Kosakaya — Hotel in Nachikatsuura

Based on reviews I'd read, I expected a noisy stay, especially as I was staying on a Friday night when supposedly the place fills up with local fisherman. This wasn't at all the case. Didn't hear any noise (OK maybe a hint of TV sound from neighboring room but that happened at every place I stayed in Japan). The guesthouse was everything I would expect of a local guesthouse in Japan: spotlessly clean, friendly, compact room but has everything you need. There was a fridge in the hallway to stash my beer, and Family Mart across the street. Free coffee and tea at the entrance. I didn't actually use the onsen because I went to a hot spring in the daytime, but took a peep and it looked pretty standard. I was most excited for the food as I am a seafood lover, and to be honest, it was meticulously prepared, but I just didn't like some of the dishes. Perhaps a little too local (i.e. fish/animal parts that I couldn't even identify), and I eat a lot of Japanese where I live in Taiwan. The dinner was ENORMOUS; I hate wasting, but I just couldn't fit all that food into my body. A few dishes, especially the local tuna sashimi, were exceptional, but a few grossed me out; there was nothing wrong with them but I'm just not used to those foods, particularly natto for breakfast (standard in Japan, but it was my first time trying it), and I'm not usually a picky eater at all. I'm surprised people complain about the set times for things and bath only open in the evening; I thought this is fairly normal for traditional guesthouses in Japan. Overall my stay felt a little impersonal to me, like staying in a business hotel; you see a few other guests at dinner but nobody talks to each other and just watches the TV, but for me that great because that's exactly what I wanted. I mainly stayed in this town to see the Naichi waterfall, and I also took the little ferry over to Hotel Urashima for a private hot spring (couldn't do the famous cave onsen there because I have tattoos, but still got to have my own bath overlooking the sea), but in retrospect, I could have done both those things, and moved on from Katsuura to my next destination in the late afternoon without spending the night. Was still nice to stop and take a breather on my trip in this little harbor town though, and this hotel is certainly the best (only?)...

Based on reviews I'd read, I expected a noisy stay, especially as I was staying on a Friday night when supposedly the place fills up with local fisherman. This wasn't at all the case. Didn't hear any noise (OK maybe a hint of TV sound from neighboring room but that happened at every place I stayed in Japan). The guesthouse was everything I would expect of a local guesthouse in Japan: spotlessly clean, friendly, compact room but has everything you need. There was a fridge in the hallway to stash my beer, and Family Mart across the street. Free coffee and tea at the entrance. I didn't actually use the onsen because I went to a hot spring in the daytime, but took a peep and it looked pretty standard. I was most excited for the food as I am a seafood lover, and to be honest, it was meticulously prepared, but I just didn't like some of the dishes. Perhaps a little too local (i.e. fish/animal parts that I couldn't even identify), and I eat a lot of Japanese where I live in Taiwan. The dinner was ENORMOUS; I hate wasting, but I just couldn't fit all that food into my body. A few dishes, especially the local tuna sashimi, were exceptional, but a few grossed me out; there was nothing wrong with them but I'm just not used to those foods, particularly natto for breakfast (standard in Japan, but it was my first time trying it), and I'm not usually a picky eater at all. I'm surprised people complain about the set times for things and bath only open in the evening; I thought this is fairly normal for traditional guesthouses in Japan. Overall my stay felt a little impersonal to me, like staying in a business hotel; you see a few other guests at dinner but nobody talks to each other and just watches the TV, but for me that great because that's exactly what I wanted. I mainly stayed in this town to see the Naichi waterfall, and I also took the little ferry over to Hotel Urashima for a private hot spring (couldn't do the famous cave onsen there because I have tattoos, but still got to have my own bath overlooking the sea), but in retrospect, I could have done both those things, and moved on from Katsuura to my next destination in the late afternoon without spending the night. Was still nice to stop and take a breather on my trip in this little harbor town though, and this hotel is certainly the best (only?)...

I had the absolute worst experience trying to change my reservation details here. We booked 3 people. We tried to cancel one person days in advance because they felt a slight fever coming on, and we didn't want to risk troubling the accommodation. Booking.com cleverly said kozakaya wouldn't cancel, to which Kozakaya said booking.com wouldn't cancel. It was obviously clear to both parties we wanted to change from 3 to 2 people. Every other accomodation in our four day trip had NO issue with this. This is insane that between the two of them they couldn't figure this out, as during corona we are just trying to do the right thing. And the manager had the audacity to call us an hour before checking in just to say we need to pay all 3 people. If we didn't have integrity we would have just brought the 3rd friend along, but we care about the community of Katsuura and really do not appreciate the inflexibility and ineptness of both parties. Also as it was late when we arrived and in fully wet hiking boots, we just wanted to check in at the entrance without taking off our shoes because it takes 5 minutes and we hiked 22 kilometers. Wanted to just sign, get the key, pay, and go out to eat and come back. But no, had to take off our shoes to walk 10 steps to check in, and then put everything back on again to go out. Super inconvenience. Have some omotenashi. Your inflexibility put a damper on the end of an otherwise amazing trip. I get heated up just...