Chapter 383: Ryokan Kinsui (旅館 錦水)

This was my first little ryokan stop in Kurume. It’s about a 20-30 min bus ride from the station, you can take the bus 9, 20 or 25 and it’ll stop at Jusanbu (十三部) then you can walk the remaining 5 minutes to the hotel. It’s located in a very residential area, and the closest stations are either Kurumedaigaku maeeki (久留米大学前駅) or Minamikurume-eki (南久留米駅) which are both pretty much a 15-20 min walk away.

Upon arriving, I was greeted by very lovely and welcoming staff, they don’t speak any english but they’re absolutely amazing as they showed me around and introduced me to different areas of the hotel. As my room didn’t come with a private bathroom or in-house dinner the lady told me it’s best to go to the onsen early around 7pm when it’s not busy as other guests will have dinner. I had a small sink and a toilet in my room, towels, hair tie, toothbrush, a yukata and a coat was provided.

When leaving the hotel you have to leave your key at the reception and upon return you can simply pick it up from the front desk.

The nearest 7 Eleven shop was a bit far away and I didn’t want to walk in the snow. However, there was a supermarket 5 minutes away called The Big Jusanbu (ザ・ビッグ十三部店). In the end I made sure before returning back to the hotel at night that I would buy some convenient store food since there weren’t much options nearby.

I enjoyed my stay very much. The futon was so comfy and everything was spotlessly clean. I remember enjoying a really cool movie on TV about a woman who time travelled back in time to old Japan whenever she walked into the lift! I don’t recall the name of the movie but I loved it!!!!

The room I was in was small but big enough for one person. My stay was 5000 Yen a night. Very afforable and a great experience overall. If I were to revisit Kurume I would be sure to stay again!

—Tofu