Okawa

The service was excellent, and I loved the food, room, and onsen. Give this place a try!

The rooms were spacious and lovely, and the food was incredibly good. There was only one bathroom, which was a little disappointing, but the hot spring water left my skin feeling great. I could feel the building’s age from the elevator vibrations, so that’s why I gave it four stars.

We came as a family of three with our 11-month-old daughter, and she loved having so much tatami space to play on. I’d worried she might tear the shoji screens in a Japanese-style room, but it was fine. The facilities aren’t new, though the important areas around the bathroom have been renovated, and the place was clean and comfortable. From check-in, the staff member was kind to our child, so we felt at ease. They had rental gear like a microwave, baby chairs, and diaper disposal racks, and were also kind enough to heat her baby food for us.

Meals come right to your room, and dinner was generous and delicious. The splendid alfonsino and red snapper sashimi were especially good. There was so much food I couldn’t finish the seasoned rice, and I overate enough to feel uncomfortable afterward. Breakfast was tasty and just the right size, and the free coffee service was a nice touch. The foreign waitress was lovely too. The room is named after a sumo stable, though apparently it has no particular connection to sumo. It’s a handy spot, a five-minute walk down a steep slope from Kinomiya Station. This is a small inn with just seven rooms. The building is a little old, but the renovated rooms were clean and the toilets modern. The men's Japanese-style bath was underwhelming. I asked about using the private bath in the morning and was told it wasn’t available. The innkeeper instead offered to swap the men’s and women’s baths between evening and morning, which was unexpected, though lots of inns do that. In the morning I finally used the large public bath. The cypress tub felt great, and the courtyard bamboo made the whole experience lovely. I peeked at the private bath too. Its open-air tub and great garden view made me wish I’d tried it.