Bettei Yaeno
C · 6 / 10situational
A four-room, family-run villa ryokan in Minakami, ten minutes from the better-known Bettei Senjuan, and on KI-NRT's stay it was not quite on Senjuan's level. He calls it perfectly adequate, with good but not spectacular kaiseki, trucked-in onsen water and nothing at all to do outside your room. He would be hard pressed to recommend the arduous detour just to stay here, and points anyone passing through Minakami to Senjuan instead.
Scores
Food 3.5 / 5
The kaiseki is mountain-interior cooking, heavy on wild vegetables and freshwater fish, from a chef who has been here since the inn opened in 2006, and KI-NRT found it good but not spectacular, well short of Senjuan's. Two dishes stood out: iwana (white-spotted char) as sashimi, a very rare treat because it must be prepared just before serving, and charcoal-grilled Masuda beef, a little-known grass-fed Gunma breed, flavorful and well marbled.
Bath 3 / 5
The bath is in your room, and it becomes a semi-open-air onsen when you slide the glass windows open. The water is trucked in, because Yaeno has no onsen source of its own, so it is not gensen kakenagashi, which KI-NRT counts as another drawback next to Bettei Senjuan (it matters to him somewhat). There is no communal or rental bath anywhere on the property, so the room tub is all the bathing there is.
Service 3 / 5
The staff are three people, the owner (the GM), his wife the proprietress and Ms. Shimada, who has been there for 15 years, and you see little of them because you spend nearly all your time in your room, where meals are served. KI-NRT found the service fine and no more; Ms. Shimada was polite but somewhat impersonal, and being locally born and raised she probably does not speak much English.
Room 3.5 / 5
All four rooms are villa-type units, two of 60m² and two of 70m². KI-NRT took Yamaboushi, a 70m² unit with a separate bedroom, living room and dining room, a patio and light, warm, comfy futons, and called it perfectly adequate. They were last renovated in 2009, but the classic Japanese style is reasonably well maintained and it did not feel old. There is only one sink, though, and the button on the two-generations-old toilet seat did not work.
Place 3 / 5
Minakami is a sleepy, pretty little town flanked by the photogenic Mt. Tanigawa, and the drive in from Niigata is beautiful, but Yaeno itself gives you almost none of it. Arriving is not wow-inducing, you are ushered straight from the car to your room, and there is no lobby, lounge, gift shop, garden or exhibit; the only space outside the room is a small glass-enclosed private lounge with two chairs looking onto the nondescript inner courtyard.
Getting there
- Tokyo — ~2h, 1 transfer (estimated). Joetsu Shinkansen Tokyo->Jomo-Kogen ~1h15, then ~25 min bus + ~10 min taxi to Minakami.
- Niigata — ~1h25, 1 transfer (estimated). Joetsu Shinkansen Niigata->Jomo-Kogen ~40 min, then bus + taxi to Minakami.
Sources
FlyerTalk review #469 · TripAdvisor 4★ (November 2024) · #401 · #470 (thread mentions)