Nozawa onsenの最近のブログ記事

Dear Kono san,

We would like to thank you for our happy stay in your ryokan!
All of us incluidng Lee and Tang san families had a very enjoyable holiday in Nozawa, it met all our expectations and we found a warm hearted place in your ryokan, in your wellcome, your services, all your staff has just been irreprochable and we will remember the kindness of you all.
We will recommand your ryokan and Nozawa to our friends and would lik to wish you and the people of Nozawa a healthy and prosperous year of hare.

Your's truly,

Lui Man Wa

長野県信州の湯宿　野沢温泉河一屋旅館

Nozawa onsen Kawaichiya ryokan

Kawaichiya Ryokan is located 4 mins away from the Nozawa Onsen bus stop, albeit at the bottom of a slightly steep slope. The walk down, particularly on a snowy day, can be pretty icy and slippery, however, one cannot simply judge this fantastic ryokan based solely on its disadvantageous location. The host/owner of the place, Kono-san, is a Japanese man who inherited the ryokan from his father, ensuring that the business remains in the family and thus enforcing a high level of service quality throughout the accommodation. Warm and hospitable, he always seeks to address our every need and problem, going out of the way to ensure that the we are comfortable. On first arrival, he even explained the layout of the village and introduced us to the good restaurant places and ski lifts one can access. The ryokan's links to a certain ski rental store means that guests can rent equipment at grossly under priced rates (1000 yen/day) too. Moments before leaving for the bus, we raised the issue of the slippery slope posing problems given how we struggled to get down earlier in the day. Kono-san simply nodded and told us to wait at the lobby, then he told a staff member to attend to our needs. The burly man stalked out and reappeared with a mini-van at the entrance. He then proceeded to store our luggages in the boot and promptly told us to hop in. Then, he drove us all the way to the train station, a good 15-20 min away. We tried to tip him after getting out, but he vehemently declined our offers.

On the matter of food, the free breakfast is pretty average with rice, hotpot and a mishmash of condiments in the usual bento box. However, dinner was spectacular- lovely marbled beef sliced in large cubes and simmered over a hotplate, a pan fried saba fish, delicately sweet horse meat sashimi, steamed chawanmushi and a hotpot soup. The food was so much that we could not finish our platter, a first in our culinary adventures in Japan.

In our 3 nights there, we slept in the japanese styled room with personal toilets. The room was slightly old with slight stains on the carpeted areas and an antiqued air conditioner/ heater. However, the room was warm enough and the mattresses and quills that we slept in were very comfortable and clean.

In all, we definitely enjoyed our stay in the ryokan and our holiday in Nozawa Onsen and this was largely due to Kono-san's hospitality and warmth.

長野県信州の湯宿　野沢温泉河一屋旅館

Nozawa onsen Kawaichiya ryokan

Dear Kono-san,

thank you very much for helping us out to send our bags to airport - we collected them OK.

We enjoyed our stay there and thank you also to your very enthusiastic, friendly and helpful 2 girls on reception.

Once again thanks for all your friendly and helpful assistance.

Regards,

David-san.

長野県信州の湯宿　野沢温泉河一屋旅館

Nozawa onsen Kawaichiya ryokan

We stayed at Kawaichiya for a week - a family with 2 young children (7 and 5) in a japanese style room with toilet. The room, as I believe is typical for Japanese styling, was basic (you sleep on futons and sit on the floor so you need to be flexible!). The service was great - very polite and they really try to be helpful - give good restaurant referrals, have a relationship with a ski rental shop (very cheap at Y1,000 per day), and all the tips you need. Two of the employees spoke very good English so communication was no problem. Breakfast (every day at 7.30am) was included - again, Japanese style (rice, pickles, eggs, fish, hotpot, seaweed, tea). It was all very healthy and a good way to start a day of skiing. As for the skiing... it was fantastic. You need to walk about 5 mins up the hill to a moving walkway which takes about another 5 mins to get you to the slopes (gondola, chairlifts, restaurants, etc). The resort is stuck in a bit of an 80's time warp (when Japan was in boom and they built it) so don't expect Whistler type newness or fancy restaurants. It was great skiing though (5km+ runs, beginner through to advanced). For the end of the day, Kawaichiya has it's own inside/outside onsen (male and female). It was a great way to bridge skiing with dinner and then bed. There are lots of family run restaurants close by (lots of different places but usually variations on the same Japanese food theme). I recommend this place for people that want to ski, onsen and relax. If you want apres ski and something really modern, Sapporo may be more for you. I really enjoyed it though and would love to go back.

長野県信州の湯宿　野沢温泉河一屋旅館

Nozawa onsen Kawaichiya ryokan

Dear Kesanari Kono,

We would like to thank you very much for the wonderful time we had at Kawaichiya Ryokan. The service was exceptional and very friendly, it made our holiday a really special experience. We would gladly recommend you to anyone who is thinking of a holiday in Nozawa Onsen.
Regards
Grant and Franky Andrews.

