Kumo No Ueno Hotel Annex Marche Yusuhara

Yusuhara is a lovely little village, with flowers and nice lighting along the main street. It feels pretty idyllic, and there’s no industry around. I also liked seeing the modern buildings, including the library, onsen, and this hotel. That kind of architecture is unusual in such a remote small town. The hotel was modern and had one of the biggest rooms we stayed in during our three weeks in Japan. We hadn’t realized dinner and breakfast were included, and the stay also covered admission to an Onsen about a three-minute drive away. You can’t walk there, but there is a shuttle. We drove, so didn’t use it. Dinner came as a coupon for a nearby teppanyaki place. It was a good, generous meal with wagyu, beef tongue, an appetizer, miso soup, and dessert. Breakfast was served at the hotel, but the fish, seaweed, and fermented vegetables weren’t for us in the morning. We grew up with bread and coffee, and would have preferred a croissant with butter and jam, maybe with a soft-boiled egg. I’d still recommend staying here.

The breakfast was the blandest, saddest one we had on our trip, and the whole stay felt cold and corporate. We’d bought delicious meat from a butcher in town earlier, but the hotel’s "yakiniku" restaurant was awful. It felt like they really didn’t want hotel guests there. Getting around was confusing from the start. At night there were no clear instructions for parking or finding the front desk, and we couldn’t tell where the restaurant was either. The rooms were worn and poorly maintained, with scratches and odd stains and splatters. The pajamas were too small, there were no outlets by the beds, and the headboards didn’t cover the backs of the beds. The amenities were pretty useless too, with no moisturizer. While we were trying to sleep, the room phone rang twice at 11 pm, but nobody answered when we picked up. I was super unimpressed.

The rooms were bare-bones and disappointing, with tiny windows and hardly any interesting decor. The building may have been designed by a famous architect, but the rooms didn’t justify the premium price, and I wouldn’t stay again. Check-in was another annoyance. You can only check in around 6 pm, after the market downstairs closes. There’s a parking lot right in front. At night, the store entrance shuts, so hotel guests have to use a separate entrance on the building’s right side. The town is small, with only a few restaurants open at night.

I made the long trip to Yusuhara as an architecture student to see Kengo Kuma’s work, and it was well worth it. The hotel was a lovely hidden gem, surprisingly affordable and very clean. The staff were incredibly nice, and breakfast was delicious. I highly recommend it.