HOTEL R9 The Yard Yamagata

You can get a frozen bento at reception for a light meal. The hotel otherwise seemed much like a typical business hotel, but the cleaning was a problem. There was a big clump of dust that apparently fell from the air conditioner, and the toilet area hadn’t been cleaned properly. There was urine from the previous guest under the toilet seat, which left the bath mat in terrible shape. The refrigerator was switched on, but not cooling, so check that function.

There are lots of containers lined up, which makes the place fun. My room was clean, with a double bed, air conditioning, a fridge, and a microwave. The simple reception comes with one frozen lunch box, and there are free drinks too. Since I’m only there to sleep, I have no complaints.

There were used sanitary products in a bag on the toilet wall, left by previous guests and not cleaned up. That was unpleasant. The containers also sway quite a bit because they’re raised off the ground. On the practical side, each room has a microwave, and they provided a frozen meal container and a coffee or tea drink even though meals weren’t included. The food choices were all meat-based. I stayed for one night over Lunar New Year, and it snowed heavily both at night and in the morning, which was really cool to see. But the area by the front desk, where the washing machine cabinets and vending machines are, was incredibly cold. Once I was in my room, I didn’t want to go back out. I’d prefer a regular hotel in the coldest winter or hottest summer. Parking spaces don’t correspond one-to-one with the container locations. There weren’t spaces near the third row of doors, so we had to find an empty spot near our container, although the front desk staff said there were enough spaces.

I stayed out of curiosity. It was quite small, but fine for sleeping. You could pick one frozen meal and heat it in the room microwave. There seemed to be many international guests.