Final stop before we head to South Korea. This is going to be a very nice stay. I booked us a private suite with included outdoor onsen, breakfast and dinner included. Dinner will be in a private room with dedicated service. (An onsen is a hot bath that one enjoys after cleansing their body)

There is no level of service in the US to match this. As we arrived, 4 young women in traditional dress came outside and welcomed us to the hotel while 3 men in suits came out and took our bags, opened  doors, and walked us to the counter.  Not the check in counter, the yukata selection counter for Collette. A yukata is the traditional wear for relaxing. The men’s yukatas are in the room.

Yukatas

Now we went to the check in counter where a young man stood by and walked us through the procedure. He had a schedule that he asked for our input for when we wanted to have dinner, 6:00pm was fine, and when we would like our room freshened up, 9:30am was also fine. He mentioned that if we chose to use the “public” onsen, the rooftop one alternates between men and women each day so he would advise us when to go to which onsen. Since we had our own private one, no need to do a group tango.

Pics below are of the room and our dinners each night. The room was twelve tatami mats square, with a separate bedroom, bathroom and onsen. Our guide in Tokyo said that rooms are measured by the number of tatami mats that it will fit. Twelve is a big room!

Sitting area

Our onsen

Bedroom in back

The dinners were all 8 courses served by our Maître ‘d. Collette was in heaven! Had to be at least 4 fish courses each meal, but there was also Wagyu beef! Unbelievable meat, melts in your mouth!

Private table / private room

Appetizers (Yep, octopus)

Appetizers in containers, bamboo, shogun, house

Desert – strawberry and apple

Desert- apples and berries wrapped in sweet filo

Appetizers in a dinner setting

Flan and caramel sauce

Ice igloo with raw cod, salmon, and radish

My fave – smoked cod, eel, little squids (raw), other sea things

Veggies with raw sea bream

No idea

Shrimp surprise with raw tuna and tofu

Tempura veggies with rice, funky cold soup and roe

Flan with urchin sauce, shrimp and mushroom. So wrong!

Wagyu beef – awesome!

Cooked at the table

When we left this onsen, the four women came out and waved us goodbye until we were out of sight. One even gave Collette a gift from the gift shop because she had been to Colorado and bonded with the little woman. Nuff said…