Sakuraya Sakuemon

At first glance, I thought "Nothing special." As soon as we entered the hotel I though, "Nice and clean. Smells good." The entire hotel was clean and decorated for the New Year. Our room was spacious, with a nice little sitting room that overlooked the river. Evening and morning walks along the river were great,with a nice waterfall down near the end and mountains in the background. Bamboo trees lined the river. The bathroom in the room had a separate sliding door, and the bathtub was worth filling up and trying during your stay. The service was excellent, and three people came in at about 7 pm to make up our comfortable futons. What an excellent sleep we had. Just downstairs was the hot spring, indoor and outdoor. Not huge, but big enough to relax and not have to mingle with other guests if you don't want to. You can choose what time you have breakfast. We had it at 8:00. It was filling, with tofu, fish, lots of veggies and as much rice as you want, all in a beautiful room with friendly women serving you. Wifi in the lobby was handy, too. Next to the hotel is a senbei (rice cracker) factory that is worth a visit. I heard the hotel has a shuttle bus that will pick you up at the nearby station (we went there by car). We opted to eat out for dinner and went to a supermarket up the road that had excellent take out foods that we had in our room with beer. Good stuff. Enjoy!