Oyado Yamabiko

The corridors are wide, the elevator is wheelchair accessible, and the building is barrier-free, with electric reclining beds and nurse-call buttons in the toilets and bathrooms. It works for a solo stay and is fun with a training camp or other group. The place was apparently a nursing home, and since the inside and outside have barely changed, it still looks like one. Ruins surround both sides of the building, adding to the atmosphere. I first stayed here for several nights five or six years ago. Just after midnight, I saw what looked like a ghost train cross the bridge girder visible from the entrance. It had two cars and was almost full. I wondered why a train from this rural area to Kagoshima city was so crowded at that hour. Later I checked the Ibusuki Makurazaki Line timetable and found there were no trains then, so I understood what I'd seen. I love this inn and have returned several times. I highly recommend it.

The staff were really friendly, and the stay was good value. The food was average. I have a strong aversion to hospitals, though, and the building felt like the wrong place for me. Nothing supernatural happens, so there's no need to worry about that, but people who also dislike hospitals may not enjoy it. The building itself is fine, though the interior could use a little more effort.

The owner was very kind during my roughly two-week training camp stay. I only learned from him that the place had been converted from a nursing home, so maybe I'm just not very perceptive. The food was good and seemed to use local ingredients. There's a large Nishimuta supermarket nearby for everyday supplies. The higher rooms have a great view of ships passing around the Osumi Peninsula and Kinko Bay, though from that angle you can't see Kaimon-dake or Sakurajima. About a 10-minute walk from the inn, on the Yamakawa side, there's a way down to the sea. Go there and you can see just the tip of Kaimon-dake. The hot spring can be very hot, so don't jump straight in. I was satisfied overall.

The man at reception was friendly and very polite, and the service was good. The women cooking could be heard happily working, which was a nice thing. But that wasn't enough to make me comfortable. The dining room looks just like a hospital or nursing-home cafeteria, and the rooms and hallways feel the same. I was on vacation but felt like I was in a hospital, and couldn't sleep. It felt like a haunted house, like being in a hospital in the middle of the night. Hell, scary, and no sleep. If you can handle that, fine, but I couldn't. Within an hour of checking in, I left the keys and got out of there. It's not somewhere I'd take a guest. They tell you plainly what they think, good or bad. The receptionist said, “It must be fate that brought me here,” and even that sounded terrifying. I felt those words applied to me completely. Go test your courage, I guess. I'll never go again. Even when you're spending money to travel or work, you can't relax here. You leave with frightening memories.