Watanabe Inn
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During our time at Miyajima we stayed at the Watanabe Inn. Once we arrived at the island we decided to walk to our ryokan rather than call and have them pick us up. Since we walked, we had to traverse through the main part of the town full of restaurants and stores. We left the main touristy areas to find our ryokan, which is nestled in the midst of the Japanese houses on the island, right next to a bubbling brook and near a shrine and a Buddhist temple. The Watanabe Inn is a ryokan housed in a traditional Japanese building that is next to a creek and is run by the Watanabe family. It only has 3 rooms, and it is lovely and intimate!
When we arrived at the inn, we were greeted by two members of the Watanabe family, father and (adult) daughter. We believe the mother did the cooking, but we never met her. While our luggage was brought up to our room, we sat in one of the small dining areas with a view of the nearby brook. There, they served us cold tea and delicious momiji manju, maple-leaf shaped pastries filled with azuki bean paste.
Afterwards, we went upstairs to settle into our room. There was a large main room with a table, along with a side “porch” area with chairs and a table for relaxing with a view of the creek and koi pond below. We could hear the sound of frogs through the windows. Every evening while we were at dinner, the table in the main room was moved and the beds were laid out on the ground. The beds are soft futon mattresses with fluffy comforters on top. Every morning while we were at breakfast, this change was reversed: the beds disappeared and the table was put back in their place. Our room also had a fridge, hot water heater for tea, and a deep cypress bathtub.
Downstairs, there is a front desk area by the main entrance. A high/low tide sign is situated right beside the desk, with the times for high and low tide that day (to facilitate seeing the great torii gate). Once you leave the front desk area, you must take off your street shoes and put on the provided house sandals. There are three private dining areas where guests are served breakfast and dinner each day. The entire building was really lovely, with dark wood accents, smooth tatami mats decorated with maple leaves, delicate shoji doors (mended with maple-leaf paper where we guess they had been damaged), and a series of pretty chains of colorful origami cranes.
For breakfast each morning, we were given a choice between a Western-style or Japanese-style meal. We chose Japanese-style both times. Our first breakfast consisted of sweet Japanese omelet, roasted fish, a roasted vegetable, sliced sausages, miso soup, white rice, Japanese pickles, and fresh fruit. For our second breakfast, we had a bacon and cheese omelet with a few slices of roasted potato, a salad, steamed greens, miso soup, white rice, Japanese pickles, and fresh fruit. Michelle is not generally a breakfast person, but she loved this type of breakfast! She could eat it every day.
Dinner was even more elaborate and amazing; they were kaiseki meals, which means multiple courses of small plates consisting of seasonal, fresh ingredients. We unfortunately did not get photos of our first dinner, but one of the courses that night took us right out of our comfort zone! It was a fish head draped in a fantastically delicious sauce. We had to pick the tender flesh off the skull, and when Mr. Watanabe came back to remove our plates, he felt obligated to help show us how to pick the bones a little cleaner. No sense in wasting something so delicious! It is clear that the Watanabe family take great pride in their cuisine (and their hospitality!), and they absolutely should be proud. We did get photos of dinner our second night (see below). Each meal consisted of many courses, including sashimi and cooked fish, and always ending with a second-to-last course of white rice, Japanese pickles, and miso soup.
Our entire experience at the Watanabe Inn was incredible from start to finish. With such a small establishment, the Watanabe family are easily able to provide a high level of attention and service to their guests. After Taylor’s injury, they did everything they could to help us, including calling the travel agency to get our insurance information (since we couldn’t easily get it ourselves with Taylor’s phone not working), keeping us well-supplied with ice, and seating us at a taller table so Taylor could more easily get up and down. They also provide a pickup and drop off service to the ferry station. We highly, highly recommend staying at the Watanabe Inn - it is spacious and comfortable, the service is wonderful, and the food is fantastic! We will definitely be their guests again in the future.
Google Maps Link: Watanabe Inn
