Morioka Tsunagi Onsen Aishinkan

A big, cheerful onsen ryokan outside Morioka where beer, Iwate sake and soft drinks are free from check-in, with 17 tubs including deep 'Jomon' garden baths and an Iwate buffet — great value, but the building is old, the water recirculated and the mood busy rather than serene

Aishinkan is a 98-room onsen ryokan at Tsunagi Onsen, the spring outside Morioka that legend says Minamoto no Yoshiie found in the 11th century while washing a wounded horse tied to a stone. It's the opposite of the village's small kaiseki inns: in 2025 it reinvented itself as a 'drink-inclusive' ryokan — draft beer, Iwate sake, highballs and soft drinks free in the lobby from check-in until 22:00 and again at breakfast — with buffet dinners in a restaurant themed on Iwate's 33 municipalities and free karaoke. The other draw is bathing: 17 tubs across two areas that swap between men and women, including the 2001 'Jomon' garden baths with a 120cm-deep standing tub, plus hinoki tubs, saunas and one-person ceramic tubs shaped like a panda and a kappa. The water is an alkaline simple sulphur spring (pH 9.1, 65.3°C), though a booking site lists it as diluted, heated and recirculated. Most recent evidence comes from booking-site reviews rather than blogs: Japanese guests rate it 4.2 across 2,455 reviews on one major site (baths 4.4, rooms 4.0) and 4.26 across 2,157 on another. 2026 reviewers love the drinks, the baths and the value; bloggers who stayed in 2024 praised the roomy rooms and a breakfast with Morioka's noodle dishes. Complaints, dated: in April 2026 the Jomon baths were shut for repairs; through summer 2026 guests reported an old building and fridges, smelly pillows, insects, noisy or unadjustable air conditioning, offhand front-desk staff, sake served at room temperature and no hot tea, and buffet food some found repetitive or lukewarm — several regulars feel dinner slipped after the all-inclusive switch. Two-meal stays typically run about ¥12,000–17,000 per person.