"The robatayaki dinner was a unique and delicious experience. It's best to have a car for convenience."

"Located quite far from the main town. If you’re driving a car then you can choose this ryokan. Otherwise you’ll have to adjust your timing according to their shuttle bus service. Food is decent. Service and amenities is good. The outdoor onsen is amazing."

"The place was clean and the hot springs were great, but when we arrived for dinner, which was supposed to start at 6:30 pm, it wasn't ready. We were kept waiting, and even after being seated, it took over 30 minutes for the shabu-shabu pot and meat to arrive... some people waited for an hour. The website showed luxurious tempura and other dishes, but all we got was shabu-shabu, sushi, simmered dishes, and jelly. Breakfast was also disappointing, and this was with two meals included, costing over 10,000 yen per person compared to a room-only stay! And to top it all off, there were only about five staff members, so I wonder how they plan to get through a public holiday... All the staff were foreigners, and their Japanese was broken. It was heartbreaking to see one person working so hard and apologizing. It's such a shame, especially since they said they were trying to make a living by renovating a closed-down inn."

"The buffet at Minakami Juraku has a wide variety of dishes for both dinner and breakfast, and they are all delicious. This is my second time here, and it lived up to my expectations! The snowy scenery from the window in the morning is amazing."

"Excellent amenities indoor but beware of blood sucking leech in the garden I would dare not to go outside in the summer Told management to sanitise our shared flip flops as there were multiples leeches on them. But no action taken"

"Excellent stay! Highly recommended."

"This is my fourth stay. Each of the three large baths has a different atmosphere, and if you choose a time when there are fewer people bathing, you can enjoy your bath at a leisurely pace. The buffet has a wide variety of dishes for both dinner and breakfast, and there were quite a few "Japanese dishes using vegetables as ingredients" that suited my husband and I's tastes, so we took a little bit of each dish and enjoyed many dishes. However, the seats at the venue are designated by the staff, the tables are too small (so small that you can't put your dishes down after you've finished eating), and the distance between the adjacent tables is only 20 cm on one side and 40 cm on the other, so it is far from being a situation where you can eat leisurely and calmly. This time, the two old women sitting next to me (they said they were about 80 years old and their husbands had died) talked nonstop for over an hour during the meal, rather than eating, so even if I didn't want to listen, I heard their conversation for over an hour and memorized it, so it was not a situation where I could eat leisurely. The same situation happened when a group of people drinking all you can eat was sitting next to me at this hotel before. If the hotel staff read the reviews, I strongly request that they separate the seating into two areas: [area for people who want to enjoy their meal slowly and quietly] and [area for people who want to drink as much as they like and continue talking]. If you choose a time slot after 8:00 for breakfast, most people will have gone home, and you can choose a quiet and calm seat and eat slowly. More than ten years ago, I made a similar proposal to a hotel in the area, and a week later I received a response that [the distance between tables will be about 80 cm]. I have remained friends with that person, who had an attitude of valuing customers from the customer's perspective, and have stayed there many times since then. Today, the hotel continues to thrive as a hotel representing the area."

"With a great variety of baths, including private ones, you can enjoy your time to the fullest. The food was also very delicious."

"Fenomenal break away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and Kyoto. There is nothing more refreshing than a dip in the outdoor onsen followed by the most beautiful and nutritious dinner prepared with local ingredients. This places should be publicised more but then again perhaps its magic still lies in the fact that you need to do your research properly to find it and then make more out of the way arrangements to get there (Shinkansen to Jomokogen but then you have to book a local taxi in advance). The bus day trip from the bus station just outside we took one day to Minakami was also worthwhile. If you are a foreigner and want a real taste of Japanese countryside and onsen life, this is the place ❤️ Thank you to the lovely staff for a wonderful stay!"