Hotel Iwai — Hotel in Noboribetsu

The main problem with the hotel is that it is far away from||everything, several miles from the JR station. The booking.com site||says the hotel picks guests up at the bus terminal but when I called||them from the JR train station, the only words the receptionist could||say in English were 'No speak English please.' We ended up taking a||3,500Yen taxi cab. This was annoying but the problem was not a lack||of goodwill by the hotel staff but simply that they could not||understand us, and of course vice-versa, we speak no Japanese. In||fact, once we were at the hotel, we found one staff member who spoke||some English and when we asked how we could go back to the JR station,||he offered that the hotel would get us there. Indeed, on the day of||departure their van drove us directly to the station, no charge.||||During our whole stay, staff was always friendly though communication||was limited by our essentially non-existent Japanese language skills.||||This seems to be essentially a ski resort that is open also in the||summer. It is located in the Hasukuru onsen area, NOT in the||Noboribetsu onsen area where Hell Valley (and the rest of the action)||is. To get there from the hotel, you have to take a bus (440 each way,||take a ticket when you enter and pay the driver when you exit). It||runs once or twice an hour. ||||When we visited, only a few rooms were occupied (none by||Westerners). The hotel is a 4 story building from the 1960s, and the||lobby and hallways were original 60s decor, with some repairs to the||(probably original) Linoleum. Bu it was clean. ||||Our room was Japanese style, with Tatami etc. It was nice and clean it||must have been renovated recently. There was an ash tray in the room||but no smell of smoke. My wife who is more eagle-eyed for such things||than I am, pointed out that the wooden accents on the wall and doors||as well as the Tatami were actually plastic, not wood or rice straw,||respectively. I liked it nevertheless. Sleeping arrangements were the||usual futons on tatami, prepared by another attendant. You'd better||like sleeping very hard (which I do).||||Meals (breakfast and dinner) were served in the room, Ryokan style, by||a friendly attendant. She understood and spoke very simple English,||about as much as we speak Japanese (in both cases, Yes, No, somewhat||shaky knowledge of the numbers till ten, that's about it). Otherwise||it was communication-by-gesticulation. Food was good and ample but not||exceptional. If you don't take the meals at the hotel, you have to||bring your own, there is no restaurant or place to buy anything in||either the hotel nor, as far as we can tell, in any of the other three||or four hotels close by (the hotel gift shop sells snacks, like dried||fruit, in addition to plastic trinkets etc). Everything is a bus or||car ride away.||||The hotel has a nice onsen with one outside basin and two||inside. Temperature of the hottest was listed as 43C, must be about||110F. Hot!!||||The environment was beautiful and serene, all trees and mountains. The||only sounds were from the rushing creek right next to the hotel and the||bird calls.||||There is really nothing to do in the 'neighborhood' which consists of||another few equally deserted (or completely closed-for-season) hotels,||other than walking along the road. There is a small shrine of little||interest. There is a nature trail connecting to the Noboritseku onsen||area which is supposed to take 3 hours. We did not walk it.||||No Wifi or wired internet, and no cellular signal whatsoever. I doubt||that the hotel itself is connected to the internet, our reservation||apparently came by fax. The room has a TV which has 5 Japanese||channels. Bring a good book!||||This is not a bad hotel but there is really no reason to come here||except for solitude and quiet (and probably skiing in the||winter). Maybe there are backpacking possibilities but you sure would||have to bring everything you need, including all equipment, food and||maps. I strongly recommend to have a rental car, this is the one area||in Japan where we found public transportation a...

