Kaya Yama no Ie — Hotel in Yosano

Location 5-stars, Architecture 5 -stars, Room 4-stars, Food 7-stars if I could, Price/Value 5-stars Go out of your way to come here! Kaya Yama no Ie is an incredible place, located on a mountain road leading into the Oeyama mountains. The views, with the rice fields below, and the lights of the town far below twinkling at night were mesmerizing. While the rooms are quite simple tatami floor rooms, they are comfortable, air-conditioned, and have nice bedding. You also get to soak in their large tubs when its time to bathe. But the best part is the food. I had come here three times to have lunch (yes they also do lunch service) before finally staying overnight. I really wanted to try their dinner and breakfast, along with some of their amazing craft beer selection (some of which is on tap). They make a variety of drinks for those who don't like beer, non-alcoholic as well. The food is almost entirely locally sourced and the variety is excellent. They use local boar and venison for meat, local fish for sashimi and other dishes, local vegetables, and even local ingredients with sugar alternatives for the desserts. AMAZING.

And the pricing is, in my opinion, too low. When I stayed here, an overnight stay with two meals didn't even crack 10,000 yen.

I should also mention the great wifi connection, as I had an online conference to attend while I was there (international) with no hiccups what-so-ever.

HIGHLY...

Ok, let me start off by saying that I found this place and was able to stay here with the help of my Japanese friend. The owner and his wife, said that we were the first American's to have visited this 'hostel' in over 10+ years. Obviously, I believe it, because this was straight up an authentic Japanese place. There is no way any American could have found this or known about this. It's just not possible because it's like going back to the 1990's before the world was truly connected.

We stayed here May 2016!

I have no clue how much my friend paid for this but this was the most TRUE authentic Japanese hostel. Smoking was allowed in the common area, they had two shower area's. One for females and one for males. Both shower areas is what I would consider public, meaning no privacy. Being a 6'1'' white male obviously, I stood out like a sore thumb. The rooms were traditional style - meaning we slept on bamboo and either wool or sheep pads. Our room overlooked a rice paddy field and it was super quiet, which was nice! It took my wife a little while to get comfortable but afterwards we both looked back and realized how cool that place was and how special it was for us to have been the first Americans (Texans) to stay here in perhaps close to 20 years. This is more of a hostel...

This is one of my favorite places to stay at in Japan! I have been living and traveling through Japan on and off during the last 20 years and this was special. I stayed here while hiking the Oeyama trail and was nothing but pleasantly surprised. Immaculately clean hostel with amazing attention to detail and ecology offering a wonderful multi course dinner in a relaxed atmosphere. To me, soaking in the hot table and enjoying a home cooked meal was pure heaven after a long rainy hike. Do not miss it if you are nearby. I actually think it is too cheap...