Fujisan Ryokan Bettei Namari Onsen

The river view was incredible, the baths were all excellent, and dinner was the high quality you expect at a Ryokan. It’s off the beaten track for international visitors, but a real hidden gem. The older building feels a bit old fashioned, which is part of its charm; the annex is more modern if that suits you better. Service was up to the usual high Ryokan standard. Highly recommended, and try to get a river view room!

We drove six hours to Fujisan Ryokan for its onsen, and the stay was a major disappointment. After one night, we checked out and found another hotel. The staff were helpful and sympathetic, but the experience left us exhausted and affected my chronic health condition. I wish we’d known the details in advance. I’d urge anyone considering a stay to research carefully and avoid “partner offers.” I’m sure people booking through the hotel’s official site had a better experience than we did. We’d booked three nights on Booking.com and received a non-refundable “partner offer” through Rakuten Travel. It said we’d be assigned whichever room was available when we arrived. That was a mistake, and I don’t recommend this option at Fujisan Ryokan. We got a room in the old part of the building, which needed maintenance and wasn’t properly heated. We knew the toilet would be shared, but didn’t expect to walk halfway through an unheated building to reach it. There was no soap, and the tap only had cold water. The room was dusty, especially the shoji. Heating came from an on heater powered by gas or something similar, with a kotatsu available at extra cost. The heater smelled extremely strong, and the whole section of the building smelled like a gas station. Outside it was -6°C. The room had no double-glazed windows and very thin walls, so it was about +4°C before we turned on the heater. The air warmed a little once it was running, but drafts made sleeping on a floor futon very uncomfortable. The included food was fine, but nothing special and it didn’t taste locally produced. The onsen was lovely, but hard to enjoy when we knew we’d be returning to a freezing room. I find it strange that rooms in the old building are offered at all, since their poor insulation makes them unsuitable for winter. And an open-flame heater as the only heat source in a room with tatami and wooden surfaces seems like a safety hazard.

We stayed one night, with dinner and breakfast served in the room. The food was very Japanese, if you know what I mean, but good and filling. The building is a little old, though it has a lot of charm. There are four kinds of baths, including a standing bath and one outdoors by the river. There were quite a few spiders around that outdoor bath. I didn’t mind, but it could bother some people. There’s no air conditioning, but the fan they provided was enough. A free shuttle runs to and from both stations in Hanamaki. I can’t judge the service for people who don’t speak Japanese.

The onsen water is great, the setting is perfect, and the food was quite good for the price. When we arrived, a friendly older staff member gave us really good service while taking our reservation. But then a younger staff member came out of the office to tell me to put on my mask, even though the office staff weren’t wearing them. If you’re going to enforce a rule that isn’t required and is obsolete, your own staff should follow it first. One office staff member was also smoking I-QOS in full view of customers. I know smoking is more accepted in Japan, but after 20 years in hospitality I’ve realized it’s not a good look for staff. The room itself was fine, and we’d paid for the cheapest one, so I wasn’t expecting much. The building felt like a ghost house, with no heat and sparse lighting. My wife was too scared to use the toilet by herself, so I had to escort her each time. The bedding smelled strongly of mould, even with clean covers and sheets. As we left, there was a strong sewage smell across the first floor. All in all, not a bad stay, but I probably won’t return.