Chloe Lim SH
February 5, 2025
The heart warming and hospitality of this family is one of my best experiences in Japan.
It was my first time traveling to Hakuba and it was snowing heavily. Masanori san was busy with dinner but he had his daughter to pick me up instead (she have left for university so I reckon on normal days, he will have to go out of his way to pick passengers if they needed.) One key thing to note was to specify where you are properly because i took a bus and they didn’t stop me at the interchange but instead they dropped me off at the Hakuba stop (outside North Face shop) so it was quite confusing and they couldn’t find me at first.
The room is very spacious and the morning snowing view was really nice. The free Hakuba shuttle bus is just one minute away and it comes every hour, you can have breakfast at 7/7.30am and take the shuttle bus at 8/9am (might not come on time but just be earlier as there are many others taking the same bus). In house Onsen was decent with hot enough water but will be perfect if only it was outdoors (more for the ventilation and view).
The dinner made by Masamori san was one of the main reasons why I booked this hotel - French cuisine. It is delicately made and ingredients are carefully sourced, you can literally taste the freshness of their ingredients. Book at least one day in advanced!
At 84, their granny got to be the cutest and sweetest, we sang that one or two Japanese song she knew and she was so happy she served us tea, we kind of almost feel bad that she is serving us but after speaking to her daughter knowing that it is working there that keeps her body strong and makes her happy (so during Covid, she was feeling weak).
And also they link up with Lion Gear for all rental of everything you need. You just have to let Masamori san know and he will arrange for them to pick you up at your preferred time. After choosing your gears, he said they will send me to the slopes (went Goryu/Hakuba 47), but they didn’t and instead they sent me to Happo and I had to bring my gears and walked 20-30mins to the bus stops and paid for the V2 buses (the larger buses are not free - so you got to pay 800Yen per person). After I told Masamori san the story, he was really apologetic and immediately called them up. The next day, he got them to compensate me for the trouble and it really did helped ease the not so great experience and time wasting - the Lion gear boss was generous in compensating and explained that it was their new staff and they didn’t follow the previous arrangements.
Supermarket is about 15-20mins walk away, can be pretty cold but the walk is really nice, proper walking path with snow built up like walls.
All in all, I will still rate this place 9/10 for the hospitality and sincerity of this family, the food and the spaciousness of the room! Highly recommend you to go for the French dinner!
