A spacious hot-spring hotel on Awaji Island with sweeping Seto Inland Sea views, impressive baths and an ambitious buffet, though a few details still need polishing.
Visited December 20259 min read
Deep in a Toyama river gorge, a Showa-era onsen hotel with a 400-year-old spring offers a mixed-bathing cave bath and a waterfall-side pool, even if the kitchen does not quite keep up.
Visited October 20256 min read
At one of Awara Onsen’s largest ryokan, it was not the scale that stayed with us but the quick, smiling attentiveness of staff who seemed to be everywhere at once.
Visited September 20256 min read
High on the Komagane highlands of southern Nagano, a ryokan known for its wild mountain flowers pairs Showa-era spaciousness with alternating hot and cold baths and a supper built from the produce of the hills.
Visited August 20257 min read
On the Osaka Bay shore of Awaji Island, a large seaside ryokan lets guests fish from its own sea wall, then cooks the catch for dinner.
Visited May 20259 min read
On the Tango coast of northern Kyoto Prefecture, a garden-wrapped ryokan served a spring kaiseki that built, course by course, to a red snow crab of rare quality.
Visited April 20258 min read
On Kobe's waterfront, a building that hardly looks like a ryokan hides a suite with its own hot spring, a vast bathing complex and a bar that looks straight out over the illuminated harbor.
Visited March 202510 min read
On the coast at Shirahama, a hotel built at the height of Japan's bubble years still dazzles with gold-leaf ceilings, Roman mosaic floors, a one-of-a-kind Steinway and baths with a barrel sauna.
Visited December 20246 min read
On the Ajiro shore south of Atami, a ryokan with its own hot spring offers sea-view baths, a theatrical box of local fish and a handful of small missteps at the table.
Visited July 202410 min read
In mid-April, a small kappo counter on Gokomachi street served a menu full of spring, from morning-dug bamboo shoots to beef with flower sansho, to a room where more than half the guests had come from abroad.
Visited April 20246 min read
Back at Hotel Yagi in the depths of a Fukui winter, we found the books, the handmade sweets and the generous buffet still in place, along with s’mores at check-in, sake by a snow-roped garden and fresh ideas on the menu.
Visited January 20246 min read
On the second day of 2024 we went from the great torii of Itsukushima Shrine to a sake-and-sashimi lunch, the Atomic Bomb Dome, a night at the Sheraton Grand Hiroshima Hotel and two very different tastes of the city.
Visited January 20245 min read
On the first day of 2024 we stopped at the beach where Japanese myth hands over the land, went on to Izumo Taisha, and ended the day in the steaming baths of the ryokan Chorakuen.
Visited January 20244 min read
In the hot spring town of Yumura, a large ryokan with roots in the Sengoku era saw out the old year with snow crab and Tajima beef, and welcomed the new one with a tiered box of New Year dishes.
Visited December 202311 min read
Back at the big Awara Onsen ryokan in November, we found a vast, spotless room, immaculately kept baths and a buffet so extensive that it has become the reason most guests come.
Visited November 20236 min read
In summer on the Wakasa coast of Fukui, a modest family-run ryokan on the shore of Lake Mikata served a boat of sashimi, Fukui salmon in a butter hot pot and a breakfast of grilled fried tofu.
Visited Late summer 20237 min read
At Awara Onsen in Fukui, a family-friendly ryokan pours its energy into a dessert-laden buffet, free drinks from dinner to bedtime and a suite with its own open-air bath.
Visited July 202311 min read
Back at the historic Ashinoyu ryokan a few years after our first stay, we found newly renovated baths, an all-inclusive drinks list, a spring menu from a new head chef and a team that had clearly raised its game.
Visited March 20237 min read
Once a year, a Michelin-recognized kappo counter on Gokomachi street throws open its doors to friends from other kitchens for a fixed-price, eat-and-drink-as-you-like anniversary celebration.
Visited February 20235 min read
Marble bathrooms, polished silver and a cigar-lounge bar give The Ritz-Carlton, Osaka the air of an old European house, though a dry breakfast omelet proved a stubborn exception.
Visited January 20234 min read
For the first days of 2023, a small kappo counter on Gokomachi street built its New Year menu around pufferfish, white miso zoni and an osechi-style hassun, and ended with two kinds of rice porridge.
Visited January 20237 min read
A traditional ryokan in Kinosaki Onsen paired a winter crab feast and a private garden with the kind of small, unprompted kindnesses that make a guest want to return.
Visited January 20237 min read
Behind a grand gate in central Kyoto, the Italian restaurant of HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO turns out thin, crisp pizzas so good that we ordered two more, with a courtyard garden on the other side of the glass.
