Kadowakikan

The kindness of the owner and the information and support he provided The cleanliness of the romance The delicious breakfast

The owner is really kind and helpful with driving us to places in town. He picked us up from the bus-stop, and later offered to drop us off at our ski rental store. He also took us back to the bus-stop at the end of our stay. He was great about showing us recommended restaurants, and showing the time schedule for the shuttle to take us to the resort. He really likes to put informative English signs on a lot of things, which I found humorous. He also has some speaker system in place in the ryokan, so he can make announcements for everyone to hear. He was also accommodating when we sometimes were a little late in notifying him we wanted breakfast the next day. Breakfast was always good and well-balanced. The location of the ryokan is awesome because it's a couple minutes walk uphill to the Karasawa ski area, so you could just take a lift from there to Nagasaka. It's also right near the town's shuttle, and a reasonable nice walk to the busier downtown. The onsen is nice and there are 2 shower spots. The room and futons were clean and comfortable, and there was a sink in our room so we didn't have to go out for things like brushing teeth or washing hands. There is a spacious dry-room for putting gear. I was also surprised the ryokan has an elevator!

- It doesn't feel so clean to be sharing slippers with everyone else. And the way they are stacked, the soles of the slippers make contact with the inside of the other slipper so I think your feet will probably end up being as dirty as outdoors. - There's a urine smell in the 2nd floor bathroom. - The entrance to the onsen is separated with some feeble curtains, which can make one feel a little insecure about unclothing, especially females. - All the signs he puts up can be a little confusing because there's so many of them. - The speaker-phone system sometimes turns on without him realizing it I think. Sometimes you can hear it turn on, and you're listening, but all you hear is background noise.

We loved absolutely everything about Kadowakikan. The Manager/Owner was so helpful and accomodating he made it feel like a home away from home.

The owner was so helpful from picking me up at the bus stop, showing some great spots to eat, provided a ski lift pass for discounted passes and helped deliver my snowboard to my next location. Plus the ski lift is only 5 minutes from the accommodation!