Ryokan Otozure — Hotel in Nagato

While there are very nice places to stay when venturing South (beyond Hiroshima), there is a comparative dearth of top luxury ryokans. Bettei Otozure is one of the exceptions. While not quite up to the standards of the best of the best (i.e., Gora Kadan, Asaba, Takefue), it's not priced to the stratosphere like those places, either.||||As others have mentioned, Bettei Otozure was formed as a result of Otani Sanso's many years of (property and room) expansion, resulting in a need for a smaller, more intimate property for the discerning clientele seeking a more private experience. Otozure has 18 rooms, meaning it's dwarfed by its sister property. But fear not - there are corridors connecting the two ryokans, but only guests staying at Otozure are allowed into Otozure itself, meaning you'll get the best of both worlds if you stay there.||||We stayed 3 nights in an "A Type" Suite, which one of the highest category rooms at Otozure. It's 82m² in size, which is good but not great, but it's partially made up for by virtue of its 32m² balcony. The Suite is of a semi open plan variety - the bedroom is in its own area, but there isn't a wall/door that separates it from the living room... not good if one person is trying to take a nap while the other attempts to get some work done. Otherwise, it's all good. The furnishings are contemporary Japanese - it's not a traditionally decorated ryokan, which is a plus or minus, depending on your tastes. The A Type Suite also had dual vanity/sinks, as well as an open-air Onsen hot springs bath, which we find a prerequisite for a ryokan (or at least a higher category room at one) to be considered a luxurious one.||||Food is very high quality, and leans heavily towards seafood, given that Otozure is in close proximity to the Sea of Japan, where there is an abundance of very nice fish, including Fugu (blowfish), Tilefish, Sea Urchin, Conger Eel and Stonefish - many of them real delicacies. They are all wonderfully prepared, flavored and garnished in various and unique ways, and are beautifully presented. If there's a slight knock on the Otozure cuisine, in comparison to other ryokans the overall quantity of the food is less - in many cases, we had to make calculated decisions on what to leave on the plate for fear of getting too full to continue eating. Not at Otozure. If you have a hearty appetite, you might potentially feel a tad unfulfilled. Also, the presentation is not as elaborate at Otozure. For instance, for the Hassun/Sakizuke (i.e. appetizer) courses, most ryokans would serve up a variety of small dishes, but in Otozure it's one dish. Nitpicky, perhaps, but I can't help but think that this is one area where they do cut corners. Similarly, desserts are far less elaborate. For two of our three Kaiseki meals (we went all Kaiseki), we got fruit, and only fruit. Now, I love high quality fruit as much as the next person, but that's not exactly something I necessarily visit ryokans for. Give me something unique. And if it's fruit, serve it in a way where it's not JUST fruit. Case in point... at another ryokan, they had seasonal melon - but, along with the melon, they had a small cup of melon mousse as well as melon sherbet. To me, it was far more satisfying to know that they went all out in each and every course, from start to finish.||||One other gripe - we are sticklers for having meals served in the actual room we're staying in, especially if we booked a nice and spacious one (which we almost always do, with the exception being if they've already been booked.) When we chose our room and later called them directly to inquire about whether meals are (or can be) served in the room, they said "no, it's in the restaurant." Okay, fine. Later, we learned that there are two rooms where in-room dining is possible (#204, a Type B room, as well as #206, a Type C room.) You know, I sort of wished they would have told us that when we stated our preference, even if it meant that we'd have to stay in a different room category than the one we selected. By the way, don't ask me why it's those two rooms. They made an excuse about our room being too far away, except that both 204 and 206 were no more than about 50 feet away from our room, and located on the same floor!||||All in all, we had a great time at Otozure, and it's a good base from which to explore the surrounding areas. A few adjustments to their approach would easily result in a 5-star rating in my book. But even as things stand, we would not hesitate to recommend Otozure.||||P.S. - if you have a rental car, there are some great places to see (depending on the time of year and the weather), especially if you're a connoiseur of Japan. This includes Hagi town (very historic, if you're into Japanese history), Motonosumi Inari Shrine, Akiyoshidai and Akiyoshido Cave, Beppu Benten Ike Pond, Tsunoshima Bridge, and the incredible 5-Storied Pagoda at Ruriko-ji Temple near Yamaguchi City (as well as Jyoei-ji Temple and the adjacent Sesshutei Garden.) You can easily combine Otozure with a visit to Hiroshima and Miyajima, with a stop at Iwakuni Castle and Kintai-kyo Bridge along the way - the latter...

