Nasushiobara Ichimantei

An okay hotel with Japanese-style rooms, an onsen, and a rotemburo.

Such a beautiful place.

There’s plenty to do besides enjoying the hot springs: karaoke, darts, billiards, table tennis, manga, and massage chairs are all free to use. Dinner and breakfast were both very good for the price, with some thoughtful touches, and they even had soup-based fried noodles as a late-night snack. The baths were great, though the changing room could use more sinks and hair dryers. There were just two dryers, so I ended up going back to my room to use mine. You can park about 30 cars, but you can’t enter the building before check-in at 3 PM. Before dinner, they serve welcome drinks and snacks. For the price, it’s a really good deal if you want to enjoy the hot springs.

The staff were a real highlight. The foreign staff were friendly and seemed well trained, and one noticed our casual conversation and checked whether we needed anything. That kind of attentiveness impressed me. I felt so appreciative that I made more effort than usual to clear my table and tidy the room. It’s a shame there wasn’t a little more effort to improve the place further, because I’d like to come back. Thanks for looking after us. For families with small kids, it was nice to relax without worrying too much, even though some facilities were broken. They had useful things like a potty, chair, shampoo, and toys in the bathrooms and toilets. The water dispenser outside the bathroom was handy too. One on each guest room floor near the elevator would be even better. The food was good value. The crab was a bit bland, but satisfying for the price, and the soup-based fried noodles served late at night were tastier than I expected. The evening crab and morning seafood were the buffet highlights. There wasn’t a huge range of other dishes, which actually worked fine. A table near the crab and seafood would help people set down their plates. I saw other guests dropping theirs. It would also be nice to have crab scissors and somewhere to put the shells, even if guests handled it themselves. I also noticed used hand towels and other trash under unused seats, which made it seem like the area hadn’t been cleaned. The private outdoor bath was lovely, but 30 minutes is far too short. There seemed to be only four groups there, including us, and it was only open from 3 PM to 8 PM. Dinner ran from 6 PM to 7:30 PM, so we couldn’t fit in a bath then or afterwards. Even though it’s free, they should extend the hours or let guests use it a second time if it’s available. At the very least, it shouldn’t close during the hours shown on the website. There were lots of play spaces and toys for kids, which I really appreciated. But none of the Plarail trains had batteries, which was disappointing since the Plarail was half the reason for our visit. Broken toys, like the drum, should also be put away so no one gets hurt. I sorted out a small issue by asking at the front desk during check-in, but never got a reply to my email question. I’ve mentioned a lot of things, but I’m genuinely impressed by the company’s effort to offer so much at this price. I hope next time they’ll include batteries for the Plarail set or lend them out at the front desk.