Sekizenkan

Shopping in Japan: deliver to your ryokan, collect at a konbini, send bags ahead

Japan SIM, eSIM or pocket Wi-Fi? What to buy before you fly and where to pick it up

Sources

The real blog posts and stay reports this article draws on

Featured in our guides

Side-by-side comparisons that include this ryokan.

Best ryokan in Shima Onsen: 6 inns compared on onsen, food and price

Six Shima Onsen ryokan compared: free-flowing riverside baths, onsen baths in the room, food, history, families and value — with the catch at each inn.

Freezing at a mountain onsen ryokan in Japan? How to stay warm tonight

Cold room, icy corridor or a snowy walk to the outdoor bath? What to ask the front desk for, which inns in our directory run cold and which lend coats, boots or blankets, buying kairo heat packs and warm innerwear at a konbini today, avoiding low-temperature burns, the official advice on bathing in cold weather, ordering warm gear to your ryokan, and winter tyres, chains and shuttles.

Photo credits

Sekizenkan — the Honkan and the red Keiun Bridge, Shima Onsen · Kentaro Ohno / CC BY 2.0
Notoya Ryokan, Ginzan Onsen (Obanazawa, Yamagata) · さかおり / CC BY-SA 4.0

More Consensus Reports

Shima OnsenValue

Shima Onsen, Nakanojō, Gunma — on the hillside just above the onsen street, a couple of minutes' walk from the Kirinokidaira bus stop (about 40 minutes by bus from JR Nakanojō Station) and about five minutes on foot from Sekizenkan

4.6/5

10 sources

Shunmokutei Nakazawa Ryokan

四万温泉春木亭なかざわ旅館

A six-room hillside inn where all four baths are free-flowing, free and lockable for your party alone — no shared bathing at all — with home-style local cooking in semi-private rooms, from about ¥30,000 for two

Private Onsen Rooms

Shima OnsenClassic

Shima Onsen, Nakanojō, Gunma — at the entrance to the onsen village across the road from the Shima river, about 30 minutes by bus from JR Nakanojō Station, with direct highway buses from Tokyo

4.5/5

9 sources

Shima Onsen Kashiwaya Ryokan

四万温泉柏屋旅館

A 14-room retro-modern inn where three private open-air baths are free, unbooked and usable as often as you like, with a noon check-out — but it's a wooden house with steep stairs, no lift and thin walls, and most rooms have no bath of their own

Private Onsen Rooms

Shima OnsenClassic

Shima Onsen, Nakanojō, Gunma — on the bank of the Shima river in the Yamaguchi area of the onsen village, a minute's walk from the Yamaguchi bus stop (about 35 minutes by bus from JR Nakanojō Station, or by direct bus from Tokyo Station)

4.4/5

9 sources

Shima Onsen Toshimaya

四万温泉豊島屋

A 15-room riverside inn whose every bath — shared, private and in eight of the rooms — runs on its own springs with no water added, no heating and no recirculation; the catch is no lift, a modest dinner for the price and signs of thin staffing

Private Onsen Rooms

Shima OnsenClassic

Shima Onsen, Nakanojō, Gunma — beside the Shinyu river at the heart of the onsen village, about 40 minutes by bus from JR Nakanojō Station or by direct bus from Tokyo Station

4.2/5

9 sources

Shima Tamura

四万たむら

A bath-keeper's inn since 1563 with seven free-flowing baths from its own riverbed sources — a mixed bath in the river, a waterfall-view open-air bath, a pebble-floored bath where the spring rises underfoot — in a big, ageing, maze-like building

Historic Ryokan

Shima OnsenClassic

Shima Onsen, Nakanojō, Gunma — an eight-storey inn on the Shima river near the entrance to the onsen village, with the 'Yamaguchi' bus stop at the door, about 40 minutes by bus from JR Nakanojō Station or by the direct Shima Onsen-gō bus from Tokyo Station

4.1/5

11 sources

Shima Yamaguchikan

四万やまぐち館

A big, Shōwa-retro riverside inn whose two long open-air baths sit right on the clear Shima river — come for the water and the okami's nightly picture-story show, not for the food or for quiet

YufuinPremium

Kawakami, Yufuin, Oita — set back from the Yunotsubo shopping street, a couple of minutes' walk from Lake Kinrin and about 15 minutes on foot from JR Yufuin Station

4.5/5

9 sources

Yufuin Souan Kosumosu

由布院温泉草庵秋桜

A 12-room 'cooking inn' remodelled by Seven Stars train designer Eiji Mitooka, steps from Lake Kinrin, with free-flowing spring water in every bath and open-air tubs in the cottages — but it sits on Yufuin's busiest strip, the shared baths are small and the cheapest rooms have only a shower

Private Onsen Rooms
Destination Dining