Minamisanriku Manabi no Sato Iriyado

Clean and warm, with good food. I really like the smell of the wooden furniture in the hotel.

I picked this inn because my trip was about visiting earthquake-related sites. It’s a long way from the city center, with no convenience stores nearby, so getting around without transportation would be difficult. You take your shoes off at the entrance, and the rooms are made with Minamisanriku cedar. I stayed in the annex, where getting to my room meant opening and closing three doors, awkward with luggage. The room had its own bathroom, and guests can also use the main building’s large public bath. There’s a shower room on the main building’s second floor with a free washer and dryer, which was a big help. On the annex’s first floor, there’s a collection of books about the earthquake. The scrapbook an individual put together, with earthquake articles through 2017, particularly impressed me. I really recommend taking a look.

Breakfast was excellent, and the room itself was clean and very nice. Winter was another story, though. Maybe the air conditioning wasn’t strong enough. I checked in during the evening, set it to 27°C with the fan on maximum, and it was only warm enough around 1 a.m. The hallway was actually warmer.

The bathhouse isn’t big, but it’s a relaxing place to unwind. I didn’t try dinner, but breakfast was a tasty set meal with plenty of ingredients, great with miso soup for ochazuke. The washing machine and dryer are free to use. The annex guest room building is very clean and smells of wood. You can browse books and manga about the earthquake in the hallways and other common areas, along with other manga, so it seems like a nice place to bring children. It’s far from the city center, but safely inland from the tsunami’s reach. There aren’t convenience stores nearby, though various items are sold there until 8:00 PM. I’ll definitely stay again! 🤗