Fujitomita — Hotel in Oshino

Our stay, three cousins, at Inn Fujitomita was absolute brilliant, in every way. The owners, Masa and Hiromi, are delightful and engaging hosts, who do everything plus to make for a perfect visit. Our journey to Inn Fujitomita followed a rushed Kyoto visit. The day was rainy, as our Shinkansen pulled into Mishima, after which we ran to catch the local bus to take us to Fuji-san. The bus ride was quite pleasant but the best part was, after emerging from the tunnel, sunshine! The sunshine continued post our telephone call to the Inn (made from a payphone outside the 7/11), with Masa arriving, smiling and helpful in every way. Our Japanese-style room was generously sized with spectacular views of Mt Fuji, a beautiful scroll in the tokonoma, and tea and a snack waiting for us. The onsens were great, and we particularly appreciated that we could make it private by turning the "family time" sign, though for all of our onsen experiences, whether "open" or "family time" was enjoyable. The food, dinners and breakfasts (we only stayed 2 nights, and could have happily made this longer) were the best food we had in Japan, absolutely delicious. Masa is an amazing chef. Waking up before sunrise was spectacular, as we were warm under our duvets on the futons, but opened the windows wide to look at the sun shining on Fuji-san. For the full day we had in the area, Hiromi and Masa were wonderfully helpful in sorting out for us a change of transport to Tokyo (we asked Hiromi how did they travel to Tokyo, and she replied "the express bus from the local station"; Masa took us to the bus station where our already bought tickets to Mishima (which then would have required the additional expense of the train to Tokyo) were refunded, and new tickets bought for the Express Bus at virtually the same price. Masa discussed with us and found on the internet a Matsuri (which would include a Fire Ceremony) at a nearby temple, and was particularly kind to take us again to the bus station. We had missed that bus but found one to take us through forests to the Fuji Shibazakura (Moss Phlox) Festival overlooking Fuji-san -spectacular. Back nearer to the Inn, we visited a Forest Shinto shrine which was humbling and a wonderful experience. The Inn is decades old, with lovely wood features, and most comfortable futons, bedding, chairs in the rooms, with a dining area that acts as a common room with western seating. The area around the Inn is forested with wild cherry trees, though it is also a 'real area' with some businesses nearby. Since mid-April, we did not spend time in their garden, nor was the pool open, but a Summer visit would have been great. I will definitely return and spend longer. The price for all of this was exceptionally modest and we wish the very best to the family and great success...

Our stay, three cousins, at Inn Fujitomita was absolute brilliant, in every way. The owners, Masa and Hiromi, are delightful and engaging hosts, who do everything plus to make for a perfect visit. Our journey to Inn Fujitomita followed a rushed Kyoto visit. The day was rainy, as our Shinkansen pulled into Mishima, after which we ran to catch the local bus to take us to Fuji-san. The bus ride was quite pleasant but the best part was, after emerging from the tunnel, sunshine! The sunshine continued post our telephone call to the Inn (made from a payphone outside the 7/11), with Masa arriving, smiling and helpful in every way. Our Japanese-style room was generously sized with spectacular views of Mt Fuji, a beautiful scroll in the tokonoma, and tea and a snack waiting for us. The onsens were great, and we particularly appreciated that we could make it private by turning the "family time" sign, though for all of our onsen experiences, whether "open" or "family time" was enjoyable. The food, dinners and breakfasts (we only stayed 2 nights, and could have happily made this longer) were the best food we had in Japan, absolutely delicious. Masa is an amazing chef. Waking up before sunrise was spectacular, as we were warm under our duvets on the futons, but opened the windows wide to look at the sun shining on Fuji-san. For the full day we had in the area, Hiromi and Masa were wonderfully helpful in sorting out for us a change of transport to Tokyo (we asked Hiromi how did they travel to Tokyo, and she replied "the express bus from the local station"; Masa took us to the bus station where our already bought tickets to Mishima (which then would have required the additional expense of the train to Tokyo) were refunded, and new tickets bought for the Express Bus at virtually the same price. Masa discussed with us and found on the internet a Matsuri (which would include a Fire Ceremony) at a nearby temple, and was particularly kind to take us again to the bus station. We had missed that bus but found one to take us through forests to the Fuji Shibazakura (Moss Phlox) Festival overlooking Fuji-san -spectacular. Back nearer to the Inn, we visited a Forest Shinto shrine which was humbling and a wonderful experience. The Inn is decades old, with lovely wood features, and most comfortable futons, bedding, chairs in the rooms, with a dining area that acts as a common room with western seating. The area around the Inn is forested with wild cherry trees, though it is also a 'real area' with some businesses nearby. Since mid-April, we did not spend time in their garden, nor was the pool open, but a Summer visit would have been great. I will definitely return and spend longer. The price for all of this was exceptionally modest and we wish the very best to the family and great success...

There are lots of really good things about Inn Fujitomita. The first thing to say is that it seems to take them about a week to respond to any emails (in English, anyway). So don't despair if you don't get an immediate response.||The food is great there. The owner is the chef - there's no choice, but we liked everything that was put in front of us, and there was a lot of food put in front of us. The dinner is Japanese but you get a choice of Japanese and Western for breakfast. We all chose Japanese but I saw another guest's western breakfast and that looked really good too, so my advice is, if you stay 2 nights or more, try each breakfast before you make up your mind.||It's a really good idea to take breakfast and dinner in - unless maybe you have a car. The inn is quite isolated and at least 20 minute walk to the village, where there aren't a great number of eating options anyway.||Our room was comfortable - the best Japanese-style room we stayed at. Seats were on the floor, but the little table we sat round had a kotetsu, which we enjoyed: an under table heater with a quilt skirt under which we all sat. Heating in the room was fine (despite finding ice on the inside of the windows in the morning) and we didn't need to huddle under the kotetsu, but we did anyway. The view was Mt Fuji, just as we expected! There was hardly a glimpse of cloud in the 2 days we stayed, early January must be a good time to go. The weather was freezing overnight but quite pleasant, even hot, during the days.||The baths are great, the first we saw in japan that weren't specifically male and female. You can lock the door and put up the "family time" sign but I don't know how it works if you're just in there with "Open" on the door! There are 2 bathrooms.||What's not so good? There's not much interaction with the owners. The host doesn't speak English, but his wife speaks good English and was really friendly and helpful when we saw her, but they seem to prefer to leave the guests alone.||The inn doesn't have a common room and though there were other guests there we only saw them at meal times and their table was a fair way from ours so we didn't talk. The place is quite isolated and in January at least, after dinner, say 8 o'clock, there isn't anything to do but retire to your room. Maybe they could try setting a long dinner table to break the ice between family groups?||The view of Fuji is great, and they were happy to take us out in the morning to start us off, but obviously we had to make our own way home, and buses are very infrequent in that part of the world.||On the whole, this is a really nice place to stay and we would be happy to return...