Akan Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza

“Wonderful hotel with great hospitality”

After a long drive, we arrived at the hotel and immediately felt comfortable and welcomed. The staff were consistently friendly, attentive, and always had the right answer to any question. Having stayed in many hotels and ryokans across Japan, I would personally rank Akan Tsuruga Bessou HINA no ZA… more

After a long drive, we arrived at the hotel and immediately felt comfortable and welcomed. The staff were consistently friendly, attentive, and always had the right answer to any question. Having stayed in many hotels and ryokans across Japan, I would personally rank Akan Tsuruga Bessou HINA no ZA as a very close No. 2 on my list—just behind my No. 1, the Kaho in Tsukioka Onsen. But truly, it’s a photo finish! The dining experience was absolutely fantastic, and the spacious rooms are equipped with everything one could wish for. What really sets excellent hotels apart from merely good ones are the little details. Here, every detail has been thought of—for example, the coffee machine already filled with water, a small but meaningful touch. Even my shoes were cleaned during my stay, something I did not expect. These thoughtful touches show that everything in this hotel is perfectly cared for. We are deeply grateful to the staff for such a wonderful stay. If our travels bring us back to the area, we will certainly return.

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“Best Ryokan experience in Japan”

This is the most beautiful place on all Japan trip in Hokkaido and I feel so luckily that we stayed here. People and place are a truly Japanese tradition with high quality of food and beverage. Bath room amenities are so good and they also offer free minibar. View from our room is so nice with fu… more

This is the most beautiful place on all Japan trip in Hokkaido and I feel so luckily that we stayed here. People and place are a truly Japanese tradition with high quality of food and beverage. Bath room amenities are so good and they also offer free minibar. View from our room is so nice with full lake view, we stayed at 5th floor. Huge room with plenty space for you to enjoy here and there. Private onsen is so good and I love doing that every morning and evening.

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“Superb room, Onsen and food in a wonderful (but not too crowded) tourist area”

We spent two nights at this property earlier this month, as Akanko (i.e. Lake Akan) has a variety of things to do and we wanted to make the most of our time there. The Lake Akan area of Eastern Hokkaido is blessed with some of the country's most incredible natural environments including old-growth … more

We spent two nights at this property earlier this month, as Akanko (i.e. Lake Akan) has a variety of things to do and we wanted to make the most of our time there. The Lake Akan area of Eastern Hokkaido is blessed with some of the country's most incredible natural environments including old-growth forests, a pristine lake, scenic mountains, mud volcanoes and the Marimo, a unique and unusual freshwater green algae that is shaped like a green ball and which can grow to about the size of a volleyball. There is also a cultural element to the area, as Ainu Kotan is one of Hokkaido's largest Ainu (indigenous people) settlements with roughly 130 individuals calling the place home. Aino Kotan has a main strip that has a variety of stores selling Ainu handicrafts as well as restaurants serving traditional Ainu cuisine. There is also a museum and a performing arts center, giving visitors the opportunity to enjoy a variety of Ainu performing arts. You can also reserve a private guided tour with an Ainu descendent who you will follow through a pretty forest while he/she explains how the Ainu used to live. Akan Tsuruga Besso Hinanoza (that's its full name) is a luxury ryokan established in 2004 by the Tsuruga Group, and is just steps away from the lake shore. It's ideally situated - almost everything we wanted to experience (Ainu Village, Lake cruise, hiking, shopping) is within short walking distance from the ryokan. That said, the entire town is clustered in a small area along the South shore of the lake, so wherever you stay, it's going to be convenient. The property is in a nondescript 7-story building, although it's in pretty good shape from the outside (which is not the case with many older ryokans of this type.) Inside, in the common areas there are a variety of wood carvings that are on display; the indigenous Ainu are renowned for their woodworking skills, the displays are a wonderful tribute to the local Ainu artisans. Of the 25 rooms at Hinanoza, 4 of them are Tokubetsu-shitsu ("Special") units that are 110m² in size, and are denoted as Ama no Za Suite. Our Tokubetsu-shitsu was on the 6th floor (the highest floor among guest rooms), and was named the Hina no Za (#601.) As is the case with most suites at top ryokans, it featured a living room, a tatami room and a separate bedroom. The decor and furnishings were Japanese-contemporary and of high quality - the hard product was fantastic overall. The Onsen bath is located on the deck, and is free-flowing and not recirculated... perfect. As was the case with Sanyoan, our Special room had two toilets in different areas of the Suite, although - curiously - featured only one sink. Mrs. KI-NRT would take that trade-off any day of the week. Hinanoza does have the obligatory Daiyokujo (gender-segregated communal Onsen bath), but given that every room here has en-suite Onsen, the vast majority of guests will never leave the comforts of their room. It was empty every time we took a peak in the Daiyokujo. All meals are served in private dining rooms for each group of guests, although on one occasion they could not accommodate our dinner time preference, which was a bummer. On the bright side, the kaiseki cuisine was terrific. The kitchen did a wonderful job bringing out the goodness of the locally source ingredients, including Okra, Butterbur, Mountain Yam, Corn (very sweet!), Squash and Bamboo Shoots, as well as Salmon, Trout, Whelk and Sea Urchin on the seafood side. Hokkaido beef is better known for its quantity rather than quality, but the charcoal-grilled Kuroge Wagyu that they served was almost at the level of more renowned beef varieties such as Hida and Matsusaka. Breakfast was equally inspiring. Rather than the typical stuff - miso soup, some fish, rice, pickled vegetables and tofu - they went out of their way to serve them in a creative way, again focusing on Hokkaido-sourced ingredients. One of the highlights on both mornings was the Ikura (salmon roe.) We're not strangers to Ikura, but the ones they serve at Hinanoza are never frozen and have no preservatives. We had no idea that Ikura could be so plump, firm and delightful. I usually try to lay off heavy carbs, but I made an exception here and had two helpings of rice with heaps of Ikura on top. It was sublime. Service was fine, but not exactly a highlight. I'm guessing it has to do with the ryokan not being family owned; compared to top ryokans, the approach was formulaic and a bit less personalized. They tended to our every needs (which were very few), but the staff didn't seem to wear pride and the Omotenashi ethos on their sleeves. No matter - everything worked like clockwork, our (rather infrequent) needs were dealt with efficiently and there were no service failures to speak of. We really dug Lake Akan, and Hinanoza did nothing but to add luster to the experiences that we had there.

