About Japan Best Ryokan
An independent English-language guide to traditional Japanese inns, written for travellers coming from abroad.
What this site is
Japan Best Ryokan is an independent English-language guide to traditional Japanese inns. We explain what a ryokan stay involves, where the regions differ, and which inns are worth the journey, for travellers who are planning a trip to Japan from abroad.
We are not a booking service and we are not affiliated with any inn. When you decide where to stay, we link you to booking partners who handle the reservation and your payment.
Who runs it
The site is written and maintained by Japan Best Ryokan, based in Tokyo. We work between Japanese and English, and we read the Japanese-language inn pages, seasonal plans and booking terms that most overseas travellers never see. What we publish here is what we would want explained to us before a first stay.
How we choose the inns
Inns are selected by us. No inn can pay to appear on this site, and no listing position is for sale. We look for places where the building, the bath or the kitchen gives a traveller a reason to stay a night rather than pass through, and we favour inns that can host an overseas guest without friction.
Where we have not stayed somewhere ourselves, we say so rather than implying otherwise.
How we check prices and ratings
Prices and guest ratings come from the booking partners we link to, and both move constantly. We record what we saw and the date we saw it, which is what the "last checked" line on each listing means. The partner's own page is always the authority on the rate you will pay.
How the site makes money
When you book through a link on this site, we may receive a commission from the booking partner, at no additional cost to you. That is our only source of income from the site, and it does not affect which inns we list or how we describe them. The affiliate disclosure explains this in full.
Contact
Corrections, questions and press enquiries: info@japanbestryokan.com. We read everything, and we would rather hear about an out-of-date price than let it sit.
Inn owners: we are happy to correct factual details about your property. We cannot accept payment for inclusion or for a favourable write-up.