長野県信州の湯宿　野沢温泉河一屋旅館

Nozawa onsen Kawaichiya ryokan

Dear Kono san

We all would like to thank you for the very nice stay at nozawa onsen!

We enjoyed the stay in your hotel very much and we all had a very good time there.

Everybody was so friendly and we are very happy about our special trip to the snow monkeys.

Wish you all the best!

kind regards

K.H

長野県信州の湯宿　野沢温泉河一屋旅館

Nozawa onsen Kawaichiya

Part of the aim for this trip was to experience a more traditional japanese ryokan. Kawaichiya provided it in so many ways. Mr Kono and his staff were so helpful and polite it was just a pleasure to stay there. We were is a japanese tatami room and slept on futons for the time we were there, which meant a firm bed but we slept really well. Breakfast each morning was exceptional and was served in a traditional manner and consisted of miso, rice, a bento style box with fish, pickles, egg, and salad with cold meat, plus a hot pot. It also changed slightly every day so it wasn't repetitive. We also ate dinner in the hotel one night, and had the "Yumeguri" 11 dish meal, which was also excellent. The hotel also has an onsen with lovely hot thermal water running through - perfect after a hard day on the slopes. Ample lockable storage for skis, ski boots etc., was provided in the basement. Its also just a handy 5 minute walk into the centre of town for anything you need.

Above all, the people who run this place really make it. They were such a pleasure to deal with, and went out of their way to look after us. It started the minute we walked in the front door, and finished when they waved us off on our way home.

長野県信州の湯宿　野沢温泉河一屋旅館

Nozawa onsen Kawaichiya

Our third trip to ski Japan and our first to Nozawa Onsen, we chose to stay at Kawaichiya for their spa / onsen and traditional style of accommodation (hence ryokan). We timed our trip for the Dosojin Fire Festival on 15th January (recommended) and spent 7 nights at Kawaichiya.

We had a Japanese style room with futons laid on the tatami mat floor and its own bathroom. This was warm, clean and very comfortable.

We found the breakfasts to be a real adventure and very Japanese. Breakfast starts at 7.30 sharp and is a multi-dish affair that was arranged on low set tables in classical tatami mat lined rooms. Dishes comprised various cold & hot dishes including smoked fish, vegetables, tomago, miso soup and provided a wide range of flavours to sample. Each breakfast featured an individual ceramic cooker, which was lit to provide your hot meal complimented by a hot steamed rice - often vegetable based, a couple of days involving the cooking of eggs. We'd not experienced this style of eating before and found it really enjoyable. Indeed, we had the dinner at Kawaichiya one night that proved to be an even more extensive dining experience that we can highly recommend.

Once you've experienced the reviving effects of an onsen after a hard day's skiing you develop a keen appreciation of enjoying an onsen both morning and night. It is worth getting past any precious western misconceptions about communal wash facilities and just enjoying the different cultural experience. In this regard, we found Kawaichiya's onsens to be very good - clean, hot and always a pleasant experience.

Access to the ski field is a reasonable walk up hill to the Yu Road travelator (~300m long), however it is really worthwhile knowing that St.Anton ski hire (at the top, past the ticket office to the left) offers ski & boot storage for both its hire customers and even for those with their own ski gear, for a very affordable Y100 pp/night.

Having skied Hakuba, Furano and Shiga Kogen, we found Nozawa to offer a broad range of challenging, well groomed ski runs and found the abundant fresh snow particularly enjoyable. Midweek is less crowded than the weekend but we never had an instance where we encountered any lengthy queue and often had vast runs to ourselves.

The staff were terrific - enthusiastic, helpful and very welcoming. Trip No. 4 is in the planning and we'll be going back to Kawaichiya.

長野県信州の湯宿　野沢温泉河一屋旅館

Nozawa onsen Kawaichiya

Dear Kono san,

Thanks very much again for what you prepared for us at kawaichiya.
We went to the dosojin festival, but we didn't make it to the end as the road was slippery and it was snowing heavily.
But it was really fun. :)
The dishes served at your hotel are really delicious--we were full every day after we had breakfast and dinner :)
Sorry that we were on a rush to bus station and did not have a proper goodbye. :)
Thanks again for everything and hope we can visit there again!

Best,

長野県信州の湯宿 野沢温泉河一屋旅館

We stayed here for 4 nights. It was really good to see the traditional Japanese hotel in action. This one is complete with its own thermal baths. We slept on the futon which was a novelty for everyone. The town itself was very picture perfect and the snow was excellent. My family loved the place. Try the fuji apples, they are the best to be found anywhere in the world. The traditional Japanese breakfast was not to our liking though, looked picture perfect and would have been healthy, but can only eat rice for so many days before we cracked. Was quite a big room as well considering it is Japan, complete with own toilet and shower.

長野県信州の湯宿　野沢温泉河一屋旅館

Nozawa onsen Kawaichiya