Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Ikaho — Hotel in Shibukawa

We stayed at the Ikaho-Omori Hotel (all in Japanese---no English wording). The hotel staff was very nice. We went looking for a place to eat and the Stone Steps and a hotel employee came running outside handing us s map of the town with restaurants circled. ||The second day we returned to the hotel after a full day of sightseeing we told the staff that I had left a sweater at McDonalds--a half hour drive away. The staff called McDonald's & they had my sweater. The hotel staff member who lives near the town volunteered to pick it up for me & bring it the following day.  They recommended a restaurant for soba noodles. They told us to call the hotel after dinner & they would pick us up. However, the restaurant insisted on driving us back instead.  We both enjoyed the rooftop baths—the crisp, cold air felt so good while sitting in a hot pool with views of the city below.||On our last day the hotel staff handed me my sweater they had retrieved for me! We then posed for a picture with the staff before leaving. They treated us like family and made us feel so...

I stayed her for one night in December 2012 with colleagues. I have previously stayed in a variety of such properties in Japan from ryokan hotels (like this one) to traditional ryokan onsens. Ikaho is a lovely property with very friendly staff, large comfortable rooms and several good baths. Unlike many out of the way properties, there are instructions in English for neophytes to the Japanese bath which would be helpful to some. The meals were served in individual rooms on the dining floor, rather than in your room. The only negative (and it was a very small one and not uncommon at ryokans) is that the room hostess did not speak a word of English. Highly recommended and I look forward to...

This place is rundown and not worth what we paid. There was black mold in the water tank of the toilet, slowly filling up. The buffet was just ok, the dining room aesthetically thrown together and felt cheap. The onsen was alright, small, with a collapsing fence next to the outdoor bath. Two shower heads would not turn off. One wonders how this hotel can continue hosting guests without more investment, or if it's worth saving. Are other Ooedo hotels of...