我々のお正月休み Our New Years Vacation

January 6, 2009: 青い目のおもてなし This American’s Omotenashi

温泉宿でコタツ-ing Doing the kotatsu at the onsen ryokan

温泉旅館の経営者は休みを取る時にどこに行くでしょうか?もちろん、他の温泉旅館へ。私達も温泉が好きだし、他の宿に泊まるといい刺激になります。

今回の家族のお正月休みで渋湯田中温泉の「清風荘」に泊まりました。新しいヒノキ風呂が出来たって聞いて、亀清もヒバの露天風呂が仮オープンしたばかりなので勉強を込めて行って見ました。

一番感心したのは所々に生け花が飾ってあったことです。亀清旅館の客室の床の間にも新鮮な花を置くように頑張りたいと思いました。置物を置くより大変ですけど、それはやはり日本の旅館のおもてなしの1つですよね。

大関さん、大変を世話になりました。お蔭さまで、うんとRefreshが出来ました。

Where do innkeepers go on their holidays? To stay at another inn, of course. Our family loves onsens, too, you know. For our New Years holiday vacation, we went to stay at Seifuso at Shibu-Yudanaka Onsen. They recently installed a new Japanese cedar bath, and I wanted to get some tips for our new one.

The thing I was most impressed with was they had fresh cut flowers displayed ikebana style all throughout the inn. I wish we could have ikebana in the tokonoma alcoves in our guest rooms. It would be a lot of work, but that's all part of the ryokan's "omotenashi" service.

Ozeki-san, thanks to your hospitality we had a revitalizing stay. We appreciated it!

湯田中の清風荘のHPはこちらClick here for Seifuso's website




Seifuso's cedar bath


Seifuso's Entrance


Our guest room had 'kura'-like thick walls -- to keep the sounds of the geisha's shamisen in!


Yudanaka Onsen at dusk


Ikebana in the tokonoma


Detailed 'shoji' screen doors


Seifuso's spacious outdoor bath


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