Upon Reaching the Ryokan
Take your shoes off just as you walk in the entrance (right before where the slippers are placed) and put on the slippers. The slippers are used for walking inside the RYOKAN on the corridor, lobby, dining hall and to the bath. The shoes are handled by the RYOKAN and will be placed at the entrance when you wish to go out. For short strolls near the RYOKAN you can use the RYOKAN's sandal or GETA (wooden clogs). The front or lobby and entrance will close at a certain time. Confirm that time and if you should foresee a delay, inform the RYOKAN of this. Furthermore, the check-in/checkout times differ with the various RYOKANs so you should confirm this with the RYOKAN. Texts courtesy of Japan Inns Group

RYOKAN:
After Japan's military rulers, the shoguns, unified Japan in the seventeenth century, they came up with a bright idea to keep the daimyo overlords of the country’s 250 domains from getting rebellious thoughts into their heads. The daimyo were commanded to travel to Edo, as Tokyo was formerly known, every other year. Then, when the lords left to return home, their wives and children were obliged to remain in the capital, virtual hostages of the shoguns and an effective block to insurgent movements back in the provinces. As well as involving enormous cost, the journeys to Edo called for considerable planning, with hundreds or even thousands of people making up a single retinue. To facilitate the nationwide treks, the shoguns invested in five major highways. Naturally, the travelers needed frequent stops along the road to rest and eat. And it was to serve these needs that one of Japan's most delightful institutions, the traditional inn, was born. Author of Classic Japanese Inns & Country Getaways, Margaret Price became fascinated by the nation's inns, or ryokan, after pouring over Japanese guidebooks documenting the journeys of Emperor Hirohito (Showa) when he traveled around Japan in the early postwar years. The photographs, in the books showed Price that these inns were oases in the architectural catastrophe" that urban Japan was then becoming. In Classic Japanese Inns, she has set her Self the task of introducing the best Of these charismatic places to the English reader. That oasis-like quality of serenity still persists in many traditional inns. Entering a ryokan is like entering an older, calmer world as the door to ones room is slid open and one steps on to the soft tatami matting. Typically the room will be sparsely furnished, with just a low table, cushions for sitting and a tokonoma alcove, decorated usually with a simple floral arrangement or seasonal calligraphic scroll The uncluttered grace of these inns and the rituals of a stay are compelling. And Price describes her personal selection of inns with candor and passion. Her book comes across as a thoroughly compiled volume of "great little places" that are usually only heard about through word of mouth. She includes everything from the super-deluxe 0-An in Hakone-Yumoto, which combines the best of Japanese inn comfort with Western-style hotel services, to the "antique treasure" of Ohashi-ya, an original inn on the Old Tokaido Highway that figures in one of Hiroshige's classic woodblock prints. Price mentions wooden farmhouses, a ryokan made entirely of Japanese cypress and Edosan in the Nara deer park, which consists of 11 huts in different architectural styles. Each hut in Edosan is named after the method (gong, drum, jingling bell) guests used to attract the attention of the main house before the advent of the telephone. Price obviously has as much affection for the owners as for the inns themselves, There is Wakana the former writers' retreat in Tokyo, where the innkeeper used to ensure each room was equipped with pencil sharpeners, and wastepaper baskets as well as bumper boxes of matches for the - invariably - chain-smoking authors. Or Hazuki in Ise, which specializes in Chinese cuisine designed to remove toxins, boost the immune system and improve the skin. Particular mention goes to an innkeeper who each night composes a waka poem, transcribed onto handmade paper place mats for each guest; one who welcomes weary travelers with a glass of her homemade pine-needle cider; and the owner of an inn in the Noto Peninsula who rises early each morning to prepare fresh tofu from scratch and can boast (probably) the only lacquer ware bathtub in the world. Japan is not really a country that immediately throws up a checklist of must-sees or places to visit. Instead, first-time visitors often try simply to absorb a certain sense of the country. In this way, a visit to a ryokan with its shoji paper screens, simple stone lanterns, mossy garden and discreet service provides as good an experience as any of the elegance and refinement of old Japan. Indeed, the appeal of the ryokan is such that it is tempting to reverse the old strategy of the daimyo, where a night is not spent at an inn to fit in with the journey, but to plan one's journey so that the inn becomes a destination in itself .Article written by Sian Rees in January issue of Winds Magazine. Based on Classic Japanese Inns & Country Getaways by Margaret Price :Kodansha International

When Going to Bed :

At the Ryokan Sleeping on quilts laid out directly on the TATAMI (straw mat) will give you a different experience from sleeping on beds.

The graphics & Texts courtesy of Japan Inns Group

The electricity in Japan:
Is 100~110VAC and is 50Hz in eastern Japan and 60 Hz in western Japan.