The main problem with the hotel is that it is far away from||everything, several miles from the JR station. The booking.com site||says the hotel picks guests up at the bus terminal but when I called||them from the JR train station, the only words the receptionist could||say in English were 'No speak English please.' We ended up taking a||3,500Yen taxi cab. This was annoying but the problem was not a lack||of goodwill by the hotel staff but simply that they could not||understand us, and of course vice-versa, we speak no Japanese. In||fact, once we were at the hotel, we found one staff member who spoke||some English and when we asked how we could go back to the JR station,||he offered that the hotel would get us there. Indeed, on the day of||departure their van drove us directly to the station, no charge.||||During our whole stay, staff was always friendly though communication||was limited by our essentially non-existent Japanese language skills.||||This seems to be essentially a ski resort that is open also in the||summer. It is located in the Hasukuru onsen area, NOT in the||Noboribetsu onsen area where Hell Valley (and the rest of the action)||is. To get there from the hotel, you have to take a bus (440 each way,||take a ticket when you enter and pay the driver when you exit). It||runs once or twice an hour. ||||When we visited, only a few rooms were occupied (none by||Westerners). The hotel is a 4 story building from the 1960s, and the||lobby and hallways were original 60s decor, with some repairs to the||(probably original) Linoleum. Bu it was clean. ||||Our room was Japanese style, with Tatami etc. It was nice and clean it||must have been renovated recently. There was an ash tray in the room||but no smell of smoke. My wife who is more eagle-eyed for such things||than I am, pointed out that the wooden accents on the wall and doors||as well as the Tatami were actually plastic, not wood or rice straw,||respectively. I liked it nevertheless. Sleeping arrangements were the||usual futons on tatami, prepared by another attendant. You'd better||like sleeping very hard (which I do).||||Meals (breakfast and dinner) were served in the room, Ryokan style, by||a friendly attendant. She understood and spoke very simple English,||about as much as we speak Japanese (in both cases, Yes, No, somewhat||shaky knowledge of the numbers till ten, that's about it). Otherwise||it was communication-by-gesticulation. Food was good and ample but not||exceptional. If you don't take the meals at the hotel, you have to||bring your own, there is no restaurant or place to buy anything in||either the hotel nor, as far as we can tell, in any of the other three||or four hotels close by (the hotel gift shop sells snacks, like dried||fruit, in addition to plastic trinkets etc). Everything is a bus or||car ride away.||||The hotel has a nice onsen with one outside basin and two||inside. Temperature of the hottest was listed as 43C, must be about||110F. Hot!!||||The environment was beautiful and serene, all trees and mountains. The||only sounds were from the rushing creek right next to the hotel and the||bird calls.||||There is really nothing to do in the 'neighborhood' which consists of||another few equally deserted (or completely closed-for-season) hotels,||other than walking along the road. There is a small shrine of little||interest. There is a nature trail connecting to the Noboritseku onsen||area which is supposed to take 3 hours. We did not walk it.||||No Wifi or wired internet, and no cellular signal whatsoever. I doubt||that the hotel itself is connected to the internet, our reservation||apparently came by fax. The room has a TV which has 5 Japanese||channels. Bring a good book!||||This is not a bad hotel but there is really no reason to come here||except for solitude and quiet (and probably skiing in the||winter). Maybe there are backpacking possibilities but you sure would||have to bring everything you need, including all equipment, food and||maps. I strongly recommend to have a rental car, this is the one area||in Japan where we found public transportation a...

My sisters and I went to visit Hokkaido in Feb 2020. This lovely Ryokan was cozy, affordable, peaceful, and had everything we need. We truly enjoyed the pretty yukata outfit to wear take pictures and the wonderful outdoor onsen (as well as indoor). The hotel offered free transportation from bus terminal to hotel. You have to arrange a pick up time when you book the hotel. As well as free bus ride to return to bus terminal. The earliest bus is cutting it close to catch the only direct bus to Sopporo on the return trip. But don’t worry. The bus is usually on time and will get you there to buy the ticket just in time for the Sopporo bus. The ryokan provided two delicious Japanese course meal for dinner and breakfast in a restaurant. You would have to tell the staff what time you would like your meal. The room was Japanese style room. When we first enter, it looked like a living room area. When we went to dinner and returned to our room, housekeeping prepared our bed ready to go. No need to worry about trying to figure out how to make the bed. Such great Japanese hospitality. We went to onsen for shower. So if you stay in this hotel, make sure you are okay with being naked in front of other people. The onsen had separate rooms for female and male. Two indoors area and one outdoor. We were lucky that no one was around so we enjoyed the outdoor onsen by ourselves watching the snow. If it’s your first time in onsen, don’t stay more than 15 minutes because you might feel light headed. Also make sure to keep hydrated yourself with water. We truly enjoyed our stay at this Ryokan and truly amazed at the value of money for the price of 6,100 yen per person. Thank you for a...