Kawawa Station × Accommodation With Relaxation RoomHighly rated Hotel·Ryokan for Onsen and bath

We stayed here during Silver Week. Our Room was on the 6th floor, and the ocean was right in front of us—amazing. The large public bath was great. However, the bath in the Room was disappointing. When we arrived, we were told at reception that without being able to choose a dinner time, dinner had to be from 7:30 PM and breakfast from 7:00 AM only. I was surprised—what does “priority for early check-in” mean? Dinner was good, but breakfast was disappointing. Breakfast felt lacking: there was no nori seaweed, eggs, or natto. I think there is room for improvement.

I chose this Accommodation because I wanted to relax in a bath with an ocean view, and it offers ocean-view rooms with private open-air baths. I later realized it was featured in the Michelin Guide (Tokai edition). There are many baths throughout the Accommodation—on the rooftop, on the 5th floor, two on the 3rd floor, and one on the 2nd floor—but unfortunately the 2nd-floor bath was closed on the day of my stay. The in-room open-air bath had plenty of hot water and a great view, and I enjoyed it very much. The 5th-floor bath is a reservable private bath in 25-minute slots, so it felt a bit rushed. On the 3rd floor, if it’s available you can lock it and use it privately; I used only one of them, and its semi-open-air style was best suited for washing up. I used the rooftop open-air bath after dinner—the gradient of colors in the sky was stunning, and I could even see an evening star, making for a truly beautiful experience; however... because there is nothing to block the wind on the rooftop, I felt very cold even during the short walk to the tub. You may want to choose your season if you want to fully enjoy it. The staff were cheerful and kind. I booked a Plan with breakfast and dinner; both meals were delicious and felt like just the right amount. Perhaps because everything paired well with alcohol, I got thirsty at night and drank water several times (I appreciated that cold water was provided in a pot in my room). The bedding was high quality and I slept well. Overall satisfaction was high—an Accommodation that made me want to return. One disappointing point—also mentioned by others—was that there were many marks on the tatami mats that looked like they came from dragging tables or other furniture around. Also as others have noted, there were some areas where cleaning seemed insufficient: higher spots and exterior sides of window frames looked like they hadn’t been wiped for quite some time. What bothered me most this time was that weeding around the open-air bath area hadn’t been done at all. It seems like it could be finished within an hour—or handled with weed killer—but since there don’t seem to be many young people locally and older staff appear to be running things mainly themselves, this may be easier said than done. Photos from when Game 16 of Ryuo Title Match (Season 16) was held here are displayed inside; you can see younger versions of Morishita Koji? Wait: Actually "森内、羽生" are Yoshiharu Morinouchi? It's "Morinouchi" vs "Habu". Alongside them is also a young Sugimoto Masayuki (8-dan), famous as mentor to Fujii Sota (six titles). Shogi fans—and especially Fujii fans—should definitely take a look.

Dinner was an all-you-can-eat sukiyaki, and I was amazed by the incredibly tender and delicious meat. Breakfast included a variety of side dishes that went perfectly with unlimited rice, plus grilled meat in the morning! However, the site did not mention that dinner would include crab and sashimi platters or that breakfast offered unlimited shirasu (whitebait) and eggs. Even considering those points, the meals were absolutely fantastic. Additionally, during both breakfast and dinner, there were 2L bottles of juice available for unlimited refills (hot coffee and tea were also provided). Of course, the bath was amazing too. Unlike some reviews mentioning private baths being too hot, it was at a perfect temperature where you could comfortably soak for 30 minutes!