Jusandi — Hotel in Ishigaki

When booking Jusandi, our objective was to get away from the mainland's (Honshu) Winter weather, enjoy good food, have some peace and quiet and enjoy the two islands of Ishigaki and Iriomote. Jusandi turned out to be a terrific launchpad for everything we wanted to during our time there.||||It's an absolutely gorgeous property in a remote part of Ishigaki (the island itself is relatively sparsely populated, except for the main town and ferry terminal area.) It's about a 25 minute drive to the airport and 35 minutes from the main Port and Ferry terminal, so it's sufficiently convenient while at the same time feeling like a world away. The property beautifully blends in with the pretty natural environment. There are mountains in the backdrop, dense jungle all around, and yet the immediate property grounds are neatly manicured. The structures (both inside and out) are all white in a Mediterranean sort of way - it's somewhat reminiscent of Santorini in that regard. The main building houses the restaurant as well as a small library and lounge, while the five villas are sufficiently spread out to ensure privacy with zero noise pollution from other guests. Our Villa was called "Maani," and was a slightly underwhelming 60㎡ in size. Given that Jusandi is a relatively new property with only five Villas, and the property grounds are massive, I would've liked to have seen more generous space in each of the Villas (save for the family Villa, which is 100㎡.) We visited in December, and were there during a minor cold spell by Ishigaki standards (think mid-60s Fahrenheit, upper teens Celsius-wise), so lounging around the private outdoor pool wasn't really an option. If you restrict yourself to staying indoors like we did, the Villa does not provide an abundance of space to spread out. The bedroom and living room were in one combined open area, with the bathroom and shower/tub at the far end of the long hallway (near the front entrance of the villa.) The room was modern, stylish and elegantly simple - appropriate for a small luxury villa resort.||||Service is outstanding; Jusandi does not employ a large number of staff given that it only has 5 rooms - consequently, each employee is asked to wear multiple hats and operate with a jack-of-all-trades mentality. For instance, we noticed that the person who checked us in was also later seen delivering breakfast to the Villas (only dinner is served in the main restaurant), while he later was cleaning the pool and mowing the lawn. Everyone but the chef seemed to deal with all aspects of the hotel operation, which I later learned as a blessing for the employees - it helped break up whatever monotony that such a job otherwise would entail. In any case, everyone seemed to be treated very well, and appeared to be happy working there. They were professional, courteous and eager to please. Whenever we asked for something (such as the request to have a humidifier delivered to our room), it was dealt with in record time.||||The real star of Jusandi, however, is the food - Chef Takumi Hirose is incredibly accomplished in Italian-Japanese fusion cuisine, and served up unique and memorable dishes. Furthermore, it's an open kitchen so we were able to enjoy his artistry with our own eyes. Some of the dishes were Italian-inspired for sure, but most of the recipes as well as the execution of each dish were uniquely Chef Hirose's. For instance, the baked Ise Lobster's Oyster Sauce was more reminiscent of Chinese-style flavoring. Also, a great number of the various sauces were based on Dashi, which Chef Hirose claimed was the key to the Umami-ness of the food. He was right. Dishes which we consider typically bland and somewhat devoid of Umami (i.e. cream sauce or tomato sauce) literally burst with flavor at Jusandi, thanks to the liberal helping of Dashi. Of particular note was a cold pasta (that's right, pasta served cold, and we're not talking pasta salad, either): Capellini with Tomato Sauce, served with Caviar on top... it was absolutely divine. It was light and healthy, but still full of rich and complex flavors. According to Chef Hirose, Dashi was the key, and we definitely concur.||||Breakfast was served in our Villa, and rotated between Western and Japanese offerings each day. Both were equally delicious, with particular emphasis on the fresh local vegetables that are in abundance in Ishigaki. It definitely picked us up at the start of each day.||||Jusandi is a special place that we will fondly remember. Only its slightly small villa size and some minor compromises in the room layout keep it from being a true world-beating small luxury resort. Still, I highly...

We were looking for somewhere to complement our stay on the main islands of Japan on our second trip there. We found Jusandi via various bits of research and had at the time to try and interpret a website entirely in Japanese (they now have an English language site).||||The place is very small and feels very remote, with only four Villas and a small main building nearby. The room we stayed in (Gashihume) was a great size, well appointed and the soft drinks in the mini bar were included in the price. The private pool whilst small was large enough to do a few strokes in. The food was superb and cooked by a cordon bleu trained Ishigaki chef who used to be at the Intercontinental on the same island. The style is French but with great use of local ingredients, the goat cutlets being a highlight. Staff are very attentive and friendly and would do whatever was needed to make your stay more comfortable. The trail down to the beach is nice as you feel like you are in the midst of a jungle in the middle of nowhere. There are interesting inter-tidal pools and fish for those of us with an interest in such things.||||In terms of things to do on the island I would suggest hiring a car when you arrive as it is fairly small and there is very little traffic and sadly the bus service, which we used a couple of times, is very infrequent. There are a number of small places to go on various island circuits and you could have a great leisurely time going round. We enjoyed the glass bottomed boat coral tour at Kabira which was excellent, we saw a great variety of things with a large sea turtle being...

We had booked a room that was supposed to offer a sea view, but in reality, the sea was only visible through a small gap between the trees, which was disappointing.

We had to ask a staff member to turn off an extremely noisy machine in the garden, and there was a strong smell coming from the bathroom vents (probably fixed since then). The rooms heat up very quickly if the AC is not turned on. Even at the lowest setting, it is quite strong, so you shouldn’t be sensitive to it.

I would not recommend booking dinners in advance: the Italian-inspired menu is decent but has no real culinary interest, and there may be missed or inconsistent translation updates in the menu (for example, a “chocolate fondant” served without any chocolate on the plate), and above all, any cancellation within 48 hours is charged. After a disappointing first dinner, we wanted to cancel the following ones but had to pay anyway. Considering the price and the quality of the dishes, it is much better to dine out if you have a car. Breakfast mainly consists of industrial products. Again, it cannot be canceled if booked in advance. However, after some discussion, we were able to get fresh, locally prepared items, which greatly improved the experience.

It’s well located, close to beautiful snorkeling beaches and a lovely park with...