Minshuku Jyuemon — Hotel in Shirakawa

The house located near the three house, at the end of the road, where you can enjoy the serene place all by yourself in late evening or early morning. We dragged our luggages under the heavy snow rain from the bus terminal, the host told us to leave the luggage, he cleaned them before bringing them to our room. The lesson is, just send the luggage to the next hotel and bring the necessary items only with a backpack🌝.

The gassho house feels like visiting your grandma's house, it is old, dimly lit, cold, quiet, but homey. They provide a heater and a kotatsu inside the room. The futons are heavily layered, the pillows are nicely shaped to meet your comfort.

Bathroom towel, face towel, home yukata with belt, hanten coat are provided. Along with a kettle full with hot water and green tea, plus shiso monaka shaped of a gassho house—a pastry filled with sweet read bean paste.

The bathroom can only be used in evening until the curfew time and two people can fit inside (meaning, you can take a bath with your partner). You need to write your name first to book a time slot before using, each slot lasts for 30 mins.

Dinner and breakfast are homemade washoku, fresh from the nature itself. I think Japanese cuisines are salty overall but the rice were soooo good. So good that I only need miso sauce to eat with (which they provide at breakfast). Even the other guest asked for another rice 🍚

Overall, it was a lovely experience :) The house, the people, the food, the location are perfect. We explored the village, made snowman, got back inside taking a shelter from the harsh winter, enjoyed the ambience under the kotatsu, listened to the sound of people in the kitchen, squeaking noises of people walking through the wooden floor and door slidings (since the house is soo quiet), waited for foods, and had a great sleep.

Details of the foods: [Dinner] Between 6.30 - 8 PM 4 thick squares of seasoned hida beef, mushroom, mung bean sprout, and green pepper on the grilled pan 3 vegetable tempuras (okra, eggplant, and sweet potato—I think) A river fish marinated with soy sauce—idk what species A grilled tofu and skin tofu Steamed mushroom and green veggies Steamed soy sauce baby potatoes Pickled radish Apple chop and another fruit which idk the name of Warm rice, not white nor red. Served inside a big bowl which can fit 4 portions (we finished it all)

[Breakfast] Between 8 - 9 AM A small tofu and thick miso sauce (like a condiment) on a grilled pan Stir fried tofu 1/2 steamed egg, a cherry tomato, and mashed potato (or is it egg salad? not sure) Seasoned veggies (long bean, root veg, and other veggie which, again, idk the name of) but the root veg surprised me, not sure whether it was ginger or turmeric Natto, but without egg so it was really good for me Salted seaweed still inside a package A thick slice of orange Fermented veggies, cucumber and...tomatoes? persimmon? idk, it has a big seed inside and the saltiness is sooo strong Warm white rice. Served inside a big bowl which can...

I contacted Shirakawa-go Information Center through email to info-e at shirakawa-go.gr.jp to make reservation for Gassho-style house.||||Because this trip was planned very last minute (less than a week), I wasn’t able to reserve the popular Gassho-style house with tons of TA reviews. Juemon was the only available Gassho-style house. I was skeptical but desperately wanted to experience staying at a Gassho-style house.||||Even though the location of this Gassho-style house was not in the city center, it was across from the most famous three Gassho-style house which always appeared in the image of Shirakawa-go Gassho-style house. It took 15 - 20 minutes walk from bus station to Juemon.||||Based on the map distributed at the bus station’s Information Center, we already reached the area where Juemon was located. Since there was no sign in English, we were not able to tell whether the house was Juemon. In addition, the area was so quiet and not a single person was outside, we had to knock on one of the doors and were told Juemon was actually the house next door.||||We were not able to check-in even though it was 30 minutes prior to check-in time. We then put down our luggage by the entrance and went back to the city center to walk around.||||When we came back that evening before the dinner time, we were greeted with welcome tea and desserts in the room. Our luggage were already in the room. The room was very simple. Tatami style. No TV, no WiFi.||||The accommodation cost 9.000 yen per adult with dinner and breakfast, tax included. Cash only. It was quite pricey for an accommodation with shared bathroom and toilet. On top of that, bathroom (shower) time had to be reserved by putting down the name on the white board. However, the dinner and breakfast were tasty. ||||All the guests in the house had dinner and breakfast together. They were all local Japanese, except us. The owners spoke very little English. The male owner (husband) spoke better English than the female owner (wife). The owners including a grandma lived in the same house along with the guests. The grandma played music for the guests during dinner.||||I highly recommend Juemon if you want to experience staying at Gassho-style house but I will not be back to Juemon or any other Gassho-style house accommodation. 1 night was enough to escape...

I had the pleasure of staying here in the summer of 2023 for one night. The host spoke some English to assist me with check in, but there are not an abundance of english speakers in the town. The rooms were clean and had mats on the floor for sleeping, tea, cookies, and traditional house clothes in the room. The mats were very comfortable. The room also had a fan for the hot summer night. There was a time table outside the bathroom/showers room so you could coordinate time with other guest. The water of the bath was hot and relaxing. Dinner and breakfast were beautiful arrangements of local delicacies, with the option purchase for more items (such as beer or sake add ons). The standard meal that came with base charge was more than enough food for us, but we eat it all anyways because it was so delicious. I read prior to covid there was a family member who would play a traditional instrument as dinner entertainment but at the time we didn't have this service, but I believe the friendly grandma who normally plays was sick and we are thankful she rested and kept her distance as covid was still an issue at this time. If you look closely at the photos of the family in the home you can see this grandma has lived in the house for generations. The house also provided information about the area in brochures and had rain boots and umbrellas for us to borrow as it was raining. I can't express how beautiful the feilds around this gasso house were, and reccomend you go and stay and see it for yourself. Thank you to the wonderful family for sharing your home with us...