we ended up within walking distance for a delicious dinner. The icing on the cake was breakfast at 8 am: a delicious, typical Japanese breakfast with miso soup, hot rice, pickled vegetables, smoked sardines, and more. This overnight stay and meeting was a very lovely moment in our tour of Japan. Since we don't speak Japanese, the owner was kind enough to call the campsite for us, where we were going the following night. That turned out to be well arranged, for which we are once again very grateful!

Look, the building is old, and so is the owner, so it is dusty and a bit hairy here and there. The rooms were clean, and so were the toilets. The sinks and the area around them were less clean. You have to see everything in context, and for us, this was okay.

Our stay at Uotoshi Ryokan was exceptional - very convenient location for visiting Jigokudani Monkey Park and exploring Yudanaka. Could not say better things about our host! As many other reviewers have mentioned, he offered to drive us to the entrance to the snow monkey park rather than using the bus system, telling us tidbits about the town - history and sights to see along the short route & even allowed us to leave our luggage to pick up, even though we had checked out. He was extremely kind and informative! Experiencing a stay at a traditional Japanese ryokan was a highlight of our trip! Both meals - dinner and breakfast - featured delicious food. The women’s onsen was small and perfect for our needs, the inn has a small number of guests and we happened to have use of the facility privately; it was stated to be tattoo-friendly. Uotoshi Ryokan has so much character, from the moment you walk up to the door and see your name on a sign welcoming you!

Overall the accommodation is cleanly, there is a bit of dust but recognize how long established it is and the small staff that runs it does a fantastic job. Everything that is needed to be used is tidy & nothing is “dirty” per se! Everybody has different good palettes - personally, I loved the meals, another member of my party and other guests at dinner time seemed to not be expecting the seafood provided.

The authentic homestay-style experience, the delicious meals which consisted of a spread of amazing Japanese dishes (we had dinner and breakfast). The onset was amazing, rustic but invigorating and topped off our day. We were able to leave our luggage at the accommodation while we went to the snow monkey park on the final day. The host was fantastic, a true gentleman, who made us feel right at home.

The only negative I can think of is there is no lift to the second floor for those with disabilities or the elderly who might not be able to carry their luggage up the stairs. The host is a master archer and holds archery lessons twice a week which my wife and I would loved to have done but unfortunately we weren’t there on those dates so if you want to do archery contact him prior to booking your dates to confirm if archery is an option.

Lovely traditional style tatami Japanese rooms with additional seating area and as it was winter we even got a Kotatsu on our coffee table which was lovely! It is across the bridge, not too far walk from Yudanaka station. It is near Yudanaka beer brewery and a couple of restaurants. Check out what's around on google maps. Our names were on the outside of the hotel to welcome us which was cool. I think its an old style Ryokan thing. The male owner greeted us and showed us to our room and explained everything. We got new Yukata and towels every 2 days I think it was. There was enough tea for our whole stay on the coffee table and we were greeted with local sweets to have with tea. The owner puts a new container of hot water outside your door every morning. The ryokan has lots of traditional decorations including dolls, swords, bow and arrow, samurai armour to look at. It has traditional wood onsen which was not busy and we got to ourselves most nights.

There was confusion at checkin about tax. It seemed the owner was saying we had to pay more tax but it had to be in cash. We were confused so got out cash and then he said no it was already included in our booking that we had already paid for so we didn't pay any extra in the end. The heater in our room randomly would turn off so we would wake up cold occasionally. There aren't fridges in your room just a communal one near the stairs. There's no accessible microwave so if you haven't booked breakfast or dinner there you have to ask the owner to use the microwave and he goes not so willingly and heats it up for you in the kitchen, you cant use it yourself. The wifi was terrible and kept kicking us off. There was not much pump soap around to wash your hands. I kept having to go back to the womens bathroom to wash my hands. Due to all the decorations the place is a bit dusty. I mean it would be impossible to dust efficiently with all of them there but there were other signs of the place needed a bit of a spruce up cleanliness wise as well in sink areas, bathrooms, onsen etc. There was barely any water pressure in the womens onsen on any of the taps. In fact 1 out of the 4 taps didnt work. I washed myself with a tiny drizzle every night. There was also only body wash and shampoo in the onsen no conditioner (that was both mens and womens onsens). The men’s onsen was so much better and bigger then the women’s onsen. They should switch it every day so women and men can experience both. There was very little to no heating in the mens onsen area and my husband said it was absolutely freezing on 2 of the 3 nights we were there. He also commented of bad water pressure though it seemed better than the womens onsen. Almost went to Yudanaka station to use the public onsen it was that bad. We were excited to read reviews that we could try samurai armour and shoot bow and arrow there but i don't think they do it anymore.