The Tawaraya Ryokan

Hi, it's Jerry! We've returned to Tokyo for our last night before we leave for LA...here's the first of (probably) a few posts about our trip to Kyoto and Osaka. I will discuss the ryokan that we stayed at named the Tawaraya. A ryokan is a Japanese style hotel where the rooms are that of a traditional Japanese room, with tatami mats and futons to sleep on. It took a while for us to actually get to our ryokan since it involved a subway transfer and some walking around, but after we got some help from another tourist, we finally found it off the main road.

The front of the Tawaraya, with it's lanterns and artfully places bamboo railings, gave us a hint of what we would expect when we entered. There is no reception desk when you walk in. Instead, we were immediately greeted by two women, one who asked for our names, and the other who asked to take our luggage to our room. We were then escorted to the steps to leading to the lobby of the ryokan, where we took our shoes off and changed into red slippers...and of course, Nick's pair was waaaay too small. The floors were made of wood and polished, and the interior was intimate, but not so cramped that one would feel claustrophobic. We rounded a corner and were given our first look at one of the sitting areas--a seat placed next to a small garden with a well.

Our room was rather close to the lobby, so we didn't get a chance to see very much of the rest of the ryokan, but that was fine because our room was quite extraordinary. And it was a bit surreal that next to the ryokan is a very busy street, yet you'd never know it was there since it as so peaceful and quite.

After the man who led us to our room left, we were immediately greeted by a woman dressed in a kimono. She entered into the living room area, shut the door to the small entrance area of our room. Once she stepped up onto the tatami, she bowed and welcomed us to the Tawaraya and then brought us green tea and some rice crackers. She asked if we were having dinner with them, and we were, so we ordered the Kaiseki, or traditional Japanese meal. After she took our order, she left and we decided to rest a bit and explore our room. Here are some pictures of it:

From the main room, looking at the dining area (where Jerry is) and the entranceway on the right.
Jerry sneezing, now sitting at the table in the main room. Note the sliding glass doors reflecting light on the far right, they go out to the garden.
Looking across the entranceway into the bathroom.
Peering into the bathroom, with the wooden tub (Suzu always left it full of hot water when we came back in the evening). The glass next to it faced the garden also.
Looking out at the garden from the main room. The sliding wood and paper doors between this room and the garden had a section on each of the doors that could slide up, as seen here, to allow you to see through them. Kinda like a shade.


We noticed that our luggage was delivered during the time that the woman was welcoming us...we never heard the door open or anything that would indicate that someone else had entered. It was quite impressive.

We decided to walk around the area until dinner time (that will probably be detailed in a later post).

When we returned to our room, we were greeted by another woman named Suzu. She would end up being our attendant for the rest of our stay. And this was the start of our journey into the world of extraordinary Japanese service. Suzu greeted us and then started to serve us dinner. She started wiping off the table in the living room area, but then I think she noticed that Nick was a bit uncomfortable sitting on the ground, so she asked if we wanted to move over to the other table which had an opening for our legs to hang underneath. So we moved over there and she proceeded to wipe that table. Then we were served the first of our 8 (I think) course meal, each brought to us by Suzu who would explain as best as she could what we were eating. The presentation of the food was so beautiful that I was compelled to take some pictures:


During the last course of the dinner, Suzu closed the screens to the living room area and started to make our futons. It was quite strange sitting at our table knowing that she was moving furniture around while we were eating. After 10 minutes, the screens were opened and the room transformed into this:


Suzu would serve us breakfast every morning we were there with the same attention that she did for our one dinner there.

But what amazed us even more was that whenever we left the ryokan, either to go sightseeing or to find dinner, we were greeted at the door by one of the bellmen, Suzu, and another woman. They would each bow to us wishing us well on our excursion, and after we actually left the ryokan, they would walk outside the entrance and watch us as we rounded the corner of the street, bowing as we made the turn. And every time we returned from our trips to wherever, Suzu would come to our room with cups of green tea and some type of sweet treat.

It rained on our last day there. After we checked out and headed to the taxi, we were, once again, met at the door by Suzu, the bellman, and another woman (I never knew who this was). They immediately opened up umbrellas as we walked under the uncovered areas of the entrance, and as we walked to the taxi, the owner of the Tawaraya bowed and said "Arigato" as we entered the taxi. When the driver drove the taxi to the nearby stop light, we turned around and there they were, bowing.

It's incredibly difficult to describe the experience we had there, but at the end, we were very happy that we stayed there and I'm a little sad that we won't be there again until our next visit to Japan. Waking up to a view of our garden, taking a bath next to the garden, and just simply relaxing in an environment that was so serene was a once in a lifetime experience, and one that we'll never forget.

[Nick's commentary: It was a great experience; we lived as feudal lords might once have, but the doorways varied in height from small enough for Jerry to hit his head (aka my chest) to perhaps my nose. I managed to only hit my head once, though, and the futon was surprisingly fine, even for my height.]