Homestay Visit
 

My husband and I are planning a visit to Japan. We want to stay in a traditional Japanese setting. I mean full out Washitsu style - tatami flooring, sliding doors, zabuton seating, everything. To my suprise, it's difficult to find a hotel like this... they are all western style hotels :crykitty:

But, I have heard about homestay visits. Which sounds so wonderful! But I have some questions that I hope that someone can answer ....

How is the privacy?
Do they offer tours of Japan?
Rates/website info?
When is the best time of the year to go?
Are meals included?
How many people stay with one family?

Please if anyone has had a homestay visit I would love to know how it went! Or if anyone knows of some good traditional japanese hotels that would be awesome too!!

Thanks everyone :lovecat:

why don't you try a ryokan? This is exactly what you are describing.

Bingo. There are ryokan everywhere.

You are having trouble finding one because you are not looking for one. In Japan, hotels are usually western styled. Looking for a "hotel" will only get you western styled accommodations. Japanese style are called ryokan or minshuku (the minshuku usually being the lower in rank/quality - but not always).

Your best bet is going to be to look for a ryokan with onsen attached, as they are almost always 100% traditional.

Speaking about ryokan - a friend visited one with an onsen attached and he was not really pleased :)

Believe me, traditional Japanese environment is definitely NOT the best setting for a holiday and is totally not romantic, private or luxurious...

My friend was in a first class ryokan and he said that actually only things he had in the room were a table (50 cm high) and something like "a bed from dried rice paddies" or something like that, and the room was not single, not double... there were 4 people in one room :) The onsen was divided into men and women, so I dont think you wud be able to enjoy with your husband, and furthermore, meals were extremely small (as they are everywhere in Japan) and there were gokiburi (Japanese cockroaches).

I hope that will make up your mind for a traditional Japanese adventure...

You might try a temple stay at Koya-san. Staying at a temple may not be very romantic, but it'll be authentic with a tatami room and traditional Buddhist food, and walking through the temples and the Okunoin cemetery is very nice...

I`ll toss out my opinion that ryokan are generally very nice, and that they are indeed romantic.

I have never been in a ryokan with cockroaches - I`m sure they exist, but that`s certainly not something "normal".

Judging all by one bad experience of a friend who was clearly looking for something very different and who apparently knew little about traditional Japanese accommodations is, to say the least, unfair.

To me, the level of service at a ryokan sort of symbolizes luxury. You don`t have to do anything - they will bring your meal to your room, set the table, then later come and clean it all up... After that they will ready your futons and put them away in the morning.

As for the meals being small - I guess if you`re used to massive portions you could say that... But I find it hard to picture that happening in a ryokan as they tend to be huge multi-course meals.

I've been to some very nice ryokans with excellent service and the food was awesome and more than plentiful (and I'm a big guy with a big appetite). I like sleeping on futons, my wife and I sleep on them at home.

The rooms certainly are somewhat spartan and won't include things like big leather couches or dining tables and big plasma screen TV's or any of the things you would expect in luxury western style accommodation. Whole point of staying in a ryokan for a westerner though is to have a somewhat uniquely Japanese experience and that's what it is.

I have been to a few where I was a little disappointed with the quality versus price but then there are a lot of places in Japan that are barely getting by and haven't been renovated much over the last 20 or so years.

I think of Ryokan as "expensive camping".;)

The main appeal, I think, is the onsen and the food. The ones I have stayed at are spendier than hotels, so it is a treat to splurge on only every once in a while.