Minshuku Ishibashi

The hotel was easy to find, a cute building that is painted green (matching to the photo on the booking) with no Latin letters (all in Japanese), so photo of the building and its color really helps. The reception was great, there was a nice lady from Hong Kong that speaks English very well welcomed us, gave us a tour of the facilities, explained the Japanese traditions (house rules) and brought us to our rooms. The dinner and breakfast were superb! Room was cleaned and comfortable. Shared toilets were near our room, so it was fine. However, there was only one bathroom to share for the entire house. When we were there, fortunately there were only 6 guests so we did not have problems using the bathroom.

It was an excellent stay. The food was superb, the people were so kind, we felt at home staying there.

The location of the ryokan is ideal. It is beautiful and conveniently located along the MIchinoku Coastal Trail. The sunrises are spectacular. The facility is very clean, with shared bathroom and baths. The owner and staff are so kind and helpful and their effort to speak English was greatly appreciated. We arrived late in the evening the first night, past dinner time, but was offered food upon our arrival. The staff arranged for a cab to pick us up at 6 am the next morning to go to the Morning Market. There was hot water and delicious green tea bags available all the time. My daughter voiced that she wanted to see the senbei store/class in downtown Hachinoe. The staff went out of their way to arrange for us to have a private lesson with a senbei sensei who showed us how to make our own senbei, with different fillings. It was one of the highlights of our trip. Dinner was well balanced and delicious as was breakfast the next morning. There is a quaint train station across the street from the ryokan that took us to downtown Hachinoe at the end of our stay. We will definitely stay there again when we return.