Ryokan Stay An Authentic Japanese Culture Experience

In Japan, you must stay in a Ryokan for an authentic experience of Japanese culture and lifestyle. A Ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel with tatami-matted rooms, communal baths (usually hot springs), and other public areas.

Ryokan Stay in Japan

Ryokan Asakusa Mikawaya Honten is a family-owned business. The daughter is a beautiful lady who has been very kind to us. When we checked in, she handed us two sets of room keys. We had booked one room, but she said there was a spare room and we could stay in it since there were three of us.

She also helped us map out the lovely eatery places in the neighbourhood. She warned us about the typhoon and cheered us up when we were worried the typhoon might ruin our Mt Fuji trip the day after. She took many pictures for us and gave us an endless supply of green tea.

Shared Space in the Ryokan

The common room-cum-lobby is a cozy place dominated by an indoor picnic table where guests can sit, socialize, watch TV, or browse the Internet. Every day we hung out there for some time. On one particular night, when a typhoon hit Tokyo city, we spent the whole evening there.

Ryokan Room and the Bathroom

There were no beds in the room. Instead, it had tatami flooring and two thin mats with pillow sets. There were only a few pieces of furniture: a small table in the corner with a lamp, another small table with a flat-screen TV, Shoji windows and a small painting. No closet, no dressing table, no unnecessary anything. Simply put, our bedroom in the Ryokan was Zen.

Futon

We slept on the futon laid on the floor in the evenings by the Ryokan staff. In the mornings, they kept the futon in the closet with sliding paper doors. The futon is regularly aired under direct sunlight (futon-Hoshi) to kill germs.

There were Yukata and a pair of Geta for each of us that we changed into immediately after.

Japanese Unit Bathroom

The Japanese unit bathroom is a single plastic unit that contains a door, walls, ceiling, floor, sink, toilet, bath, shower, and drainage. It was tiny, but I liked it. I imagined it would be easy to clean; you need to take a shower in it. There was also a bathtub, but it was one-third of a standard bathtub size. So if I bent my body in a particular yoga position, I could soak there for a while.

Asakusa Neighborhood

Asakusa is the cultural centre of old Tokyo, one of the city’s best places to stay. In my opinion, it was even better than Shinjuku. Asakusa has a marketplace devoted to tourists’ shopping sprees. You can get all kinds of Japanese souvenirs there: Green tea, Kami, Maneki-Neko, they have it all.

There was a famous sushi joint nearby called Asakusa Magurobito. The sushi is fresh and delicious. Another must-try-fun-eatery place in Asakusa is the hole-in-the-wall diner. The Ryokan is less than five minutes away from the Asakusa train station. It has a Lawson nearby where you can buy yummy Meiji milk.

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