Woody Hotel and Restaurant Yumekoubo

The staff were lovely and the food was good. The private bath is spacious, with a beautiful view over the snowy forest. The rooms, though, could use a refresh.

We asked for a vegetarian breakfast and really enjoyed it, especially the tasty bread and grilled vegetables, with some lettuce and a fried egg. The hotel is very kawaii, full of windows, woodwork, and plants, and it has a lovely garden too.

It’s a quaint little western-style guesthouse and restaurant in Tsurui, and a handy base for reaching Otowa Bridge before sunrise. Dinner was delicious, and the bath was great. The rooms are a little dated but did the job. Service was decent despite the language barrier.

For birders, Woody is a fantastic place to stay. Feeders out back make it easy to watch smaller woodland birds, including tits and woodpeckers, from both the room and dining room. Otowa Bridge is only a seven-minute drive, so we made it there and back before breakfast. The food was superb, well beyond what we expected at both dinner and breakfast. Dinner featured local ingredients and was beautifully presented. The little Halloween shima enaga cakes were adorable and delicious. We’d just spent three weeks traveling around Japan, including a week in Hokkaido, and Woody was our first stop. The rooms are small and homey, as you’d expect from the website and this kind of lodge. What I hadn’t noticed in the description was the traditional Japanese bath. They’re careful to explain it isn’t an onsen, but I loved it. The water is very hot, and using the bath was relaxing and reinvigorating. It’s semi-private, with no more than two people at a time, so tattoos weren’t a problem. We stayed just one night and can’t wait to return. We’re already making plans. Thanks again for such a lovely visit.