Wednesday, March 22, 2006

The Ryokan Experience

Ryokan are a type of traditional Japanese lodging. They often include meals (dinner and breakfast) and charge by the person. There's a big range in price but in generally, it costs more than staying in a western style hotel. The bedding is typically futon, taken out in the evening and put away in the morning. The baths are often communal, seperated by sex.

Below are links to several sites that list Ryokan and allow reservations to be made.

Japan Ryokan Association - a database of 1500 ryokan throughout Japan. There are some pretty nice ones here.

Japanese Inn Group - This group caters to foreign visitors and they're relatively inexpensive and flexible when it comes to meals, check-in, etc. The inns I looked at in Kyoto looked run-down from the outside, but that doesn't really mean much in Japan.

Japanese Guest Houses - Ryokan are ranked by class and there are comments from guests.

Japan Tourist Hotel Association - a site for all of Japan with some pretty sweet maps. I haven't looked in detail yet.

PT Group - a limited grouping of lodgings in Tokyo

Kinki Ryokan - another good listing of ryokan.

The JTNO site has some good links for places to stay as well. That's where I found these.
JNTO Places to Stay

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