草津温泉 飯島館 — Hotel in Kusatsu

Okay, this hotel/hostel lacks a English Review, I'm here to fill it in for you.||For anyone having the idea of travelling to Kusatsu and doesn't speak a word of Japanese, here is a little piece of advise for you: Bring a dictionary. ||||iijimakan is a very typical Japanese Style Home Stay (Hostel) with everything layed out in a very Japanese Style: You sleep on the floor (Tatami), you eat Japanese (Japanese Japanese, not the tarayaki crap) and you speak Japanese (No one, absolutely no one here speaks a word of English). I managed to communicate with my very very very limited Japanese and Kanji, if you know none of them, good luck!||||Reservation:||||I seldom put any words down for reservation, but in this case, I think you might want a little advise. iijimakan is only available for booking through telephone and on their official website (google it). Since speaking Japanese is not an option, I took the 2nd option and booked my stay on their website. Their website is written in 100% Japanese, translate the site using Google Translate and there is a "reservation" button with an arrow on it on the top right corner of the website. Fill in the form with your real name and address, just randomly pick a prefecture when it ask for it; At the "comment" field, type in that where you're from and that you don't speak any Japanese and would like to stay for a night, rememeber to Google translate it before posting onto the field. Click done and you should receive an email confirmation, print it out and you're all set. ||||Getting There:||||Most direct link is bus from Shibuya Tokyo non Stop, which takes about 3.5 hours. I rented a car from Toyota and drove myself here. But i read kanji that makes GPS reading a lot easier, if you don't , please don't drive.||||Service:||||Best of the Best! Everyone in this hostel go out of their way to make you stay as pleasant as possible. Although it is very difficult for us to communicate, they still try their very best to explain things to us with lots and lots of patients. They helped us carry out luggage to our car through the icy roads, they came in to make sure we know how to make our bed "tatami". The personally draw what to expect for Breakfast and what don't we want to eat.||||Staying here is a very heart warming experience, and for an international travelling who wants to experience a bit of real Japanese Hospitality other than the cold faced Tokyo Robotic style service, look no further, come here for a stay!||||Food:||||Your supper and breakfast is included in the room rate, so dine in your room!||They will serve your entire meal in your room in transitional Japanese way, please do let the kitchen know ahead of time if there are certain things that you can't handle, they'll accommodate your needs. The portion of the meals are HUGE, I'm 220lbs and I found it filling. Food are delicious and fresh, ask for a coke if they didn't serve one!||||Rooms and Sleep Quality:||||All rooms are in traditional Japanese layout, which means you'll be sleeping on Tatami. Kusatsu is a very small and quite town, so noise is an non-issue. You'll find yourself sleeping like a baby here!||||Location:||||Kusatsu is VERY small, it is no more than 15 minutes walk to any part of the town. The hotel is only 2 minutes walk away from the Town Centre and 7 minutes from the huge outdoor hotspring! Free Parking included if you're driving, make sure you say so in your reservation!||||Cleanliness:||||Clean, in Japanese Standard. Very Clean, in international Standard.||||||Value for money?...

Okay, this hotel/hostel lacks a English Review, I'm here to fill it in for you.||For anyone having the idea of travelling to Kusatsu and doesn't speak a word of Japanese, here is a little piece of advise for you: Bring a dictionary. ||||iijimakan is a very typical Japanese Style Home Stay (Hostel) with everything layed out in a very Japanese Style: You sleep on the floor (Tatami), you eat Japanese (Japanese Japanese, not the tarayaki crap) and you speak Japanese (No one, absolutely no one here speaks a word of English). I managed to communicate with my very very very limited Japanese and Kanji, if you know none of them, good luck!||||Reservation:||||I seldom put any words down for reservation, but in this case, I think you might want a little advise. iijimakan is only available for booking through telephone and on their official website (google it). Since speaking Japanese is not an option, I took the 2nd option and booked my stay on their website. Their website is written in 100% Japanese, translate the site using Google Translate and there is a "reservation" button with an arrow on it on the top right corner of the website. Fill in the form with your real name and address, just randomly pick a prefecture when it ask for it; At the "comment" field, type in that where you're from and that you don't speak any Japanese and would like to stay for a night, rememeber to Google translate it before posting onto the field. Click done and you should receive an email confirmation, print it out and you're all set. ||||Getting There:||||Most direct link is bus from Shibuya Tokyo non Stop, which takes about 3.5 hours. I rented a car from Toyota and drove myself here. But i read kanji that makes GPS reading a lot easier, if you don't , please don't drive.||||Service:||||Best of the Best! Everyone in this hostel go out of their way to make you stay as pleasant as possible. Although it is very difficult for us to communicate, they still try their very best to explain things to us with lots and lots of patients. They helped us carry out luggage to our car through the icy roads, they came in to make sure we know how to make our bed "tatami". The personally draw what to expect for Breakfast and what don't we want to eat.||||Staying here is a very heart warming experience, and for an international travelling who wants to experience a bit of real Japanese Hospitality other than the cold faced Tokyo Robotic style service, look no further, come here for a stay!||||Food:||||Your supper and breakfast is included in the room rate, so dine in your room!||They will serve your entire meal in your room in transitional Japanese way, please do let the kitchen know ahead of time if there are certain things that you can't handle, they'll accommodate your needs. The portion of the meals are HUGE, I'm 220lbs and I found it filling. Food are delicious and fresh, ask for a coke if they didn't serve one!||||Rooms and Sleep Quality:||||All rooms are in traditional Japanese layout, which means you'll be sleeping on Tatami. Kusatsu is a very small and quite town, so noise is an non-issue. You'll find yourself sleeping like a baby here!||||Location:||||Kusatsu is VERY small, it is no more than 15 minutes walk to any part of the town. The hotel is only 2 minutes walk away from the Town Centre and 7 minutes from the huge outdoor hotspring! Free Parking included if you're driving, make sure you say so in your reservation!||||Cleanliness:||||Clean, in Japanese Standard. Very Clean, in international Standard.||||||Value for money?...

We called the hotel before booking the hotel to make sure parking was available but the receptionist who answered was very rude and transferred our call to someone else without forwarding our enquiry. The hotel was not clean and it didn't seem like they had any staff who goes around and check every now and then. No toilet or shower in the room. The handwash basin in the room was also not working so we had to go wash in the public areas where the water was freezing. The price of the hotel upon booking was also too high and did not meet our expectations. The only good points were extra duvets and futon and the location was in the center...