Gensenyu No Yado Shisuitei

Following on from our stay in Hotel Wellies in Karuizawa, following the Japan Romantic Road (Google "Japan Romatic Road"). Our next stop was the old Onsen (hot spring) town of Oigami (伍楼閣) where we decided to stay at Hotel Shisuitei. The town itself is a sleepy backwater, with several buildings starting to collapse into the river valley due to erosion (can be seen from the suspension bridge crossing the gorge). They have a Guinness World Record for the world's longest plastic snake (on display for tourists). We could not find any restaurants. Seems everyone eats in their own hotel. The hotel has a free carpark. At check-in the only languages were Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Our room was traditional Japanese style sleeping on the floor (western style beds are available in other rooms). The hotel man made waterfall was outside our window, so we had a continuous noise of crashing water. Two dinner options were offered: one price set meal (in the breakfast hall) and a la carte in a restaurant. We chose the set meal. Big mistake. Felt like dining in a school hall. And food quality was not high. Recommend to order a la carte in the restaurant. The actual onsen (hot bath) was pretty much industry standard - nothing special. Breakfast was again in the "school hall". Again not impressive. Now I understand why this Onsen town seems to be falling by the wayside. After check-out we continued our romantic road trip. First stop at impressive Fukiware waterfalls (吹割の滝) then on to Lake Chuzenji (中禅寺湖), then onwards to Narita airport, but due to bad weather our flight was delayed one day, so we stayed in Route Inn Kashima (ホテルルートイン鹿嶋).