{
 "slug": "hanaichi",
 "name": "Hanaichi",
 "url": "https://ryokancatalog.com/inn/hanaichi",
 "location": "Agatsuma",
 "prefecture": "Gunma",
 "region": "Kanto",
 "geo": {
  "lat": 36.55,
  "lng": 138.75
 },
 "tier": "C",
 "score": 6.9,
 "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": "Onsen ryokan",
 "style": "Small countryside ryokan",
 "features": {
  "in_room_onsen": null,
  "meals_in_room": null
 },
 "summary": "A seven-room inn in Tsumagoi, Gunma, founded in 2002 after the owner couple drilled 1,000 meters under the building and hit the onsen jackpot: superb source-fed water in every room plus three 24-hour private baths. The hosts are warm and unpretentious, and the cooking split the household, pretty good to KI-NRT and excellent to his wife. He is blunt that it is no destination ryokan; it works as a comfortable stop on the way to Karuizawa (45 minutes) or Kusatsu (40 minutes).",
 "aspect_scale": "1-5",
 "aspects": {
  "cuisine": {
   "label": "Food",
   "score": 3.5,
   "text": "The head chef is the owner's son, and his kitchen does a competent job with the local fish, meat and produce, all elegantly presented and nothing super fancy: salt-grilled iwana (white-spotted char), Joshu beef steak, and tuna, sweet shrimp and trout sashimi. KI-NRT remembers dinner as pretty good but not particularly memorable, while Mrs. KI-NRT recalls the meals as excellent. Breakfast was quite impressive, with a wide variety of unique dishes."
  },
  "onsen": {
   "label": "Bath",
   "score": 4.5,
   "text": "The owners decided to open a ryokan only after drilling over 1,000 meters below ground and hitting the onsen jackpot, so the water comes straight from the source directly below the property, and it is top-notch quality, with a constant flow that needs no filtration. Every room has its own onsen (not open-air, though you can open the windows), and on top of that there are three private baths open to guests 24 hours a day, first come, first served."
  },
  "service": {
   "label": "Service",
   "score": 4,
   "text": "Everyone from the room attendant to the owners to the young head chef was professional and courteous, and they do a great job of making each guest feel at home. KI-NRT felt comfortable here; it is not the type of place that intimidates you the way 'storied and glamorous' ryokans like Tawaraya or Asaba can when you first walk in."
  },
  "room": {
   "label": "Room",
   "score": 3.5,
   "text": "The Tsukishi room is a 75-square-metre junior suite with two beds, a living room, a dining table for two, a sitting corner with a kotatsu (a heated coffee table that keeps your feet toasty), a patio, a little work area and its own onsen, which is not open-air though the windows open. From the patio you get a bit of a view of Mt. Asama, but power lines and a cookie-cutter white building detract from it. Meals can be served in the room for a fee."
  },
  "setting": {
   "label": "Place",
   "score": 3,
   "text": "Hanaichi sits on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere in Tsumagoi, on the far side of Mt. Asama from Karuizawa, and arriving is not wow-inducing, nothing like Gosho Gekkoju: it does not scream luxury from outside, and the reception looks like a rural country home, a mishmash of furnishings that suit the owner's taste. There are barely any grounds, just a common lounge and the rental baths, and KI-NRT says it is not a destination ryokan."
  }
 },
 "transit": {
  "cities": [
   {
    "city": "Tokyo",
    "hours": 3.2,
    "time": "~3h10",
    "transfers": 2,
    "estimated": true,
    "text": "Shinkansen to Takasaki + Agatsuma Line ~2.5h, then ~40 min by car."
   },
   {
    "city": "Karuizawa",
    "hours": 0.85,
    "time": "~0h50",
    "transfers": 0,
    "estimated": true,
    "text": "~50 min by car from JR Karuizawa Stn."
   }
  ],
  "note": ""
 },
 "photos": [
  {
   "url": "/img/nc_hanaichi-0-030bb7f9.jpg",
   "tag": "bath",
   "width": 400,
   "height": 300
  },
  {
   "url": "/img/nc_hanaichi-1-c33e40a5.jpg",
   "tag": "room",
   "width": 400,
   "height": 300
  },
  {
   "url": "/img/nc_hanaichi-2-19374fae.jpg",
   "tag": "setting",
   "width": 400,
   "height": 268
  },
  {
   "url": "/img/nc_hanaichi-3-c05ac69d.jpg",
   "tag": "food",
   "width": 400,
   "height": 300
  }
 ],
 "links": {
  "website": "https://hoshikawa.jp/",
  "map": "https://www.google.com/maps?cid=17133995937721291439",
  "jp_site": null,
  "flyertalk_reviews": [
   {
    "post": 470,
    "author": "KI-NRT",
    "url": "https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/36883491-post470.html"
   }
  ],
  "flyertalk_discussion": [
   {
    "post": 401,
    "author": "KI-NRT",
    "url": "https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/36509798-post401.html"
   }
  ],
  "tripadvisor": [
   {
    "rating": 4,
    "stay": "October 2024",
    "url": "https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1123094-d1882693-r1011896202-Hanaichi-Tsumagoi_mura_Agatsuma_gun_Gunma_Prefecture_Kanto.html"
   }
  ]
 },
 "as_of": "2026-09-07"
}