Hotel Kikuya

There's a kettle, microwave, and self-serve Japanese tea in the lobby, plus a hair dryer in the second-floor bathroom. The first floor has a shower room, but the bathtub can't be used because there's no plug, so you'll need to stick to showers or go to the nearby public bath. A room without meals is 3,500 yen, and it's nice to sleep on a flat surface. The rooms have air conditioning and a TV, though it could be rough in the middle of winter.

We stayed in November, and the nearby hot springs made it easy to warm up early in the morning. The room was clean and quite nice, with space for 10 tatami mats. We're a couple in our 50s, and we'd like to come back next year. There's a microwave on the first floor, and the kettle had plenty of hot water.

The parking lot is small, and the convenience store is a long way off. More seriously, our room was dirty and shabby, and it smelled of mold and sewage. The bathtub had even been sealed over with a wooden board, apparently to keep the odor from coming out. It was a terrible stay, one of the worst I've had in Japan. Even with the low price, I'd personally avoid this place.

The town of Kaminoue still has lots of old buildings, shrines, and a hot spring footbath, though I hardly saw anyone walking around. The people were so kind, too. I hadn't expected Yamagata residents to be that welcoming, and even the cars passing on the street gave me that impression. The inn has a lovely old-fashioned feel, with plenty of space, tasteful furnishings, and a relaxing mix of tatami and wood. The rooms don't have toilets, showers, or tea dispensers, but they do have Daikin air conditioners, a big Hitachi TV, and a quirky refrigerator that looks like a teacher's desk. The staff were very kind. I suspect that may have been helped by the online reservation and what guests expect. It's hard to imagine finding another place with quite this kind of charm.