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“Leaves much to be desired”

Stayed at the hotel for three nights. The lake was fine should weather permit, but lacks adventurous activities. Can’t swim in it, drive any boat by yourself and even canoe rentals have to be accompanied… We went on a guided speedboat twice which was cheap and fun. The service at the hotel isn’t g… more

Stayed at the hotel for three nights. The lake was fine should weather permit, but lacks adventurous activities. Can’t swim in it, drive any boat by yourself and even canoe rentals have to be accompanied… We went on a guided speedboat twice which was cheap and fun. The service at the hotel isn’t great across the board. Most of the local employees were cold and aloof, like they were doing us a favor by letting us stay here, spoke no English and didn’t try. One said “I don’t know” in Japanese and no then hung up the phone. Some ladies at the front desk were very kind and always remembered our room number. Foreign staff were amateur and ignored/misunderstood many of my requests. For example, saying that there were no canoe rentals on the lake which turned out there was and being overly intrusive at dinner. Stayed at about 10+ just this year and the service here sits in the bottom. One Southeast Asian waitress that unfortunately served most of our meals mafe us feel very uncomfortable. She spoke poor english, talked way too much and was quite rude. Food was initially supurb, but kept declining night after night. Still extremely innovative within the constraints of Kaiseki cuisine. Breakfast had free flowing portions of salmon roe which is great if you like it. Very generous too with all kinds of alcohol free at dinner and later at the lobby lounge. Onsen facilities were excellent with a unique stone sauna where you put on a towel dress and lay on the stone on another towel and never crowded. The town was depressing and only one main street long, everything except souvenior shops was closed during our time and restaurants all seemed like cafeterias. We never had lunch. Rooms, albeit standard was spacious and very well-maintained and designed. Had very nice stereo tower speakers connected to a CD player, with jazz CDs beside it. Three nights, which I booked is too lengthy even for the lake. There’s only a short path to walk along the lake and a small unpleasant forest trail. Not to mention we arrived from on a propeller powered plane which was the scariest flight of my life and I love to fly. A car is a must here if you don’t want to pay the $100+ cab ride from/to Kushiro airport. What’s interesting is that service magically improved on the third day of my stay. I’ve had employees gawk/stare at me before and especially male ones never smiled.

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