While there are very nice places to stay when venturing South (beyond Hiroshima), there is a comparative dearth of top luxury ryokans. Bettei Otozure is one of the exceptions. While not quite up to the standards of the best of the best (i.e., Gora Kadan, Asaba, Takefue), it's not priced to the stratosphere like those places, either.||||As others have mentioned, Bettei Otozure was formed as a result of Otani Sanso's many years of (property and room) expansion, resulting in a need for a smaller, more intimate property for the discerning clientele seeking a more private experience. Otozure has 18 rooms, meaning it's dwarfed by its sister property. But fear not - there are corridors connecting the two ryokans, but only guests staying at Otozure are allowed into Otozure itself, meaning you'll get the best of both worlds if you stay there.||||We stayed 3 nights in an "A Type" Suite, which one of the highest category rooms at Otozure. It's 82m² in size, which is good but not great, but it's partially made up for by virtue of its 32m² balcony. The Suite is of a semi open plan variety - the bedroom is in its own area, but there isn't a wall/door that separates it from the living room... not good if one person is trying to take a nap while the other attempts to get some work done. Otherwise, it's all good. The furnishings are contemporary Japanese - it's not a traditionally decorated ryokan, which is a plus or minus, depending on your tastes. The A Type Suite also had dual vanity/sinks, as well as an open-air Onsen hot springs bath, which we find a prerequisite for a ryokan (or at least a higher category room at one) to be considered a luxurious one.||||Food is very high quality, and leans heavily towards seafood, given that Otozure is in close proximity to the Sea of Japan, where there is an abundance of very nice fish, including Fugu (blowfish), Tilefish, Sea Urchin, Conger Eel and Stonefish - many of them real delicacies. They are all wonderfully prepared, flavored and garnished in various and unique ways, and are beautifully presented. If there's a slight knock on the Otozure cuisine, in comparison to other ryokans the overall quantity of the food is less - in many cases, we had to make calculated decisions on what to leave on the plate for fear of getting too full to continue eating. Not at Otozure. If you have a hearty appetite, you might potentially feel a tad unfulfilled. Also, the presentation is not as elaborate at Otozure. For instance, for the Hassun/Sakizuke (i.e. appetizer) courses, most ryokans would serve up a variety of small dishes, but in Otozure it's one dish. Nitpicky, perhaps, but I can't help but think that this is one area where they do cut corners. Similarly, desserts are far less elaborate. For two of our three Kaiseki meals (we went all Kaiseki), we got fruit, and only fruit. Now, I love high quality fruit as much as the next person, but that's not exactly something I necessarily visit ryokans for. Give me something unique. And if it's fruit, serve it in a way where it's not JUST fruit. Case in point... at another ryokan, they had seasonal melon - but, along with the melon, they had a small cup of melon mousse as well as melon sherbet. To me, it was far more satisfying to know that they went all out in each and every course, from start to finish.||||One other gripe - we are sticklers for having meals served in the actual room we're staying in, especially if we booked a nice and spacious one (which we almost always do, with the exception being if they've already been booked.) When we chose our room and later called them directly to inquire about whether meals are (or can be) served in the room, they said "no, it's in the restaurant." Okay, fine. Later, we learned that there are two rooms where in-room dining is possible (#204, a Type B room, as well as #206, a Type C room.) You know, I sort of wished they would have told us that when we stated our preference, even if it meant that we'd have to stay in a different room category than the one we selected. By the way, don't ask me why it's those two rooms. They made an excuse about our room being too far away, except that both 204 and 206 were no more than about 50 feet away from our room, and located on the same floor!||||All in all, we had a great time at Otozure, and it's a good base from which to explore the surrounding areas. A few adjustments to their approach would easily result in a 5-star rating in my book. But even as things stand, we would not hesitate to recommend Otozure.||||P.S. - if you have a rental car, there are some great places to see (depending on the time of year and the weather), especially if you're a connoiseur of Japan. This includes Hagi town (very historic, if you're into Japanese history), Motonosumi Inari Shrine, Akiyoshidai and Akiyoshido Cave, Beppu Benten Ike Pond, Tsunoshima Bridge, and the incredible 5-Storied Pagoda at Ruriko-ji Temple near Yamaguchi City (as well as Jyoei-ji Temple and the adjacent Sesshutei Garden.) You can easily combine Otozure with a visit to Hiroshima and Miyajima, with a stop at Iwakuni Castle and Kintai-kyo Bridge along the way - the latter...

Everything about this oozes tasteful indulgence with a lovely fusion of eastern and western influences. Service is impeccable as well. We were greeted and treated to delicious matcha tea.||The decor is beautiful with tatami and wood trimmings and almost every place you sit in in the lobby/ reception/ lounge area is zen like.||There's a lovely area where tea/ coffee are provided free.||||The room was huge with a Japanese seating area , western seating area and a bar area. The massage chair and leg massager were an awesome touch. These usually are located in the common areas so having one exclusively in the room was a treat.||There were two toilets which were lovely. Seats were heated , toilet seats opened and closed on||their own !||||We also had our own onsen which was magical . Music could be piped out and that made the soaking in the onsen all the more pleasurable. We ended up soaking more in our private bath than in the public baths. The later is also beautiful and should be experienced at least once in your stay.||||Staff are friendly and are very eager to practice their English conversational skills. Mr Otozure , the boss himself came to talk to us as well.||||The Tempanyaki and French restaurants are located in the main hotel and this is assessable via a connecting walkway. Patrons of the ryokan can enter the main hotel but those guests are not able to gain entry into ours with their hotel card.||||I would advise making your dinner bookings way in advance as the restaurants fill up quite quickly due to the limited number of seats . The food was outstanding.||||For after dinner music , the main hotel lobby lounge has a band playing a variety of songs in quite a number of languages .||||Our holiday ended on a high and we look forward to...