Mimata Onsen Ryokan Mikuniya

The facilities are old, but the meals made up for it. Both dinner and breakfast were well prepared and delicious, and the bath lived up to its reputation. I wound up going in four times before morning. I’ll definitely return.

We stayed during Obon last year, and fruit flies were all over the dining area, even landing on the food. It felt very unsanitary. When we pointed it out, the staff laughed and replied, “Yeah, that’s right.” Most of the guests seemed elderly, so perhaps they didn’t notice the flies, but nobody even tried to shoo them away. Our whole family felt sick and couldn’t finish eating, so we tried to return to our room. One staff member kindly offered to bring just the dessert on a tray covered in plastic wrap, but that had lots of fruit flies on it too, so we turned it down. Do the people here really not mind insects in the food? It’s such a shame because the food is delicious. We’ll never go back.

I was there for a local event, and it was nice to get into the hot springs since I often visit foot baths. The food was delicious too. There were quite a few older people, so I was a little concerned about the stairs. But the flowers arranged around the place were so pretty that everyone stopped to look at them.

The river sounds and the smell of the tatami were calming. It was a traditional hot spring inn, but having a washlet in the room’s toilet was a nice touch.