Ryokan Odosou

No fuss early check-in. Traditional Japanese ryokan experience, tatami, futon and all, with excellent modern amenities, in particular the bathroom: a generously sized bath tub with a view, and an equally spacious shower space equipped with a shower head that can be adjusted to blast a spray of very comfortable, consistent high pressured water. Staff were relatively more intimate than the usual hotel staff; they were, in my case, ever ready to be a medium for conversations between guests, and to share recommendations through a subtle application of honed speechcraft. Short minutes walk to the local main shopping area in the Tachibana area. Breakfast was an exquisite iteration of traditional Japanese fare that is also reasonably priced. Turn down service as expected of an excellent ryokan was a very nice touch that is wholly absent from the usual run-of-the-mill hotel chain.

The rooms reserved for overnight staying guests are quite far apart, but sounds from a dinner in the adjacent room did travel through the walls into the room as a blur of voices. I hadn’t been provided with the card key to the room at check-in and had to ask for it.