{
 "slug": "fukudaya",
 "name": "Fukudaya",
 "url": "https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/fukudaya",
 "location": "Lake Biwa",
 "prefecture": "Shiga",
 "region": "Kansai",
 "geo": {
  "lat": 35.3,
  "lng": 136.05
 },
 "tier": "B",
 "score": 7.3,
 "score_scale": "1-10",
 "unscored": false,
 "confidence": "low",
 "evidence": {
  "units": 2,
  "op_stays": 1,
  "member_stays": 0
 },
 "kinrt_rank_claim": null,
 "rooms": null,
 "property_type": "Traditional ryokan",
 "style": "Private lakeside ryokan",
 "features": {
  "in_room_onsen": null,
  "meals_in_room": "Yes"
 },
 "summary": "A one-group-at-a-time renovated merchant inn on Lake Biwa's western shore, opened in 2023, which fills a real gap because high-end options in Shiga are few and far between. Its strengths are Yamada's Aman-honed cooking and the private lakeside house. Against that, there is no onsen, and the staff are so reserved that KI-NRT named it the stay's one shortcoming. It works best as a well-fed quiet night between Kansai and the Sea of Japan, and the bath is plain heated water.",
 "aspect_scale": "1-5",
 "aspects": {
  "cuisine": {
   "label": "Food",
   "score": 4.5,
   "text": "Mr. Yamada, the chef and general manager, spent a decade in Kyoto kaiseki and then cooked at Amanpuri, Amanemu and Azumi Setoda, and he works closely with local farmers. KI-NRT found the food excellent overall: the Lake Biwa trout with eggplant purée was superb, so was the homemade sabazushi (pressed mackerel sushi, a Shiga specialty), and the grilled Ōmi beef sirloin was the equal of Matsusaka or Kobe. Breakfast is smaller but hearty."
  },
  "onsen": {
   "label": "Bath",
   "score": 2.5,
   "text": "There is no onsen at Fukudaya. The indoor bath with deck access is ordinary heated water, and KI-NRT warns that if hot springs are a priority this house does not have them. There are three bathrooms for the single group staying in it."
  },
  "service": {
   "label": "Service",
   "score": 3,
   "text": "Two people look after you, the attendant Ms. Numata and the chef Mr. Yamada. Both were kind and attentive, but KI-NRT found them extremely reserved even by Japanese standards, with conversation brief and quickly over. He noticed it most at dinner, where there is no written menu and each dish got a one-word introduction. In a house where the staff serve only your group, he thinks a warmer approach would improve the stay considerably."
  },
  "room": {
   "label": "Room",
   "score": 4,
   "text": "You have the whole house to yourselves, a two-storey traditional building that was once part of a large merchant inn founded over 140 years ago and reopened in 2022 after extensive renovations. There is a bedroom with two double beds, two tatami rooms that sleep up to four more on futons, and three bathrooms. The original irori (sunken hearth) is intact and gives the place a warm, nostalgic atmosphere, and the rest is rustic yet refined."
  },
  "setting": {
   "label": "Place",
   "score": 4,
   "text": "Fukudaya is on the western shore of Lake Biwa in Imazu, once a post town where merchants carried mackerel from the Sea of Japan to Kyoto, and with no other guests on site you hear only the waves and the waterfowl. The lake is in view from the upstairs tatami room, the dining room and the deck. Imazu village is a short walk away, with three buildings by the architect William Merrell Vories, and KI-NRT enjoyed the tour of Harie's kabata streams."
  }
 },
 "transit": {
  "cities": [
   {
    "city": "Kyoto",
    "hours": 1.4,
    "time": "1h25",
    "transfers": 1,
    "estimated": false,
    "text": "Kyoto to Omi-Imazu ~1h15 on JR Kosei Line, then short taxi to Fukudaya."
   },
   {
    "city": "Osaka",
    "hours": 1.75,
    "time": "1h45",
    "transfers": 1,
    "estimated": false,
    "text": "Osaka to Omi-Imazu ~1h30 via New Rapid/Kosei Line, then short taxi."
   }
  ],
  "note": ""
 },
 "photos": [
  {
   "url": "/img/nc_fukudaya-0-904e9adf.jpg",
   "tag": "setting",
   "width": 400,
   "height": 266
  },
  {
   "url": "/img/nc_fukudaya-1-a906f63d.jpg",
   "tag": "bath",
   "width": 400,
   "height": 266
  },
  {
   "url": "/img/nc_fukudaya-2-a41dc86b.jpg",
   "tag": "room",
   "width": 400,
   "height": 266
  },
  {
   "url": "/img/nc_fukudaya-3-b3af54ed.jpg",
   "tag": "setting",
   "width": 400,
   "height": 266
  },
  {
   "url": "/img/nc_fukudaya-4-e5d7557f.jpg",
   "tag": "food",
   "width": 400,
   "height": 300
  }
 ],
 "links": {
  "website": "https://fukudaya.jp/en/",
  "map": "https://www.google.com/maps?cid=16739008481167287600",
  "jp_site": null,
  "flyertalk_reviews": [
   {
    "post": 673,
    "author": "KI-NRT",
    "url": "https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/37378696-post673.html"
   }
  ],
  "flyertalk_discussion": [
   {
    "post": 625,
    "author": "KI-NRT",
    "url": "https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/37275705-post625.html"
   },
   {
    "post": 648,
    "author": "KI-NRT",
    "url": "https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/37314927-post648.html"
   }
  ],
  "tripadvisor": []
 },
 "as_of": "2026-09-07"
}