Okama Onsen — Hotel in Semboku

I hope that being the first English reviewer of this establishment, I can help others make the decision whether or not to stay here. ||I am a non-Japanese speaker and rely a lot on body language and very simple Japanese words to get by. ||This onsen is run by an elderly couple who can only speak Japanese. That is of no problem to me as I have also stayed in others run by old couples and usually when they realise that I can't understand Japanese very well and they can't speak English they will tend to slow down, speak in simpler sentences and gesticulate a lot. Not this old lady - she continues speaking as though I'm a native speaker and of course I got this blank glazed look and then she gets frustrated with me. She's scary. ||||I was staying alone in this room called "Botan", which was a tatami mat style room with futon. The washrooms are shared and the onsen is downstairs. There was a TV in the room with a low table, a sofa and a portable aircon/fan. The thing is that it was 9 degrees celcius outside and the room was freezing. ||||That night I was chatting on Facebook messenger with my Japanese friend and she decided to write a note in Japanese for me to show the old lady, hoping that I could get a heater. It loosely translates to 'I am this girl's friend. She is very cold. Is there some form of heater you can provide her or some way she can keep warm?' ||||I went down to the reception, showed this note on my phone to the old couple on my phone and the old lady just shrugged and told me to put on more clothes. ||||I had packed an overnight bag and travelled over from Sendai and that night I put on every single piece of clothing I brought over and huddled under the futon and the blanket and couldn't sleep the whole night because it was too cold. I felt like I was sleeping at a campsite. ||||The next morning I defrosted after breakfast and went to the next door Ganiba Onsen to warm up my soul and put some life back into my body. I managed to travel back to Tokyo that evening, and then things went downhill. I probably caught a chill from that night and had a sore throat and then the next day I completely lost my voice. Thank you old lady at Ogama Onsen for my plight. ||||I think the old lady might be nicer to Japanese speakers but looking at the reviews here by Japanese reviewers through google translate, looks like maybe not so. ||||On another note, my room fee included dinner and breakfast. Dinner was served strictly at 6pm and the old lady will ring this big ice-cream bell which could be heard down the hallway. The food was ok and I would really like to order a warm sake with my dinner but the old lady looked too fierce and intimidating and largely ignored me. ||||I had wanted to stay at Tsurunoyu but it was fully booked. In fact if not for the fact that all the other 6 onsens within the Nyuto Onsen region were fully booked, I would not end up here. ||||I would say that by far from all my travels to Japan this is my worst night ever.||In fact in all my travels around the world this is my...

I hope that being the first English reviewer of this establishment, I can help others make the decision whether or not to stay here. ||I am a non-Japanese speaker and rely a lot on body language and very simple Japanese words to get by. ||This onsen is run by an elderly couple who can only speak Japanese. That is of no problem to me as I have also stayed in others run by old couples and usually when they realise that I can't understand Japanese very well and they can't speak English they will tend to slow down, speak in simpler sentences and gesticulate a lot. Not this old lady - she continues speaking as though I'm a native speaker and of course I got this blank glazed look and then she gets frustrated with me. She's scary. ||||I was staying alone in this room called "Botan", which was a tatami mat style room with futon. The washrooms are shared and the onsen is downstairs. There was a TV in the room with a low table, a sofa and a portable aircon/fan. The thing is that it was 9 degrees celcius outside and the room was freezing. ||||That night I was chatting on Facebook messenger with my Japanese friend and she decided to write a note in Japanese for me to show the old lady, hoping that I could get a heater. It loosely translates to 'I am this girl's friend. She is very cold. Is there some form of heater you can provide her or some way she can keep warm?' ||||I went down to the reception, showed this note on my phone to the old couple on my phone and the old lady just shrugged and told me to put on more clothes. ||||I had packed an overnight bag and travelled over from Sendai and that night I put on every single piece of clothing I brought over and huddled under the futon and the blanket and couldn't sleep the whole night because it was too cold. I felt like I was sleeping at a campsite. ||||The next morning I defrosted after breakfast and went to the next door Ganiba Onsen to warm up my soul and put some life back into my body. I managed to travel back to Tokyo that evening, and then things went downhill. I probably caught a chill from that night and had a sore throat and then the next day I completely lost my voice. Thank you old lady at Ogama Onsen for my plight. ||||I think the old lady might be nicer to Japanese speakers but looking at the reviews here by Japanese reviewers through google translate, looks like maybe not so. ||||On another note, my room fee included dinner and breakfast. Dinner was served strictly at 6pm and the old lady will ring this big ice-cream bell which could be heard down the hallway. The food was ok and I would really like to order a warm sake with my dinner but the old lady looked too fierce and intimidating and largely ignored me. ||||I had wanted to stay at Tsurunoyu but it was fully booked. In fact if not for the fact that all the other 6 onsens within the Nyuto Onsen region were fully booked, I would not end up here. ||||I would say that by far from all my travels to Japan this is my worst night ever.||In fact in all my travels around the world this is my...

Super unfriendly toward foreigners, highly recommended not to stay/visit unless if you would like to experience something different. Such a shame since the bath area and the building are quite unique and located super close to the magnificent Taenoyu (no comment about rooms and meals)

As a conversational level Japanese speakers who have been to 40+provinces across Japan for many years, this is the first time I received super bad attitude towards myself from people in service industry. I got scolded just for not hand her the yumeguricho passes and leave them still in the way she wished (I actually handed her the pass already but she kept saying to hand it to her, so I thought she might need some help open it to the page she wanted). After that she kept saying that if you (from the context means foreigners) come to Japan this often, you must speak Japanese - and of course we spoke these conversation all in Japanese but I guess she requires all foreigners to be fluent speakers to be able to visit her place.

Everyone will be better off if foreigners no longer visit this place and let the owners deal only with people they want to. Nyuto onsen has so many great onsen to visit, just skip this one. It is also my pleasure to give the first bad review to any place...