Visited January 20233 min read
At a small kappo counter on Gokomachi street, an early-autumn dinner of matsutake, charcoal-roasted beef and a soft-shelled turtle broth shaped like the harvest moon came with a running lesson in Kyoto cooking.
Visited September 20226 min read
At a large and busy ryokan in Fukui’s Awara Onsen, an inventive autumn dinner served on local lacquerware outshone a slow check-in and some lapses in upkeep.
Visited September 20228 min read
In Awara Onsen, a ryokan with roots in 1884 now greets guests in fresh timber and white shoji, with a hot spring bath in every room and an early-summer kaiseki built on Fukui produce.
Visited July 20228 min read
In the hot-spring town of Ito, a ryokan with a stone-and-timber bathhouse and a signature abalone starter makes a comfortable base, though breakfast and a few dusty corners fell short of the rest.
Visited May 20226 min read
On a return visit to a small timber ryokan in the hills of Yamanashi, we came for the dinner: char from the river, duck in soy milk and a raclette chawanmushi.
Visited January 20224 min read
In Higashiyama, the Kitcho group's more intimate house serves a kaiseki of restraint, where wet chopsticks, a carefully built dashi and a single ginkgo nut say more than any spectacle.
Visited Late 20218 min read
In the hot-spring town of Gora, a newly opened ryokan built like a cluster of private houses pairs reflecting pools, private baths and an included guest lounge with an ambitious spring kaiseki, along with a few honest flaws.
Visited Spring 202112 min read
Near Lake Yamanaka, an unpretentious Marriott with its own hot springs and a generous half-buffet dinner made an ideal place to rest before a dawn walk through the autumn forest at the foot of Mt Fuji.
Visited Autumn 20205 min read
Just below the summit of Tokyo's favorite mountain, a no-gear barbecue terrace promises a hiker's reward — but frozen meat, slow coals and a steep bill made for a meal remembered more for its setting than its plate.
Visited Late 20203 min read
On the wave-beaten edge of Inatori, a large seaside ryokan that calls itself an 'inn for eating' keeps its promise, with boat-loads of sashimi, twin golden-eye snappers and an infinity bath where sea and stars meet.
Visited Winter 20216 min read
At the Hotel New Otani's Shanghai restaurant, the hotel's complimentary anniversary dinner program shows off a kitchen of real accomplishment, in tasting-size portions and at a pace that leaves the occasion feeling rushed.
Visited Winter 20204 min read
On the Izu coast at Inatori, a ryokan facing the open ocean serves golden-eye snapper in almost every form imaginable, and lets its free-flowing hot spring meet the night sea on the roof.
Visited Winter 2020–216 min read
After a winter climb with Mt. Fuji on the horizon, a small timber ryokan near the foot of Daibosatsu offered a silky alkaline spring, a self-taught chef's inventive country cooking and a house filled with its owner's handmade art.
Visited Winter 2020–219 min read
In Yugashima, a ryokan that is itself a registered cultural property offers Taisho-era charm, drinks included in the rate and a tea-room sauna, though its kitchen falls short of the price.
Visited July 20205 min read
On the quiet Kawana coast near Ito, a hideaway of just five detached villas offers a private open-air bath, an uninterrupted view of Sagami Bay and the rare luxury of meeting no one at all.
Visited Spring 20207 min read
In the hot-spring hamlet of Ashinoyu, high in the Hakone hills, a venerable ryokan painted by Hiroshige and linked to the heroes of Meiji offers untreated spring water and a house that feels like a museum after dark.
Visited Late 20208 min read
In Kawazu, a small, softly lit ryokan designed by Shigeru Uchida pairs a bubbling hot-spring source and a garden as large as the house with a counter where the kitchen's techniques were handed across with every course.
Visited Early 202010 min read
High on Izusan above Atami, a hotel devoted to Johann Sebastian Bach pairs an in-room hot-spring bath and a sweeping sea view with a calorie-conscious kitchen, and service that does not always hit the right note.
Visited Summer 202010 min read
High above Kioicho, a glass-walled luxury hotel turns Tokyo into a living panorama, and its club lounge shows that sometimes the best thing to do is simply ask.
Visited Late 20207 min read
In Shuzenji, a ryokan with centuries of family history pairs a Noh stage and spotless traditional architecture with seasonal in-room dining and service of rare poise.
Visited October 202014 min read
In the villa-lined hills of Sengokuhara, a small auberge with a serious kitchen gave us something rarer than luxury: the whole house, its hot springs and its chef, to ourselves.
Visited Spring 202011 min read
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