UCHI Living stay TOYOHIRA

Our kids loved the cute little playground swing across from the house. It's about a 15-minute walk to the main part of town. The rooms, toilet, and kitchen were all clean, and check-in was easy. We had the biggest room, with two bunk beds and two single beds, enough to sleep six. Parking needs to be reserved; without a reservation, there's paid parking up ahead that cost me 700 a day.

The six-person living area was too cramped, and the refrigerator seemed sized for one person, barely holding food for six. The washing machine was just about enough for two people's laundry. During our stay I tried to use the vacuum, but it was dead and there was no charger. At night I could hear loud noise from the next room, where a Chinese family was staying. It was awful. There is a check-in tablet in the entrance hall, but I couldn't get in when other guests had locked the front door. There was no request to leave it unlocked, and nobody gave me the door code. Check-in itself took a while because the foreign staff member on the other side of the screen spoke broken Japanese. I was glad the room had been cleaned.

We were exhausted by the time we finally reached our room. First the location was hard to find, then we spent about 30 minutes struggling with the keypad lock. The person we called couldn't understand English, so we went in circles on the phone. Once inside, the check-in board took another 10 minutes to work out. Then the landlord had the guest count wrong, and all that back and forth took about an hour in total. Booking a hotel would have been more practical. Parking is inconvenient too: you need a reservation, or have to hunt for a nearby lot. And the Wi-Fi was so slow that even updating an app was a struggle.

I could cook in the kitchen and had a really nice stay. The room was clean, stylish, and spacious, and the comfortable bed made it a good choice for a longer visit. I'd be happy to stay here again.