Hamanako Bentenjima Onsen Family Hotel Kaisyunro

The hot spring was good.

The baths themselves were good, and the price had come down from 800 yen to 500 yen, which I liked. But the outdoor bath couldn't be used, the hot spring water seemed old, and the pipes looked as if they might give way at any moment. Of the two tubs, one was almost empty. There were other maintenance problems too: the toilets had no water, and one hair dryer was broken. I only came to use the hot springs.

From the room you get a panoramic view of Lake Hamana's great torii gate and the Hamana Bridge, which is the main draw since there's not much to enjoy on TV. The set was disconnected, so we couldn't watch the Red and White Song Battle. The hotel feels old, as you'd expect from a long-established place, and its facilities need work: the bathroom's open-air bath was out of order. Breakfast was cheap, with drinks served in paper cups and instant miso soup. Eating there wasn't enjoyable.

We stayed one night as a family. The room was spacious, and for just sleeping it would be fine, but I definitely wouldn't return. At check-in, a foreign staff member spoke broken Japanese, and I felt uneasy writing down my personal information, worrying it might be misused. In the dining area, another foreign staff member was wearing a worn-out T-shirt. The food included ready-made items and things bought at a supermarket, so the taste was inoffensive to most people. I skipped breakfast because I could tell what it would be like, and left before 7. When I went to the front desk to return the key and rang the bell, nobody came, so I left the key and breakfast ticket there and headed off.