Nambuya Kaisenkaku — Hotel in Aomori

With the sky darkening, we drove for 30 minutes to the hotel for the night, Nanbuya Kaisenkaku (南部屋・海扇閣), located at Asamushi Onsen (浅虫温泉) on the eastern edge of Aomori City. This ryokan has a total of 64 Japanese-style Rooms, 1 Special Room, 18 Western-style Rooms and 6 Western-style Twin Rooms, and is a barrier-free ryokan.||||We had booked the Special Room (Room 860), on the top floor of the building. After registration the manager came to greet us and showed us to the room, which is very spacious with a Japanese-style half totaling 19-mat, as well as a Western-style half with a living room and a bedroom with twin beds. Unfortunately the room does not have private hotspring bath, but do have a western bathtub so guests can still enjoy a nice hot soak.||||The room is definitely very large and can easily accommodate six or more persons. Among the two halves I would say the Japanese portion is more interesting and premium. I in particular like the wood carvings on the ceiling partition between the rooms. On the other hand the western-style portion is rather mediocre comparatively, giving me the general impression of a dated hotel unfortunately.||||The public bath is on the 9th floor, and we decided to go for a dip before dinner. Apart from staying guests, the baths are opened to day-trippers also. The men bath is called Yunoshima with the theme of birds painted on the wall. The women bath is called Umi with the theme of Mutsu Bay. There is also an open-air bath looking out at the beautiful Asamushi Beach.||||Asamushi Onsen is a sulphate springs (硫酸塩泉), colourless and having a high water temperature, good for ailments such as neuralgia, rheumatism and gynaecological diseases. I found the hotspring smoothing, and while the open-air bath is very small considering the number of hotel guests, the view is really nice, no matter during daytime or at night.||||Feeling hungry, at the appointed time we went to the restaurant 海つ路 on the second floor for dinner, which offers a semi-buffet. The appetizers, sashimi, and soup dish were served, and guests could collect other food from the buffet stations. Quality of the food overall was quite decent, and changed some of my perceptions that buffet dinner would always be a disappointment.||||After dinner, we came to the hotel lobby, where every night at 8:30 pm there is a Shamisen (三味線) performance. Shamisen is a stringed instrument that was developed by the Japanese after making some improvements from the Jabisen (蛇皮線), the snake-skin instrument brought over from Ryukyu, Okinawa. The performance was very good and while we could not understand what the performer said, it was good fun and we could not stop admiring the skills of the performer all the while.||||With a good rest, the next morning I spent sometime looking out at the window to the Mutsu Bay (陸奥湾) and the Yuno Island (湯の島), before heading down to the same restaurant for breakfast. It was buffet-style with lots of different food and once again we had a hearty meal.||||特別室 with two meals for two...

My friend and I stayed 2 nights at this onsen hotel during our recent trip to the Tohoku region.||||We are glad to make the right decision to stay 2 nights instead of 1 night as we truly enjoy the relaxing stay in between our trips to the city areas in the Tohoku region.||||1. Warn onsen facing the sea view.||||Though it is winter time in late Dec, but the onsen truly bring warm to the snowy weather. During the 3 times of onsen at the 9th floor of the hotel, there are no other hotel guests using the onsen except both my friend and myself though the onsen is not private onsen.||||2. Great food||||We opt for the breakfast and dinner package. Both breakfast and dinner are above average standards of food which we truly enjoy.||||3. Great Hospitality By The Hotel Staff.||||From the reception to the restaurant staff, they render good customer services.||||4. Location of the hotel.||||The hotel is located just a mere 2 minutes walk from Asamushi Onsen station which is along the Aomori Raiway line. We have the JR East South Hokkaido pass which can be used on the Aomori Raliway line.||||We made arrangements with the hotel to pick us up from the Asamushi Onsen hotel upon our arrival. And upon our departure, due to heavy snow, we request for shuttle van service to Asamushi Onsen Station and our request is duly accepted which we are most grateful.||||All in all, this hotel though not as popular as some of the other onsen hotels in Japan but it has given our ranking as one of the best onsen hotels in Japan. We will definitely consider this onsen hotel again if we come to Aomori...

Kaisenkaku is a solid mid-range onsen hotel. It's big, it's got all the amenities you'd expect from a hotel like this, and it's very clean. It's probably the best that can be expected in a minor hot springs resort that is otherwise dying. ||||Four of us (including two gaijin) came here for one night. The stay was planned mostly as a transitory location in between Hachinohe and our objective which was Ooma (the place where all the bluefin tuna is caught). The hotel boasts a hot springs with a great view on the top floor, and that was exactly as advertised. ||||But everything else was frankly meh. The hot springs town is non-existent with no shops. The hotel is in front of a highway of sorts, and it's clearly a big commercial operation. As soon as we set foot in it, the Japanese among us (me included) figured out what this experience was going to look like, and we decided to skip dinner and go into Aomori town instead. The best thing about this hotel is the train station, which is only 5 min walk away. There aren't many though so you have to get the schedule from them. Breakfast was totally fine. ||||If I were to come back to the area, I'd actually stay in Aomori, which has interesting things to see, and some of the most amazing food we've ever had. But if you're like us and you're passing through, it's a perfectly respectable place. ||||I imagine language could be an issue, but we spoke Japanese, so it...