When Travel Bugs Bite: the Sawanoya Ryokan

The train ride from the airport to the Ueno exit was...HOT. They had the heat blasting so hard, I felt like my legs were on fire (the heat was coming from the vents under the seats). I was down to my T-shirt by the time we got to my exit as I had slowly peeled off layers. It was a nice cool relief every time we hit a stop and the doors opened to let the cool air in.

Once we got off at the last stop of the Keisei Limited Express, it took awhile to get oriented. Actually, scrap that. We gave up on getting oriented and took a cab to get to our ryokan. Here is a map that was made available through the ryokan's website:

Unfortunately, James and I had trouble figuring out where we were. Even more unfortunate is the fact that it was close to ten PM at night by the time we got there and there is the possibility that the 25 min walk from the station can turn into a 2 hour one depending on how lost we get. Hence, the decision to spend money on the cab ride.

Cab ride wasn't too bad. We just showed the guy my map and off we went.

First impression of ryokan was at night and I didn't really get to see a lot of the outside. But here are pictures that James took at dawn this morning:

The moment we stepped inside the Sawanoya, we were greeted by the owner, I believe, Sawa-san. We filled out some forms regarding our stay and Sawa-san proceeded to give us a detailed map of the neighborhood, good places to eat, and orient us as to where the closest train station is. He also gave us a map of the rail stations as well as a guide for Tokyo. Which reminds me, I need to take a look at that sometime...

There are more pictures of the inside of the ryokan (eg lobby and public bath) on their website, but I figured I'll post some of them here as well. These below are Hina dolls. They've belonged to the family for generations and they are put up in celebration of Girls' Day in March. The superstition--they have to get down right after girls' day, or it is said your daughters aren't gonna be marrying anyone in a timely manner :P

After the formalities of checking us in, Sawa-san took us to our room. We had reserved a room that has its own private bath and toilet--call it a splurge :) Once you enter our room, the first door to the right was the toilet. And what a toilet it is!

I have to admit that I was a little intimidated at first. I mean...what are those fancy buttons? But heck...when I first sat on it...

*heavenly beam of light and angels' chorus plays*

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. But damn...the seat was warm and heated. Ahhhh! How nice! What luxury! I could sit there forever! I didn't, but I so could have! Oh, and when you flush, the sink on top of the toilet let out some water too for hand washing. What convenience!

I didn't exactly get the nerve to start pushing the buttons until the next morning, which is actually around the time now when I'm writing this part of the blog. There was a button for "spray" and a button for "bidet." And then there was a knob for "water pressure." There were two other buttons that had no translation...I assume that means that Sawanoya ryokan didn't want me touching it :P

And so, here comes the detailed description of me using the fancy toilet--may be TMI for some folks out there ;) First I hit the spray button. Hrm...the water pressure was so-so...and I'm beginning to think that it may not be for someone sitting down. Perhaps that's supposed to be for boys and their plumbing? So I hit the "stop" button and thought for awhile, before finally pushing the "bidet" button. Nice water pressure and temperature! I still had to hit the "stop" button once I think I've had enough...but let just say say...It's a nice fresh feeling afterwards!

UPDATE: I've since been told by my ex-college roommate, Koko, that the "bidet" is to wash the front and the "spray" is to wash the back end. The "bidet" often has a picture of a stick figure sitting down with water shooting up. The spray has a picture of what i first thought of a a curvy "w" with water shooting up....but after this information from Koko, I guess it could be an attempt to show a butt crack. Also, in some other public restrooms, you may see a button that has a picture of a musical note. When you press this button, it simulates the sounds of a toilet flushing. Apparently, this is to cover any "noises" you might make while doing your business, whether it is number one or number two.

And now I think I'm spoiled. I may have to seriously do some amazon searches for a nice fancy bidet when I get back home.

Next up in our room description...the hallway...which James thought was our bedroom when Sawa-san first showed it to us. I think of it more as a sitting area. The bathroom with the bath/shower and sink is to the right while the actual bedroom is to the left.

So, onto the bathroom. As mentioned, we booked a room with its own bath. The proprietor says that while we do have this convenience, it would be a good idea to use the public bathrooms downstairs which he had shown us prior to our room since it is much bigger than the one we have in our room. Unfortunately, as late as James and I had arrived these past two nights, we had both been to tired to even go through the motions of using the public bath. The private one we had was adequate and it was a great way to soak up your feet (and whole body) after a whole day of walking around Akihabara.

And FYI, the shower itself had a pretty darn good water pressure and wonderfully hot temperature! Just a note that you will not be able to turn on the water for the shower if you have the bath running. So, it means you cannot fill your bath up while you shower the grunge off you. You must do one and then the other.

Below is a photo of our room. I love how they have some tea leaves already for us if we wanted some tea. They also provided us with some yukata (so, yeah, Pauline. Check out your hotel. You may not need to bring sleep or bedroom clothes if they provide yukata) and the origami on the futons were a nice touch.

For me, sleeping in these futons were fine. I just had to make sure I slept on my back, because the floors started digging into my side when I turned to my side. I had an easy time adjusting to it, but it was actually a little to firm for James, I think. He woke up sore the next morning :( Unfortunately for him, all our rooms during our Japanese stay are gonna be like this. Maybe our next place will have a thicker cushion. The good thing about Sawanoya is they had an extra futon on the closet, so James was able to double it up. At the time that I'm writing this blog, he is still asleep so I can't ask if it was much of an improvement from last night.

I've been waking up early these past two days (between 4:30 - 5AM), but I think it's good. It means I'm not really crashing even in the afternoon. On our first day in Sawanoya, we had ordered a Japanese breakfast. It came with a couple of types of fish, a seaweed salad, pickled vegetables, tofu, miso soup, and sticky rice.

It also came with a nice traditional japanese tea.

And the miso soup came with these tiny kawaii mushrooms.

The food was delicious! I ate everything in my plate and even some from James's. I don't know what the fish were, so I will differentate between the "big" fish serving and the smaller one. The big fish went well with the sticky rice while the little fish came witha small dollop of strong wasabi. They were both excellent. It was overall a lovely culinary experience and I'm glad we had it. My only reservation is that the fish and the tofu were cold...and I'm not sure if they were supposed to be. Everything else was hot, so I don't know why they would be cold unless they were supposed to be.

Anyway, in terms of the drinks, I liked the traditional japanese tea, but James availed himself instead if with the bagged English breakfast tea that was free in the eating area. The one thing he found really weird: powdered milk. He used them, but then...he had no choice :P

Well, I think here ends my Sawanoya ryokan review. I've got a couple of more pictures below in case you guys are interested.

Here is our room key holder. You leave the key with the owner if you leave the ryokan when you go out. The ryokan front desk is locked after 11PM so you will need to get a night key from him if you expect to stay late.