A ryokan is a traditional Japanese Inn. One of the very oldest in Japan still standing dates from the middle of the 1500s . It is on the road to the Hoshi spa in Gumma Prefecture. The entire front of the building is carved in the form of waves, which in those day announced that the building was an Inn.
"The best backpacker hotel in all of Tokyo."
George, New Zealan
In ryokan, shoes are left in the entry way, the Genkan, like in a private house. You wear slippers in a ryokan. In a sense, you are entering a private house when you enter a Genkan, as the owner and his or her family usually live in there too, and share the building and day to day life with the guests. The atmosphere is relaxed , unhurried, and soothing . The rooms are all tatami matted, with shoji (sliding paper doors) and hall ways with smoothly polished wooden floors kept spotlessly clean . Guests often lounge around the common rooms wearing Yukata, which is somewhat like a kimono, but much more casual. Life is lived entirely on the floor, pretty much devoid of any furniture except for some cushions and futon to sleep in. The rooms, the pace of life, and the way of living is entirely Japanese.
For foreigners, staying at a ryokan is not merely a place to stay, but rather, an entry into an alternate way of life, that of traditional Japan. This is the way the Japanese lived before Japan opened to the West, and more and more it is slipping away with every passing year. At one time, ryokan were very common in Tokyo and other large cities. With the exception of Kyoto, they have almost entirely disappeared.
For foreigners, staying at a ryokan is not merely a place to stay, but rather, an entry into an alternate way of life, that of traditional Japan. This is the way the Japanese lived before Japan opened to the West, and more and more it is slipping away with every passing year. At one time, ryokan were very common in Tokyo and other large cities. With the exception of Kyoto, they have almost entirely disappeared.
Ryokan can also still be found near onsen (hot spring spas) in the countryside that are a favorite place for Japanese to go and relax. Onsen and ryokan seem to go together as a long standing Japanese tradition .
The Kimi Ryokan is one of the few ryokan remaining in Tokyo. It is also perhaps the only one that has both modernized to offer guests all the facilities they would expect in a good value economy hotel, yet also maintained in its entirety the unique qualities that make a ryokan totally Japanese and part of the entire experience of realizing Japan.