島宿真里 — Local services in Shodoshima

We were met at the car park and invited to choose a lot in the open parking lot. Our Luggage was brought down by staff and also carried to our room.||Check in was easy, even though the duty staff could not speak English well||Early Evening Japanese tea served after we got into the room. Subsequent days also had afternoon tea when we got back. ||Room we had was large. Walk in through the reception area, and into the tatami sitting room. TV on wall, hidden by a slide up screen. Large windows look out into the mountains. Room was warm from the air con. The Windows are openable to let in fresh air. ||The toilet is near the sitting area. Bath tub and traditional shower is next to the bedroom.||Toilet has usual Japanese toilet functions with mostly simpler functions. Sink area is small but functional. Shelf space means you have more room to put your toiletries. Single sink in the bathroom means you need to allocate time to get things done early in the morning. Some amenities are provided. ||There’s a cupboard with a fridge and safe. The fridge contains two free large carafes of water and tea, plus chargeable drinks. Safe key is with the room key ring. There’s Yukuta, plus a short robe and pants provided. We wore the robe and pants as PJs and to dinner at the ryokan. Baskets are prepared with towels; two single baskets or one double basket. ||Further off to the side of the living room is the bedroom. Two comfy single beds with not too thick duvets are housed. The lamps on the wall can’t be controlled from the bed. All lights have to switched off from the main wall switch. There’s also a reflective light at the bed head that throws light onto the ceiling. ||The shower is just off from the bedroom. It is in a cosy room. A cedar wood bath tub and a Japanese style shower area look out over the roofs into the sea. A sake bathtub oil can be added if you’re going to have a soak. Shower gel, shampoo, conditioner are provided. ||Beyond the bedroom is a door that opens out to a balcony. Chairs are provided and from this vantage point, one can watch the sunset.||Onsen - before 5pm in evening, one can lock the main door to either the men’s or women’s onsen and use it as a couple’s or family retreat. ||Otherwise, the usual onsen rules apply. ||Onsen is a quite small. Both male and female facilities have three bathing stations, and an indoor and outdoor pool. Pools are cosy. ||Food|We had two meals at the sister property, the annex, which is a 5minute drive away near Horikoshi. The food here was beautifully presented and featured the local Olive Oils strongly. ||The food at Mari Ryokan where we stayed was just as good, with a strong exploration of the local soya sauce industry. ||Our ryokan had a rustic feel to it, such as the tree branches being used as bannisters. The outside stone floors are always wet, even leading into the area where you take off your shoes.||The annex is modern and smells very new. The restaurant and the villas face the morning sun, and is situated right beside the sea. ||After-dinner fruit-liquor is served in the lounge. Pick your fruit and have it neat, with water or soda water. Great digestif. ||We had a really enjoyable stay at this ryokan. Some of the staff could speak English and we were lucky to be paired with them. Highly...

We were met at the car park and invited to choose a lot in the open parking lot. Our Luggage was brought down by staff and also carried to our room.||Check in was easy, even though the duty staff could not speak English well||Early Evening Japanese tea served after we got into the room. Subsequent days also had afternoon tea when we got back. ||Room we had was large. Walk in through the reception area, and into the tatami sitting room. TV on wall, hidden by a slide up screen. Large windows look out into the mountains. Room was warm from the air con. The Windows are openable to let in fresh air. ||The toilet is near the sitting area. Bath tub and traditional shower is next to the bedroom.||Toilet has usual Japanese toilet functions with mostly simpler functions. Sink area is small but functional. Shelf space means you have more room to put your toiletries. Single sink in the bathroom means you need to allocate time to get things done early in the morning. Some amenities are provided. ||There’s a cupboard with a fridge and safe. The fridge contains two free large carafes of water and tea, plus chargeable drinks. Safe key is with the room key ring. There’s Yukuta, plus a short robe and pants provided. We wore the robe and pants as PJs and to dinner at the ryokan. Baskets are prepared with towels; two single baskets or one double basket. ||Further off to the side of the living room is the bedroom. Two comfy single beds with not too thick duvets are housed. The lamps on the wall can’t be controlled from the bed. All lights have to switched off from the main wall switch. There’s also a reflective light at the bed head that throws light onto the ceiling. ||The shower is just off from the bedroom. It is in a cosy room. A cedar wood bath tub and a Japanese style shower area look out over the roofs into the sea. A sake bathtub oil can be added if you’re going to have a soak. Shower gel, shampoo, conditioner are provided. ||Beyond the bedroom is a door that opens out to a balcony. Chairs are provided and from this vantage point, one can watch the sunset.||Onsen - before 5pm in evening, one can lock the main door to either the men’s or women’s onsen and use it as a couple’s or family retreat. ||Otherwise, the usual onsen rules apply. ||Onsen is a quite small. Both male and female facilities have three bathing stations, and an indoor and outdoor pool. Pools are cosy. ||Food|We had two meals at the sister property, the annex, which is a 5minute drive away near Horikoshi. The food here was beautifully presented and featured the local Olive Oils strongly. ||The food at Mari Ryokan where we stayed was just as good, with a strong exploration of the local soya sauce industry. ||Our ryokan had a rustic feel to it, such as the tree branches being used as bannisters. The outside stone floors are always wet, even leading into the area where you take off your shoes.||The annex is modern and smells very new. The restaurant and the villas face the morning sun, and is situated right beside the sea. ||After-dinner fruit-liquor is served in the lounge. Pick your fruit and have it neat, with water or soda water. Great digestif. ||We had a really enjoyable stay at this ryokan. Some of the staff could speak English and we were lucky to be paired with them. Highly...

Was pleasantly surprised they have an English speaking staff although Reservation was made via call in Japanese initially. ||||The whole place was nicely done up in a modern way. Room was spacious with our own spring bath, beds, tatami living space and an outdoor terrace. Room booked was "Na" な in Japanese for 3 adults. Check in was very thorough with all the facilities explained. We were surprised to receive a bottle of sake to add into our hot spring bath. According to them, sake and the spring waters will heat up and beautify the body. Indeed, it was true and there was a nice sake aroma in the bath initially.||||Dinner was a 13 course with 4 different rare soy sauce as condiments. Out of the 4 types of soy sauce, only 1 type is being sold commercially. The other 3 are from the different stages of fermentation. We all liked the most unrefined soy sauce as it is thick and taste sweet. ||||They also served freshly picked vegetables from their own garden. They were so sweet and juicy! We could choose which of the vegetables we like for second helping.||||More surprises await us after dinner. In house Sake and fruit sake were served as after dinner drinks and we were free to choose 2 flab ours each. We all had the local plum sake on the rocks and the Mikan sake with soda. Unanimously, the local plum sake won hands down. I asked for their grape vinegared drink too. That was yummy as well.||||There were 2 private hot springs for use. System was on a first come first served basis. We got to try one of them and could have the whole place to ourselves. All these we're without additional charges.||||Breakfast was healthy and scrumptious as well. We could not finish the whole pot of rice and they made it into onigiri for our road trip! What a thoughtful gesture! As we had a ferry to catch, they even rushed it out for us. This was really the epitome of...